For those looking for a boutique plant nursery with a wide variety of annual and perennials, including native plants, Bright Lane Gardens in Lake Ann might just be the perfect stop for you this spring.
This season, Bright Lane Gardens opens for public retail on Mother’s Day weekend, May 10 and 11, as well as the following weekend on May 17 and 18. During these weekends, the business will have its full selection of inventory available, including ornamental trees and flowers, annuals, hanging baskets, vegetable starts, edible perennials, fruit trees and bushes, and of course, native plants. On June 21-22, Bright Lane will host its annual native plant sale, with over 65 varieties of regionally native trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses available.
The small business, owned and operated by husband and wife duo Anna and Nick Ohler, first opened in 2020. Over the last five years, the property has not only transformed into the successful business that it is today, but also an educational hub.
“We have always had an interest in plants, we’ve always been gardeners. We found a commercial property in Lake Ann, and it just had a nice set up for us, so we kind of put two and two together and decided to start a little side hobby, which has grown significantly since then,” Anna said. “We’ve grown immensely infrastructure-wise and have added two hoop houses since then and we’ll be adding a third this year. We’ve increased our retail space out there and we’ve really started to focus and niche out into native plants, so that’s our bread and butter.”
Beyond providing many flowers and plant varieties, the couple is committed to education and outreach, and offer online resources, in-person guidance, and professional landscape design services to help people incorporate native plants into their own gardens and spaces. In addition, the Ohler’s operate a YouTube channel with nearly 9,000 subscribers that tune in to listen to and learn from tutorials that are specific to the region, native plants, garden tips, and landscape ideas. The online channel has been popular among Bright Lane’s customer base as videos are targeted to the growing zone in the region.
Anna said they strive to have local, native plants in supply for their customer- base, adding that these plants are not just beautiful, but equally as beneficial to the environment. The common misconception is that all flowers are good, but Anna said there’s actually a lot of invasive and beautiful species out there that look great, but don’t necessarily add back to the environment.
“When you’re growing native plants, they’re adding back to the soil. A lot of times, they’re good for erosion control, they’re good for birds, they’re good for butterflies and the bees,” Anna said. “So they’re a full service plant, they offer a lot with their roots in the soil, they offer a lot with their nectar, they can be caterpillar host plants, so they do more than just look beautiful.”
Some of the early bloomers that will be available at this time of year include nodding onion, Canada anemone, milkweed, and purple coneflower, among others. Anna said they’ve really started to develop into a little bit more of a landscape design approach where they’re showing people easy to work with options, as well as educating people on taller native plants out there that can attract birds and butterflies. Bright Lane Gardens partners with the Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network to ensure that all of the plant species they carry that are non-native are still not invasive to the region.
“There’s more to having a beautiful garden than just the plants, it’s the animals and the insects that you attract that really add to the overall vibe that you’re creating,” she said. “But we do have some of those classic flowers for mom, so that’s something that we like to make sure we’re offering our customers earlier in the season. As the season continues, we kind of switch out our inventory, annuals are less sought after at that point, and that’s when we’re switching over to some of our perennial native plants.”
Part of the success of the business, Anna explains, is their ability to keep growing each year and to continue listening to their customers. Their original idea of Bright Lane Gardens and what it was going to look like has changed completely since 2020, but taking into consideration what customers are in need of has played a big part in that evolution process.
“Every year we pay attention to what sells well, what people get excited about, and we really try to invest more in that area,” she said. “We’re really passionate about what we do — we’re really passionate about the environment, the native plants and being able to make a difference on that front… Native plants are a really easy way for you to say, ‘I’m doing something small, it’s benefiting my yard, it’s also benefiting the environment, and I’m making a difference.’ That’s something we’ve really leaned into and have become very passionate about and it’s easy to invest time into something that you feel so passionate about.”
People can pre-order plants online now for local pickup at their retail location starting May 10. Orders can be picked up as early as 10 a.m. the following day, seven days a week. Bright Lane’s website brightlanegardens.com and blog also contain growing instructions, landscape design tips/suggestions, and other educational tools to help people succeed in their gardening endeavors.
