Folks In Boerne Bought Hundreds Of Poinsettias To Support A Struggling Garden Shop

WHO: Bourne African Violets and Hill Country Nursery and its regular customers.

What: A little holiday magic to light up neighborhood doors and even keep small businesses running.

Why it's great: In a typical year, Hill Country African Violets and Nurseries sells about two thousand poinsettias between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Owner Ken Froboz usually has a new batch of red, white, pink or multi-colored beauties out by the holidays. However, demand has declined recently, likely due to the sluggish economy and extensive construction along this stretch of Interstate 10 south of Boerne. Several local churches reserved their regular seats, but the nursery only sold a few poinsettias on certain days. When Froboese and his team expected to sell normally, they still had more than 650 plants on their shelves.

That was hard to accept for Frobois, who told Texas Monthly that the daycare grew with love and eventually thrived for more than forty years in its current location. The business started with a greenhouse, then added another, and then another, building a customer base from north of Kerrville to south of San Antonio. The growers who work at the store are always proud to offer plants that can withstand the harsh climate of Central Texas. Here you will also find many exotics, including the purple of the same name. Walk through any of the ten warm greenhouses and you'll immediately understand why this local store has stood the test of time. Outside each door are neat rows of colorful creepers, bromeliads, and attractive hanging baskets, and the earthy smell of grass fills the air.

So Froboese was feeling pretty bad about its weak sales. While he doesn't do much on Facebook, he took a moment to let his followers at the store know that if they could get their hands on the orange construction barrel, they could score an awesome deal.

Not only did the community share the post over four hundred times, they bought four hundred poinsettias the very next day. "It was an overwhelming response," Frobes said. “People were coming from San Antonio and other places. We got a call from Lubbock! When they close on the second day, only a few poinsettias remain.

Pamela Price of San Antonio is a longtime customer. "The staff knows what's growing around them and directs customers to what's grown here, not what you can buy at a big box," Price said. When she saw the Facebook post, she clicked "Share" and then went to buy a pink poinsettia: "I don't have to go to Three Spirits to get the Christmas spirit."

After such an amazing show of support for struggling small businesses, that enthusiasm spread to Frobes and his staff. "We've always had good customers and we appreciate every one of them," he said. "We can't thank everyone enough."

While the store has lots of other fun seasonal plants, including cyclamen, amaryllis and Christmas cacti, it's a wonder they want Hill Country African violets and a nursery poinsettia this year. They were tired on Tuesday.