Established in 2003 in Yale, Michigan; Re-established in Oregon in 2007.
Theriault’s Buds & Blooms was a dream of mine since the age of 10. Back in those days (the 1980s), the desire was to own a “flower shop.” I can’t say that I wanted to be a florist, per se, but I did want to work with things that grew and bloomed.
After burning out in the foodservice industry in 1998, I hired into a local nursery in Rochester Hills, MI. I started in the annual department, and progressed through perennials, trees and shrubs, managing, and receiving over the course of nearly six years, before moving into the wholesale operation at another nursery.
I had the fortune of having family that owned a good-sized parcel outside Yale, and they agreed to let me take over a corner of the property to put up a small greenhouse and start growing ornamentals for sale. It was a slow start at the end of 2003 and through 2004 and 2005. I set up a pot-in-pot bed to allow for slower drying of the container media, since the pots (and by association, the roots) weren’t receiving direct sunlight. They also weren’t prone to falling over when the wind blew. Two runs of landscape fabric were also set up for plants that weren’t as prone to tipping.
Water was pumped from a pond on the property for irrigation. Since I was only onsite on the weekends, I had the system automated. Sales finally started in 2005, with 2006 being the year things took shape, with sales nearly catching up to expenditures.
The rules changed in early 2007 when a lack of year-round work prompted a relocation to OR. Things started over, very slowly, due to apartment living for the first five years. Over the course of several moves, I began breeding Iris and Hemerocallis in earnest. As of 2020, sales overall began to pick up momentum, with sales running through ads on Facebook, but there is a disproportionate concentration of well-established Iris breeders and hybridizers here in the Willamette Valley, so interest on the local level wasn’t exactly red-hot.
When a local customer asked permission and reposted an ad for a liquidation sale I was running in 2021 on an Iris sellers listing on Facebook, I was quickly initiated into the realm of shipping. That got plants out the door much faster than focusing locally had. Chalk it up to another lesson learned.
2022 saw sales improve over 2021, with more interest in what I had available, and I began shipping non-Iris…something I plan to expand in 2024.
My first five Iris registrations were accepted by the American Iris Society in October 2022, and can be found on the Theriault Introductions page, with very limited availability for 2024. The journey has begun to reap rewards.
It’s been quite the experience over the past 19 years. As I move into my 20th year, I wish to thank all who have supported this wee lil’ dream of mine, whether via wisdom imparted, whether helping to open figurative doors for me, or by making a purchase. Without you, it would still be a dream. Namaste. SR, January 2024.