Founded in 1978, Natural Plus Nursery has officially wrapped up its 47th growing season! That’s right, 47 years of dirt under our nails, pots moved, and plants babied like they’re on payroll. 1978 to 2025 gives the nursery a long, scrappy, and deeply rooted history that we’re proud to continue building.
As the year comes to a close, we can’t help but feel that same transitional buzz we get each fall. Cooler days, quieter aisles, nature - and us - finally taking a breath. But what sticks out even more than the changing seasons is the community that keeps them all turning. Being a small business here in Clear Lake, Iowa means everything to us. This little corner of Iowa isn’t just where we sell plants, it’s where we belong.
Decades of Beauty, Planted One Season at a Time
This season was one for the books in more ways than one. Over 70% of our customers who shopped with us this year were folks we already knew by name, and that level of loyalty makes us grin every single time we see a car pulling in. Return customers aren’t just data to us, they're proof that the work we do here actually matters. We’re endlessly grateful for each visit, each recommendation shared, and each plant trusted to us to grow and nurture.
Tallying it all up, we sold nearly 1,500 trees, more than 1,000 shrubs, and over 1,000 perennials this season. That’s a lot of roots, leaves, and color sent out into the world. If you stretch those numbers back across our 40+ year legacy, the impact starts to feel enormous. Thousands upon thousands of trees shading streets, shrubs lining homes, and perennials bringing joy year after year. And knowing we played even the smallest part in that makes us feel pretty darn proud.
But it’s not just the volume that’s worth celebrating, it’s the ripple. A single tree planted in a front yard adds shade. Shade invites birds. Birds plant seeds. Seeds grow limbs and leaves that change the skyline and soften a neighborhood. Multiply that magic over the decades we’ve been here and the legacy becomes more than a nursery, it becomes a living timeline of beauty that keeps blooming forward.
Winter Ready, Spring Dreaming
As we lean fully into winter, we’re winterizing trees, insulating perennials, tidying the office, and diving head-first into planning for the 2026 nursery season. We’re ready for the snow, the wind, and those long Iowa winter nights but our eyes are already on spring, and we hope yours are too. Thanks for being part of another season with us. We’ll see you when the frost melts, the planners open again, and the first truck of green pulls in. See you in the spring, friends!