Philip Reese, owner of Reese’s Plants, stands near the wreckage of a greenhouse at his Wilson Blvd. business.
BLYTHEWOOD – While many in the Blythewood and Fairfield County communities enjoyed the recent snow day vacations, Reese’s Plants, located at 10418 Wilson Blvd. in Blythewood, did not. One of its three greenhouses, a 35-by-120-foot steel frame covered in plastic, collapsed under the weight of snow and ice that accumulated on the top of the greenhouse over two days.
Owner Philip Reese said the business was closed at the time of the collapse. He said he discovered the collapse when he arrived at the plant nursery about 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 12 to check on things. Reese said that while there was only about $5,000 of plant inventory in the greenhouse when it collapsed, he estimated the total loss at about $25,000.
While the greenhouse and damaged plants were insured, Reese said the difficulty is in trying to find a greenhouse builder who can get to it right away.
“It shouldn’t take them more than two or three days to build it as soon as we can get them out here,” Reese said. “We hope to have it up and running in a few weeks. In the meantime, we’re open for business.”
