Couple deep-roots with Fort Smith business

FORT SMITH – Bill and Joe Neumier closed Neumeier Nursery and Florist last month after 54 years of flourishing business.

The nursery was started in 1968 at the home of married couple Bill and Joe Neumeier. Soon, their three children and the greenhouse outgrew the space. He moved his home and business almost directly across the street in 1976 to the historic 3327 N. O. St. House, which was built in 1904.

Five acres provided the perfect location to add a greenhouse and open a flower shop in the original carriage house.

Joe Neumeier recalled that Bill was against having a flower shop he worked in when he was in college. She said a friend was interested in working for her in the floral department, but Bill said he wouldn’t wait until he died or fell from a cooler heaven.

“So a cooler fell from heaven,” she said. “It really did. Bill’s brother worked for a company that was taking things from storage buildings that people hadn’t paid for, and they used to say ‘Empty it and dump it.’ Well, one of them had a cooler. A big, old cooler. So he went over here and said ‘I can’t take this to the dump. It’s great.’ He said ‘Would you like it?’ So Bill called my friend and said a cooler had fallen from heaven. Two weeks later, he came to work for us.”

Neumiers’ daughter, Lisa Hearn, said the friend was Clancy Armstrong, who later started Expression Flowers off Garrison Avenue.

Joe Neumeier said he didn’t even have a compressor for the cooler for a time.

“So Clancy would come to work every morning with a big block of ice, and we put a fan in the cooler and blow it over the ice to keep our flowers cool,” she said. “We did this every morning. And in the end, we had enough money to buy a compressor, so we got it up and running.”

Hearn recalled other unusual times about living and working in the nursery, including making pots from the ceiling for customers to take home, as plastic utensils were not made at the time. They quickly became recyclers as well.

“The kids learned to be polite, because we went to grade school at St. Boniface’s School, they got those boxes from the lady in the cafeteria,” Hearn said. “So she would dump green beans and corn, and there we would be after school with those dirty cans in a black plastic bag, and I would be like ‘Please don’t let anyone see us.'”

Joe Neumeier said that nurseries have seen a boom in business over the years due to COVID-19 and people having more time for hobbies. He said that it is good to see the younger generation also planting saplings.

“My granddaughter has a store in Shawnee, Okla. Of course, she’s a young man running a store. When I went to see it, I was a little surprised because the place where I kept a lot of things was so stark It was like pottery and plants, and that was, and it was booming. They were selling rooted cuttings, which we would never have thought of doing. It’s just a whole new generation that is into plants. interested, and that’s great,” she said. “it’s really great.”

Joe Neumeier and Hearn said that running their family business helped teach future generations of the family how to grow their own businesses, and many of them enjoy planting as a hobby.

Neumeyer said she was surprised by the public’s reaction to the nursery closing in late July.

“I’ve got the cards. One of them said they’re shopping for the fourth generation here. It was very touching,” Neumeier said. “I think that just surprised me the most, that people were so attached to the nursery, that it meant so much to them. Hate to take it away. I think it felt like home.”

Hearn said he felt people developed personal relationships with nurseries and staff because of their level of service compared to larger chains.

“You can show up and say, ‘I have all the shade in my yard,’ so that person can take you and say, ‘Well that’s everything that will work in your yard.’ And then they box it, and then they put it in your car and then they take you there. So that person, when they come back they’re like, ‘I want Tanya, because Tanya knew exactly That’s what I have in the yard and she knows what will fit.’ So this is that service,” Hearn explained.

“If we could turn back the clock we would stop, because we love it. But we’re getting older, and you can’t do it forever,” Neumeier said. He said that they cannot sell the business as it is also their house.

Joe is 79 years old and Bill is 82 years old.

Joe Neumier said they will still garden for their personal enjoyment, and will announce on Facebook when they plan to open it to the public for photography or simply to enjoy the garden. She said she loves Audrey Hepburn’s quote ‘To plant a tree is to believe in tomorrow,’ and she hopes the nursery in Fort Smith has left that impression.

“It’s never too late to plant,” she said. “This is the future, whether it’s for you or someone else.”