Perennial business

With the Easter season here and the planting season quickly approaching, owners of local Flower Tents have been busier than ever.

Tom Ansilio, who co-owns approximately 50 Flower Tents with his brother Tim, said spring is their busiest since Easter, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are so close together.

“In May, we probably have the largest variety of annuals than anyone else around,” Tom said. “It ranges from vegetable plants to perennials.”

Tom Ansilio said the Flower Tent, a family business which he and his brother have been operating for 15 years, specializes in annuals, hanging pots and baskets for the spring. “Impatiens are one of the most popular flowers,” Ansilio said.

“In the summer, we study all the different flowers. We see the varieties that are growing the best, which are usually white impatiens, and which flowers are the most disease-resistant, with the nicest flowers. We look at them to order for the following year.”

“It’s a continuous cycle. Most of the orders are already placed before the winter. And we prepare for the spring season during that time.”

Before the busy spring begins, the Ansilios must ensure all of the locations are running, and that they have the necessary supplies to function, because it’s a short season.

“Everyone sells flowers the week of Easter, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. That is the planting season in our zone.”

Flower Tents span a wide region, stretching into Williamsport, Pottsville, Reading and Allentown, to the Poconos, Tunkhannock and Wilkes-Barre.

“We’ve been selling tulips for the same price for the last 15 years. Not many businesses can say that,” Ansilio said. “We have not raised our prices.”

And that, Ansilio says, is the key to their success. “Consistent is the key word. And by providing quality products at a fair price.

“People will buy a hanging basket, and say in, August, you’re sitting on your deck or patio with an iced tea, lemonade or beer. And someone asks where you got the basket. You say, ‘we got it from the Flower Tent.’ ”

To prepare their flowers for the season, the Ansilios adjust the soil according to the plants’ needs.

“The flower industry has become a real science,” he said, adding that with all the new varieties of different flowers, cross-breeding and modern technology, it has made flowers disease-resistant, with bigger and brighter blooms, all through technology.

“In all of our soil we put fertilizer, a shield to protect the roots, and we control the pH in the soil.”

Throughout May, the Flower Tents will give away a slow-release fertilizer with every hanging basket they sell.

“We have a great crew that’s involved with the Flower Tent,” Ansilio said. “My regional managers have been with me for 10 years,” he said. “A lot of them have been doing this just as long as I have.”

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