Hurricane damage to the Sunshine State and the Garden Island has hurt local businesses that try to bring some of the tropics indoors.
Jenny Dalebout, interior landscaper and owner of Treasures Emporium, felt the first blow from Andrew the morning after it hit Florida."There was a 30 percent increase in just two days in the plant business because of the demand from the Florida disaster."
Dalebout said acres and acres of nurseries in Florida were demolished by the hurricane. According to the American Landscape Contractors Association, it will take at least two years to recover.
Dalebout was hoping to shift her purchases to Kauai, Hawaii.
"I was hoping that Hawaii would pick up some of the slack, but now with Hurricane Iniki, who knows what will happen. Our industry has been absolutely devastated."
Most of the plant industry and growers in Hawaii are on Kauai, Dalebout said. So far no official estimate of the loss to plant crops has been issued.
Dalebout is not alone in her concern. Penny Doty, owner of the Planted Earth in Orem, also orders from Homestead, Fla.
"I was lucky," Doty said. "Three weeks prior to the hurricane I got a whole truckload from them."
Several local florists like Provo Floral use plants grown in Florida and Hawaii, but most fresh flowers come from Utah, California, Mexico and South America.
Plants aren't the only things in short supply. Dalebout has been doing some remodeling connected with changing her business focus to wholesale landscaping.
"We have been trying to get lumber to do some of the remodeling, but it is all being shipped to Florida to help rebuild," she said.