A blooming business

NEWPORT — It’s Robert and Linda Karr’s busy time of the year at their two-acre iris nursery in Newport, Wash. They barely have time to shake the dirt from their overalls. On Memorial Day weekend this year, more than 700 people came to their outdoor business to select and order irises from nearly 2,500 varieties growing in full splendor, with tiny name tags identifying one variety from another.

During 2003, Newport Naturals at Spruce Corner — the full name of the business — generated about $2,800 in sales. “We did about twice that just last weekend,” Robert Karr said.

Iris-lovers across the Northwest and the nation are promising to make 2004 the most profitable yet in the couple’s three years of operation.

Finding a steady revenue stream has made his daily routine of getting to the nursery at 7 a.m. and working until dusk a lot easier to handle, Robert Karr said.

Irises are one of the four most popular and sought-after plants among U.S. gardeners, he said. The other three are roses, hostas and dahlias.

Like most horticulture specialists, Karr and his wife rely both on word of mouth for local business and on the Internet for regional and national sales. Their company Web site attracts orders from Texas, California, the Midwest and as far east as Maine.

They don’t sell the blooms. They take orders for rhizomes — the fleshy underground stems that are planted and produce iris shoots.

The next three weekends are like marathon clearance sales for the Karrs. They open their nursery Thursday through Sunday, usually seeing 150 or more visitors each day.

At their gate, the Karrs hand customers a notepad and pencil. Visitors stroll the garden and jot down comments.

Like wine fanciers placing orders for next year’s release, their customers list the rhizome varieties they want, make a payment and then head home. In early July, the Karrs start cultivating, drying and preserving the rhizomes. Customers can have them shipped to their homes or pick up their orders in person.

Newport Naturals charges $4 per rhizome, not including shipping.

After the spring weekends when irises are in bloom, orders only can be made from the company’s Web site.

The largest single order the Karrs have booked there is for nearly $400 worth of irises from a Michigan nursery owner. “He said he can’t get the same dwarf iris varieties like ours back in the Midwest,” said Robert Karr.

Because of Newport Naturals and another specialized nursery not far away, Newport can claim to be the iris-growing capital of the Inland Northwest. Fifteen miles to the east of the Karrs’ business, Christy Hensler owns and operates The Rock Garden, which caters to gardeners who crave a certain kind of iris.

“I offer species hybrids, while Bob and Linda offer mostly different varieties,” Hensler said. “I refer a lot of people to their place,” she said.

Both Robert and Linda have other jobs. Robert, who’s 65, is also a massage therapist for a Spokane clinic. Linda, who’s 64, is director of Newport’s alternative high school; she plans on retiring at the end of this month, she said.

Their property in Newport has belonged to Linda’s family for more than 70 years. After moving around the Northwest, the couple decided to settle in Newport in 1976.

It wasn’t until a few years ago they got serious about raising irises for profit. “We had been collecting different varieties of iris,” Robert said. They realized there was probably a way to take something they loved doing and make a decent living, he added.

“Bob does all the physical work in the garden. I handle the orders and the material on the computer,” said Linda.

Their major business risk comes in the form of infestation by iris borers or plant rot. To date, they’ve been lucky, with only an occasional clump of plants falling victim to rot, Robert Karr said.

The couple also generates cash by selling fiber from the alpaca and sheep they keep in an adjoining, fenced field, as well as hundreds of pounds of garlic raised on their property.

“The work I do on the irises is hard. It’s especially hard this time of year,” Robert said. “But it’s not nearly as hard as a large vegetable garden. Now that was hard.”