South Shore Greenhouse ‘going out with a bang’

One last season, and it is a beauty.

South Shore Greenhouse in Polson is flourishing in its characteristic cornucopia of colors. Bright, massive petunia baskets hang over row after row bursting with every shade and every type of flower imaginable.

The “well-oiled machine,” as owner Kathy Shore calls her team, waters, transplants, plucks and prunes the dizzying abundance of blossoms. The team includes three generations of Kathy’s family — her mom, Lois Shore, and her daughter, Kari Wise — and two others, Jami Williamson and Abby Feiler, who have worked there so long, they might as well be family.

Lois started in the greenhouse business with her husband, Fred, in Havre in the 1950s. They started a second greenhouse in Anchorage in the 60s. In 1976, they moved to Polson, and by 1978, had started yet another. Kathy picked up where they left off when they retired in 1991. Her mom has continued to help out part-time and is famous for having baked over 41,000 cookies over the years for their annual Spring Open House.

Twenty-nine years later, it’s finally Kathy’s turn to retire. But while she is looking forward to a little time to relax, she is not in any real hurry to close the doors.

“After the last basket is sold, and after the last plant is gone,” Kathy says, only then will South Shore Greenhouse close for good. In the meantime, customers can still find everything they could think of to grow, including tomato plants already fruiting. “We’re going out with a bang,” she says.

In the 42 years the greenhouse has been in business, generations of customers have also become part of the “family.”

“We see people who used to bring their kids here – now those little kids have children of their own,” Kathy says. Many of those now adults will remember playing in the dirt pile when the greenhouse used to mix their own potting soil. That personal connection with their customers shows up even now — one whole joyful table is full of pots Kathy custom planted to lift the spirits of a woman who lost her husband.

The greenhouse business has really changed over the years, Kathy says. For one thing, plants are now shipped to them as vegetative “plugs,” which are much easier to plant in volume than those grown from seeds that need to be separated. And the variety of flowers now available from all over the world is astounding. “It used to be that there were geraniums and maybe a spike and a lotus vine or petunias. Now there are flowers Mom has never even heard of.”

Kari inherited the family green thumb. Besides working at the greenhouse, she does planting for a couple special customers. Her large home garden produces plenty of produce, including all the ingredients for her signature salsa, and her porch bursts with picturesque potted flowers. Keri doesn’t have concrete plans, but her artistic fascination with succulents will likely play a part. Growing succulents gives a lot more flexibility to life, she says. “I will be able to go away for a few days and not have to water several times a day.”

It’s bittersweet, Kathy says, looking ahead to retirement from the business. “I raised my kids here,” she says. She knows she’s too used to being busy to just quit. “I know I’ll do something, I’ll just have to see what,” she says.