Residents welcome happy surprise from nursery

Phyllis Beatman, a St. James retiree, woke one morning this week to a flat of pansies on her front yard and on all the other yards she could see: flowers everywhere, without warning.

“Streets upon streets,” said Beatman, 74. “Everybody had a flat.” It was, recent events considered, a welcome development.              

Her flowers were yellow and black. They came from Norman Keil Sr. and Norman Keil Jr., father and son who run Norman Keil Nursery in the hamlet. Beatman knew this because they had written a note:  “Our Pansy crop cannot be shipped to some of our customers and we would like to share the joy and beauty these plants bring to us with you,” it said. It closed: “Be healthy, be safe, be strong.”

If you purchased flowers at a Costco or Stop & Shop or had landscaping done in the past 40 years, you might have bought Keil flowers without knowing it. They are a wholesale operation whose customers are in the trade across the tristate area. In a normal year a staff of 180 cultivates close to 150 acres of greenhouse and field space. They don’t sell to the public because they sell by the cart or the truckload. They ship about 90 truckloads per day and are part of an industry that did $386 million in sales in the state in 2017, according to the USDA.  

Norman Keil Jr. was courteous but not thrilled to do an interview with a newspaper.  They weren’t looking for publicity, he said. He and his father had 100,000 pots of pansies in blossom, the first crop of the year with a retail value of $300,000 to $400,000; but in a time of global anxiety, they thought many of those flowers would go to the compost pile, failing to sell at supermarkets. 

“If they’re not selling the product, we’re not selling the product,” said Keil, 38. “It’s not them doing anything wrong, it’s just the environment we’re in.” 

The idea was to give flowers to every one of their neighbors — the hamlet has close to 5,000 households — and they assigned two drivers and a helper to distribute 25,000 pots this week. “We said, ‘Stay away from people, be cautious, be careful but place a flat of pansies on everyone’s front lawn with a letter explaining what we’re doing,” Keil said. 

These past weeks have not been easy for Beatman, her neighbors, Keil or for his workers, who are now working staggered shifts to reduce the chance they will infect each other. “We should be shipping product like crazy and we’re all hunkered down in a greenhouse,” he said.

But he likes the idea that his neighbors will tend to the pansies, maybe dig into the unfrozen ground and plant them. It does good, he said, “to get outside and get the blood flowing.” 

Beatman said she and her husband hadn't yet planted their flowers, which she put on the steps outside. But she did write to Keil. “I wrote out a thank-you note on my very fanciest stationery and I took it down to the post office,” she said. “I told him — we’re an elderly couple, that’s what we’re called now — with all this bad news, something to the effect of, he actually brought spring into my heart.”

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.