NAPLES. FLA. — Underneath the red canopy at Davenport Nursery in Naples, Raegan Davenport says you will find a whole lot of family.
“We are a small family business, we have been in business since 1976,”
and an idea they are trying for the first time in 45 years said Davenport.
“The younger generation we are trying to kind of find our own niche and so my husband and me, I am especially a holiday person and we kind of just thought maybe we will try to do Christmas trees,” she said.
More than 400 Christmas trees are now giving this traditional Naples nursey, a new look, and new problems.
“This tree right here, it’s 7-8 years old and so you get closer to a 9 footer, and it’s almost 10 years old and that puts ya right at the recession and they didn’t plant as many trees, so there is a shortage,” said Hunter Davenport.
Wholesalers say high demand coupled with the nationwide supply shortage is driving prices up and making it difficult for tree farms to stock their lots.
Not exactly the news you’d like to hear when you want to sell Christmas trees for the first time.
“I got laughed at for it because they said you and everybody else are looking for those sizes,” said Hunter Davenport.
After months of searching, Raegan and her husband Hunter were able to find a supplier in North Carolina, an area hunter says is known for growing Christmas trees.
Now, it will take everyone in the Davenport family to get these trees off the lot.
“People are just not used to seeing us have Christmas trees, we are a retail nursery so people are used to coming in and getting their landscape plants,” said Raegan Davenport.
Raegan hopes soon business will start to boom.
"My father-in-law, they have 15 grandchildren so it’s just a super fun environment for us to work in and if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life and we definitely love doing what we do,” said Raegan Davenport.
Davenport Nursery is located at 14454 Collier Blvd, Naples, FL 34119 and is open, Monday-Friday, 7:30- 4 PM, and on Saturday from 7:30- 12 PM.
