Kraft Gardens Develops a Second Growing Facility in Fort Pierce, Fla.

Kraft Gardens is developing another nursery on Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce, Fla. The newly acquired land combined with the current expansion underway at the company's main location brings the total operation size to 80 acres.

Kraft’s management team has collectively agreed on growing its company to satisfy the industry’s increasing demand of quality interior foliage. An expansion and a new location create opportunities for Kraft Gardens to grow more of its current product line and more space to trial new products. 

“Our interior landscape and independent garden center customers require good indoor plants, and their sources to obtain such material have become increasingly limited,” says Alex Fell, sales manager at Kraft Gardens. 

Soaring property values and back-to-back active hurricane seasons have led to some South Florida nurseries deciding to sell their land or rebuild at a more conservative size, if at all. One of the nurseries to succumb to this recent trend happened to be Kraft’s largest supplier of Ficus air layers.

To combat the loss of this key vendor, Kraft has become a licensed propagator of Ficus of the Future and planted its own stock plants of varieties such as Monique and Amstel King at its new location. For years, the company has been the leading supplier of these high end Ficus trees in container sizes of 10 inches and larger. When faced with the option of whether or not to continue growing Ficus of the Future, customer consideration was the deciding factor. 

“We have supplied so many good customers with these superior Ficus varieties, we owe it to them and the rest of the industry to continue doing so,” says Kevin Kraft, president and owner of Kraft Gardens.

Kraft is in the process of expanding its greenhouse growing area by 50,000 square feet to total 80,000 square feet. Along with the propagation growing area at the new location, Kraft has its sights set on more shade houses. The new plans will add at least 300,000 square feet to the growing area under shade, bringing that total to well over a million square feet. The new location will primarily serve as a feeder nursery to the main location, where Kraft’s office staff and shipping department will continue to operate.

Kraft Gardens made its permanent move to Fort Pierce in 2002 and plans to announce the progress of theexpansion and new location later in the year, as well as plans for new product lines in 2007.