Houseplant guru offers advice at farmers market

MOSES LAKE — Some people are intimidated by houseplants, fearing that the plants won’t survive in their home. The problem may not be the owner but the plant itself, said Fred Bergold, owner of King’s Garden Nursery in Othello.  

“Part of the problem with people keeping plants alive is most of them get their plants at the big box stores and the grocery stores and so on,” Bergold said. “The growers that supply them are under pressure to have lower prices, so they overfeed and over-baby the plants, and then they get put in a box and put in a semi and put in a warehouse, and eventually get on the table. They're not adapted well to ordinary household conditions.” 

Bergold, 75, has been in the plant business most of his life, he said. He owned an interiorscaping company in Sacramento, Calif., he said, and when he retired found himself with time on his hands.  

“This allows me to stay busy, and I can’t stand to do nothing,” he said. 

Bergold sells his plants almost exclusively out of a little booth at the Moses Lake Farmers Market, he said, except for the occasional church fundraiser or a local who comes to his greenhouse.  

“I don't have a store,” he said. “I love to propagate, and this gives me an outlet for the plants that I produce.” 

He also brings his plants to the Moses Lake Farmers Market’s off-season markets. Those markets, which have really grown in the last couple of years, are a boon to him because the chilly fall weather sometimes sets in before the farmers market closes up for the season. 

“October last year, I made it all the way to the end,” he said. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever done the whole year without missing a market.” 

Bergold’s stock is varied, including things like Hindu rope and pyramid jade that don’t always show up in larger nurseries or stores, he said. Occasionally, however, he’ll run across something at a store that he didn’t expect and bring it home with him. 

“When I'm buying plants retail like that, I look at it in terms of, can I divide it? Can I root cuttings off of it? Can I make a profit off of it? Or sometimes I just buy it because I'm really attracted to it. I'm still a plant hobbyist, so sometimes I'll buy it just because I like it.” 

Bergold doesn’t label his houseplants because the equipment to do it would be too expensive, he said. 

“I carry all the information (customers) need inside me,” he said. “And a lot of commercially-produced labels are very misleading. I’m sometimes stunned by what they say the plant requires. A lot of them say ‘full sun,’ and (the plants) fry in full sun.” 

When he propagates vegetables in the spring, he hand writes labels, he said. 

“I grow 30 varieties of peppers, another 30 varieties of tomatoes, and they all look alike,” he said. “If they're not labeled, nobody knows what you’ve got.” 

Despite the lack of labels, he never hesitates as customers come into the booth, giving the names and qualities of each plant as well as care recommendations.  

“I want the plants to grow,” he said. “I want people to be able to enjoy success with the plants. It pains me when someone comes in and says, ‘Well, I just can't grow anything.’ Because you can.” 

Kings Garden has three greenhouses, but in a few weeks Bergold will shut those down for the year and move all his plants into the house, he said, because the greenhouses are just too expensive to heat. He’ll end up moving about 800 plants, he said, and then open the greenhouses in the spring to grow another 3,000-4,000. 

“I’ve been growing plants for over 60 years, and I'm just as in love with them and excited about them now as I was when I started,” he said. 

King’s Garden Nursery can be found on Facebook at https://bit.ly/KingsGardenFB. 

    The King’s Garden booth at the Moses Lake Farmers Market has some standard houseplants, and then some that you won’t find at most stores.
  

    The plants at the King’s Garden Nursery booth aren’t labeled, but owner Fred Bergold has all the information any buyer needs in his head.