Few business owners in the Flathead Valley are as susceptible to the weather as nurseries.

Unusually early springs and dangerously dry summers can make or break a company’s success through the year. Many local nursery owners are already hard at work, hoping to capitalize on a few extra weeks of the growing season.

The initial work done each spring by area nurseries usually includes clearing the remaining snow from the grounds. Many local nurseries are able to simply cover their plants over the winter, allowing the roots to remain set during the cold months.

Dave Connor, owner of the Columbia Nursery in Columbia Falls, began plowing snow away and pulling the plastic tarps off his plants a few weeks ago.

“Well, when we normally do an early year, we’ll start moving the snow piles out so we can get around the nursery better,” Connor said.

“There’s a lot of maintenance this time of year,” he said.

Connor’s head start on the season includes running a maintenance check on the carts used to transport plants around the grounds. His crews have already begun sanitizing the green houses that served as storage sheds during the winter.

Like so many other nursery owners, Connor doesn’t keep his employees year-round. He relies on seasonal workers year after year; hoping his cohesive staff is able to return to the job once the snow melts each spring.

So far, staffing hasn’t been an issue, he said. Between high school employees looking for summer work and the handful of loyal gardeners, he hasn’t been short-handed in as long as he can remember.

“Our main crew, they’re job-attached,” Connor said. “As far as seasonal employees, we’ll get new people every year; some leave after November, some stay.”

He’s got about a dozen employees already working the grounds. One group shovels soil into pots, some days that can mean filling thousands of containers. Others are planting plugs, both seedlings and small trees, whatever is ready at this time of year. Other species, such as flowers and shrubs, will be shipped in later from around the West Coast once the threat of a late freeze has faded.

But that fear of lingering frost resonates with several nurseries around the valley. Some have decided to hold all of their work back, at least for a few weeks.

Michael Connolly, manager at Hooper’s Garden Center in Kalispell, said the grounds may be thawing, but he’s not ready to risk a whole host of plants quite yet. His crews so far taken incremental steps toward opening for retail sales, such as planting geranium plugs and seeds in the production area. In the next few weeks, trees and shrubs will arrive from local suppliers like the Glacier and Four Seasons nurseries.

“The season seems to be starting a couple weeks early,” he said. “People’s grounds are thawed and there’s been some increased traffic as people start to get that spring fever.”

To keep the community green thumbs active, Connolly is preparing seminars put on by Hooper’s each spring. These presentations take place each Saturday in Hooper’s second-floor seminar room, beginning mid-March and running through the end of April.

Connolly said Hooper’s is undergoing a few changes after 43 years in the Flathead Valley. Flowers are still the No. 1 seller, he said, but vegetables are a growing part of Hooper’s inventory.

“There’s an interest in the natural organic gardening that’s been building for years,” Connolly said. “It’s really taken hold in the last three years. Not just at Hooper’s but the mainstream suppliers for the nurseries are recognizing that, too.”

Connolly said when the recession hit back in 2008, people became more interested in growing their own food, peaking interest in the source of foods and the nutrients used to grow them.

“It’s a great thing for our culture,” he said. “All it takes is an E. coli scare in the food industry for people to take notice. [Organic gardening] is a good thing.”

Tawnya Rourke Kelly, owner of Homestead Home and Garden Services, has noted the increased in organic gardening, o she organized the Free the Seeds event, a free workshop and seed swap last weekend featuring the work of gardeners and farmers throughout the Flathead Valley and western Montana.

In its first year, Rourke Kelly said the response to the event has been explosive.

“The people who have called me are so excited about it and really excited to share what they have, whether it’s rare seeds or different skills,” she said. “We don’t even have enough workshops or booth space for everyone who wants to contribute to this.”

The event took place March 19 at Flathead Valley Community College, across seven rooms with more than 20 workshops and film showings. Presentations included how to avoid killer composts, rotational grazing and holistic livestock management, and permaculture chickens.

She created the event with a friend, Hunter Lydon, who was able to put together a similar event in Missoula earlier this year. After moving to the Flathead from California in 2014, Rourke Kelly wanted to recreate a community event often used in her home area of Humboldt County. She said the event is meant to share seeds as well as educate local gardeners on new, sustainable techniques that can serve the longevity of gardens around the area.

“We have the potential to turn this into a full-day event next year,” Rourke Kelly said. “We’re hoping people beyond the Flathead Valley consider themselves part of the community this way and we can establish some sustainable farming.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.