Profiles: Lori Harms

Lori Harms isn’t the type to sit still. On a typical day you’ll find her rushing about Countryside Flower Shop & Nursery in Crystal Lake, Ill. She has a hand in just about everything: administration, customer service, growing and consulting with her husband, store co-owner Richard Harms.

For more: Countryside Flower Shop & Nursery, (815) 459-8130; http://countrysideflowershop.com.

Q. What’s the stupidest product you’ve ever stocked?

A. One of the stupidest turned out to be the most successful: clothing for lawn geese. Who would think to put clothes on those god-awful geese? But one year we were heading to $25,000 in sales of clothing.

Q. Name one skill you’d like to improve.

A. Something I think we all struggle with: basic time management. There are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Q. What’s the most unglamorous thing you do each day?

A. Clean out the ashtrays at the front of the store. It drives me crazy when no one else sees it or does anything about it.

Q. If you could go back in time and change one aspect of your business what would it be?

A. I went to Richard with this and neither of us could think of anything at first. Every step and decision we made or didn’t make affects where we are today. One small thing was back in the 70s, when times were really tough, we sold one of our buildings. And boy we could use that building right now for storage or staging!

Q. What’s your favorite part of the day?

A. The best part is the two hours after we close the store. Everybody’s gone, it’s quiet and I can have some thinking time to work on production or stuff for tomorrow or whatever I need to catch up with.

Q. What’s your favorite plant? Something you enjoy growing yourself.

A. I love vegetable gardening. One of my original goals back in the day was to be an organic vegetable gardener. We have a garden at the back of the store where we trial things. We eat from our garden from April until well into the winter.

Q. If you could hand over one aspect of your job to someone else what would it be?

A. Spraying. I hate spraying and I always have. Fortunately, our industry has gone to less-toxic chemicals and I’m spraying less and less.

Q. Do you spend any time going online?

A. I’m not a Web surfer. I just don’t have the time. It’s hard enough just to keep up with my e-mail.

Q. What’s your favorite area in the garden center?

A. The whole annual area. It’s like my own garden. I’m very happy just putzing among the greenhouses, consolidating flats and deadheading geraniums.

Q. What did you do on your last weekend off?

A. Richard and I don’t take time off during the busy season. When we can get away, we head to our house in Arkansas. We try to get down there about five times a year.

Q. Who is your favorite movie star?

A. Paul Newman. I just find him riveting with those blue eyes. And he seems to be a good guy in real life.

Q. Name a gardening “sin” your customers consistently commit.

A. I think the thing that aggravates me the most is the myth that you can overfertilize and burn your plants, so they don’t fertilize at all.

Q. Which garden centers do you enjoy visiting?

A. I have a close connection with Platt Hill Nursery, so that’s got to be my favorite place. I like to go to the beautiful new store in Carpentersville, Ill. Check it out and drool.

Q. What’s the first job you ever had?

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A. My first job was spot-welding frames at a lampshade factory. I started in January and lasted until a really nice day in May when I couldn’t stand not being outside.

May 2008