US (TX): Local nurseries take hail damage in stride

Greenhouses at some Amarillo nursery properties proved no match for the punishing May 28 hail and wind, but few businesses reported major plant losses. The greenhouse roof at Mariposa Urban Market, 1620 S. Washington St., “looks like Swiss cheese right now,” owner Tony Lankford said. “But our plants are fine. We’re continuing to grow and keep on keeping on.”

He couldn’t put a dollar figure on the damage. Hail and wind also battered metal hoop greenhouses at Uncommon Twists, 5206 River Road, owner Kimbra Straley-Watson said. The structures had only recently been “reskinned” with heavy plastic, upkeep that costs about $1,000 per greenhouse, she said.

Greenhouses needed to grow plants over the winter will have to be repaired before cold temperatures return, she said. The nursery lost about eight flats of plants and experienced some tree damage. “It took them (staff) a couple of days to pick up all the debris from our trees,” Straley-Watson said. Damage at Coulter Gardens & Nursery at 4200 S. Coulter St. defined the storm’s path, owner Warren Reid said.

“We got lucky,” he said. “It just missed us. It went right on the edge of my property." “Half my parking lot was shredded leaves and the other half was not.”

Source: amarillo.com