Because her father set such a good example, Lynn Henning

has set up her wholesale plant business, Covered in Bloom, to

do much more for the community than provide greenery.

Henning says her dad, the late David Hardy of Macon,

"taught me from when I was just a little girl, how to grow plants and

how to treat people." He built her first greenhouses, she adds, in

1994 when she gave up her real estate management job in Atlanta to

start the home-based nursery because she needed to be close to her

two young sons.

Hardy, whom Henning describes as "one of the most

giving people on earth," died of cancer in 1995. It's his example that has

led her to open up the wholesale business to individual customers,

and to participate in "Partners in Education" and church

fund-raising, Henning notes.

She continues a long-standing policy of giving plants to

Fayette Senior Services and numerous county schools. Now parents

and others can come to Covered in Bloom, mention the name of

their favorite school when they purchase plants, and the nursery

will keep track and send checks for a percentage of sale to those

schools. There is no big "retail

markup," she says, again because she feels strongly that "everyone

should give back to their community as best they can."

Churches which want to fund a specific project, she says, such

as youth trips, missions or special outreach projects, can receive

the same percentages through agreements with Covered in Bloom.

The business has 62,000 square feet of greenhouse space and

is kept "a squeaky-clean environment," Henning says, because

of the danger from insects and diseases. She says the State

Department of Agriculture inspectors say "they love to come out here

because there's nothing for them to do." She pointed out a small

area of wild grasses in an open area, noting the grasses would be

uprooted "because I bet they're full of thrip," a tiny bug that sucks

the life out of such popular plants as impatiens. "Sticky cards" hang

in all the greenhouses, to trap bugs and alert the growers to

problems as soon as possible.

Besides insects, Henning says her biggest worry is "the

weather ... as an indoor farmer, I have come to have the utmost

respect for those people who depend on outside crops for their living;

I don't see how they do it."

Covered in Bloom stocks huge quantities of hundreds of

varieties of flowers, perennials and ornamentals, but no trees or

large shrubs. Hennings says "I figure if I can't pick it up, I won't grow

it." Most of the plants are propagated by her staff of 22, including

office manager Kristin Kuhr and construction manager Don Roberts.

The perennial garden being developed at the entrance to the

nursery also will include a "netted" area for butterfly habitat,

Henning says. That will make school field trips more educational and

exciting for children, she adds. Some of the butterfly-attracting

plants will include angelonia, scabiosa, verbena and pinta, she notes.

Now a single mother, Henning says she manages only with

the help of a nanny, Mary Pridgeon. Taylor, 7, is a Brooks

Elementary School student, and Connor, 4, goes to preschool. The boys

are noted in a "decorated" cement area as "future CEO's." The

business also supports seven dogs, four cats and four rabbits (who

are not allowed in the greenhouses).

"If you'll look you may see where I still write notes to

my father and put them around," Henning says. "I just try to

do what he would do, and I've been blessed because people seem

to like my products and the way I conduct business."

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