Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has faced a national backlash for the drastic and confusing expansion of her stay-at-home order, issued April 9 in an overreaching attempt to curb the state’s severe coronavirus outbreak. While many of the order’s provisions have garnered scrutiny, Whitmer’s ban on landscaping work and the closure of garden centers and nurseries have drawn exceptional ire.
When discussing this portion of her ban with NBC’s Today show on Wednesday, Whitmer attempted to say her restrictions didn’t matter, because the weather wasn’t good anyway. “I’ve got snow on the ground here in Michigan … the fact that we’re cracking down on … planting, or landscaping, or golfing really for a couple more weeks isn’t going to meaningfully impact people’s ability to do it because the snow will do that in and of itself.”
For non-Michiganders, the explanation held water. But Michiganders know the weather there in April and May is a circus of alternating warm and cold weeks, with sporadic hail and snowstorms that come even as trees bud and daffodils and tulips bloom.
Despite Wednesday’s brief snow, the grass in southeast Michigan is growing, forcing my husband’s and neighbors’ lawnmowers back into service. Weeks of violent spring windstorms have brought down large and small tree limbs and clutches of dead winter leaves, leaving Michigan residents to spend hours gathering fallen limbs and raking up large leaf piles. For Michiganders, a spring snow offers only a short respite from the season’s increase in garden and lawn work.
Unlike stay-at-home orders in states such as Virginia, however, Whitmer’s revised order disallows the use of landscaping services. Those who are elderly, infirm, or disabled, and those who are working overtime hours due to essential work, are unable to hire help to clean up yard waste or mow their lawns. In a state where immaculate yards are often a point of pride, overgrown grass and a buildup of fallen detritus provide homes for unwanted creatures and indicate a fine target to criminals.
Whitmer’s blithe words on planting likewise indicate a poor knowledge of the realities of gardening in the state she governs. With its first frost-free date usually falling after mid-May, Michigan falls in plant hardiness zones 4, 5, and 6. That means growers should start seeds indoors between March and April to get a jump start on Mother Nature. Unfortunately, under Whitmer’s order, purchasing seeds and other gardening supplies for indoor planting is not allowed.
In Michigan, these are currently not allowed:
-Lawn care
-Construction
-Buying home improvement materials
-Buying seeds & plants
-Fishing if a motor is used(Just to name a few)
All these are safe. But the Governor says no. We can ensure safety & be reasonable. Let’s do both.
— Lee Chatfield (@LeeChatfield) April 11, 2020
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, a larger-than-average number of people are preparing to grow their own food this spring. “Corona victory gardens,” as some have dubbed the initiative, harken back to the patriotic and useful victory gardens of World Wars I and II. With gardening novices now hoping to offset grocery store shortages on the home front, the New York Times reports that seed companies across the United States have experienced “a huge uptick in sales.” Seeds and potting soil are selling out, and garden centers have “rushed to get their inventories online.” Due to “unprecedented demand,” according to Real Simple, many online seed companies are “experiencing delays or are putting a hold on orders.”
With Whitmer’s order, Michigan garden centers and nurseries have been cut off from a booming trade, and Michiganders who hope to start “corona victory gardens” of their own must turn to online retailers with scant supplies.
Greenhouses planning to supply garden centers with plants also foresee a bleak future. Greenhouse operator Joe Theisen told Michigan Farm News he “doubts ‘[his company] will survive’” without being able to bring his perishable products to market. While flowers and other decorative foliage may not be essential for survival, they bring joy and a sense of normalcy to the bleakness of a pandemic. Greenhouses also supply the vegetable and fruit plants that allow home gardeners to enjoy the growing season without attending to seeds.
There are plentiful solutions to allow landscaping work and garden supply trade to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Landscaping companies could be limited to teams of one employee per lawn to adhere to social distancing protocols. Payments for services can be received online, by phone, or by mailed check. Gardening centers could be required to conduct business online or by phone, with contactless deliveries made directly to customers’ homes, or placed in vehicles parked curbside.
Michigan’s coronavirus outbreak is undoubtedly serious, with the fourth-highest number of cases in the country and the third-highest number of deaths in the nation. While some of Whitmer’s initiatives to curb the spread are sound, her attack on the vital landscaping and gardening industries is unnecessary.
Whitmer’s defense of these unpopular initiatives with her bizarre allusion to a brief snowfall seems ill-suited to placate Michiganders, who understand the wintry realities of spring in their northern state. Instead, Whitmer seems intent on pulling the wool over the eyes of national onlookers as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden considers her as a possible vice presidential running mate. Rather than courting national favor, Whitmer should return her focus to Michigan as she doubles down on onerous restrictions that will harm her own constituents.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
