We asked, you answered: How has spring been so far at your garden center?

On Friday, May 6, the Garden Center magazine staff visited Petitti Garden Centers' Avon location, a city near Cleveland, Ohio, to see how one of the largest independent garden center retailers preps for Mother’s Day and how spring as been so far. The holiday is one of if not the biggest days for the retailer, which ranked No. 4 on our 2015 Top 100 list. The business was full of color and ready for the crowds.

We followed up with the store this week to find out how the business performed. Lynn Boland, department manager at the Avon store, one of nine locations in Northeast Ohio, said the holiday was successful.

“We were continuously busy with lines out the door all day long. It was a great day,” she said of the Saturday before Mother's Day.

Many garden center owners and managers we spoke to reported similar high-traffic days, which is no surprise. (See their responses below). The holiday has always been big for IGCs, and according to Brand Keys, a brand research consultancy, 85 percent of people surveyed planned to buy flowers for mom this year. The survey included 6,133 men and women in the U.S., ages 18 to 65, most who planned to make multiple purchases. Flowers were third only to cards, at 95 percent, and brunch, lunch or dinner at 90 percent. Mother's Day spending overall was predicted to be up 6 percent this year.

The entire weekend was successful for Petitti's Avon store, Boland says, with more than 4,200 customers coming in and an average sale of $75 to $80.

It was a nice boost for what has been a relatively slow spring due to cooler than normal temperatures and wet weather, conditions other garden centers are reporting in the Midwest.

“It started out really good [with] the warm weather we had in March. This month, it’s just slow,” she says. “The cold nights are really what are keeping us slow, I think. People are afraid to do their pots. So, we’re kind of waiting for warm weather.”

AJ Petitti, president of the company, said though the store was busy, this Mother's Day weekend was not as gangbusters as last year's.

"We had a good Mother's Day and it was a good weekend, but it wasn't as strong as last year. We didn't beat last year's numbers," he says. "This season is like 2011 and 2014, when spring came later. We're expecting it to be stronger later. We have a huge opportunity in June."

Steve Bailey, consultant and financial adviser who works with the Garden Center Group, with 104 members in the U.S. and Canada, says overall, they are noticing that consumers are spending more and that average sales are up.

“We’re seeing good numbers in the number of items per transaction. We’re seeing increasing transaction counts. People are shopping more, more return visits, and without getting overly optimistic, all of the indicators are up so far for the season. But we have to be guarded, because last year we were in this same boat. And then weather and a number of other factors made the season crash in May,” he says, adding that this year, in some areas of the country, temperatures have been 15 to 20 degrees cooler than normal. “It got off to a great start in March and April [in 2015], and then May came to a big resounding clunk. Some of it was weather, some of it was just general economic conditions."

For the most part, members in the Garden Center Group are reporting increased sales compared with last year.

“Money is looser on the consumer end. I think it’s somewhat consumer confidence. There is more expendable income out there,” Bailey says. At the same time, however, “people are more guarded with their expendable income. They are putting more away due to the recession we just went through. Even though they have more expendable income and are spending now, they aren’t spending as much as they could because they are putting away more.”

He noted how important Mother’s Day is to the industry, but offered retailers advice as they continue operations through the spring, summer and fall.

“You can lose just as much money in an increasing revenue situation as you can in a declining revenue situation. That’s because people get giddy with the extra money, and they tend to overspend on expenses, on variable expenses, buying more product, employing more people, and not watching their expenses closely enough,” he says. “So it can go both ways. If they are cautious and managing well from the lessons they’ve learned during the economic downturn, and put those principles to use with an increasing revenue situation, then they make a lot of money, or at least they stand the opportunity to do so.

"Mother’s day a lot of times is the peak of spring, and past that, the decline starts coming in. Try to keep that momentum going through in-store events. Try to keep the retail excitement going past Mother’s Day.”

We also checked in with other retailers across the country to find out how business has been for them this spring, and how it compared to 2015 and 2014 spring reports. Read their responses below.

Susan Bachman West, Bachman’s Vice President Perishable Merchandising and Floral Design, who was recently named president of the Minneapolis-based company:

“I am happy to report that we had a nice Mother's Day weekend at Bachman's. The weather was absolutely beautiful, nice temperatures and blue sky for the entire weekend! As a result, sales were up, as well as store traffic. Garden plants were some of our top selling items as customers started planting their annual containers and gardens. However, cut flowers, blooming and gift product performed extremely well, too, as customers found the perfect gift for Mom!”

Cody Hoya, general manager, North Haven Gardens, Dallas, Texas:

“The Dallas/Fort Worth area has highly unpredictable winter and spring weather, and 2016 has presented an extended, mild spring that began back in early February, as opposed to 2015, which was start/stop and unpredictable. It’s been a strong spring so far, and with the area continuing to receive healthier rainfall amounts, we expect a strong finish to the year. Our summers can be brutally hot, though, so we have to be creative and resourceful to draw guests in when the temperatures rise. Overall, we’re seeing a strong trend over the last three years, and we’re building on that momentum with our new features and expanded programming.”

Greg Pizzino, department sales manager at the Ann Arbor English Gardens’ locations, one of eight stores in the Ann Arbor and Detroit areas of Michigan:

“We were pretty busy [on Mother’s Day]. That’s sort of our first real busy weekend. We have shorter hours on Sundays (closing at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.), and we did pretty much the same business on Sunday as we did Saturday. We were pretty jam-packed. We usually do a lot of hanging baskets … a lot of porch and patio pots. So far [this spring], it’s been kind of up and down as far as the weather goes. Every time we get two or three days’ worth of good weather, we get slammed, and then we get another week’s worth [of temperatures] down to the 40s and 50s, and we slow down again. Once we get consistency, we’ll be good.”

Wally Steinhauser, co-owner of Wingard’s Market, Lexington, S.C.

“2016 is outstanding. It is probably the strongest spring we’ve ever had. We’ve grown continuously since we bought the business, and this spring is without question so far our strongest yet. Revenue overall is up about 30 percent from YTD last year. Produce is up 50 percent. Every category, the gift shop, trees and shrubs, annuals and perennials, are all up as well by differing amounts.”

Sandi Hillermann McDonald, president of Hillermann’s Nursery & Florist, Washington, Mo.

“We have had a phenomenal March this year. The entire spring season has been great. [We haven’t had] much rain, but lots of wind. Sales to date are up only 1 percent, but we hope to have a long time in our season yet. We have been so busy, I must admit I am a little sad my percentage isn’t up more than that in sales, but we have been holding expenses and increased margins so my margin dollars are up 13 percent!”

Conner Howard, assistant editor of Garden Center magazine, contributed to this article.