History After having worked in many different areas within the horticulture industry the idea sprouted in the Fall of 1998 to start a perennial growing and distribution business. Holtex Enterprises officially opened for business on January 1st 1999. As with any new business the goal was to survive the 1st year. We were fortunate to have several nurseries give us a chance that spring. We did more things right than wrong and the business has grown beyond our expectations. We value the business of those same nurseries today that took a chance on us back in 1999. The first year we managed to get thru the spring without cold storage. We quickly realized that operating without proper cold storage would greatly limit our ability to supply fresh plant material to our customers. An existing building was converted into a freezer cooler that first summer. We went from no cold storage to being able to store a tractor trailer load at just below freezing temperature. This worked great for about a year and a half. By that time we had outgrown the space. An expansion project was started in late spring 2001 to increase cold storage capacity four fold. We built a new warehouse adding just over 2400 square feet of freezer space in addition to the 600 we already had. We are now able to store up to 5000 cases of bare root plants.  Freezers rather than just ordinary coolers have set us apart from our competitors. We might still be small but we consistently out perform our competitors in quality, service and ability to long term storage for later shipping of perennials.   Currently we offer over 1000 varieties and are able to ship any time during the year to meet our customers needs. We have chosen and continue to commit ourselves to producing and supplying field grown bare root perennials.    In 2008 we decided to increase our own production here in the US. Together with our friend Peter Kooiman we started Coastal Nurseries in order to have greater control and  be able to supply better quality plants to our customers. Concentrating on varieties that were either hard to get or consistently had questionable performance we have increased our production from just a few rows to over 6 acres. Astilbe, Iris ensata, Peony and Polygunatum are now some of the items now produced on our Woodland, WA farm. Products and Services Holtex Enterprises and Coastal Nurseries primarily caters to the medium sized wholesale perennial growers. All plants are shipped in full case lots. We have found that by packing them in bulk the quality stays better since there is less handling of the plants. All plants are shipped in the deep plastic crates. These crates are all clearly labeled inside and on the outside. These crates can easily be stacked and will not crush or collapse when they get wet. We first and foremost are a bare root supplier. We offer a huge line of quality field grown herbaceous perennials. We receive plants from our own farm here in the US as well as growers in Europe, Asia and South America. We strive to supply you with the specific plant size/grade you need for your specific need. One size generally does not fit all. Specific plants in a specific size are produced for a specific customer. Because of this all shipments can be traced to the originating nursery. We have and continue to work with a very limited number of growers who contract produce for us. There is no middleman or broker involved. The last twelve years have proven that it is far more beneficial to stick with reliable growers for the long haul than to always chase the lowest cost plants. We enjoy having more happy customers and very few problems. We can only be as good as our suppliers and therefore a closer cooperation with them is better than shopping around playing one grower against the other. Consistency is more important than a cheap price. We can guarantee same lot, same size and same grower from year to year. All the plants we supply are nursery grown and propagated. We do not sell wild collected plants. We are a USDA licensed importer/distributor of plant material protected by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Our wholesale plant list includes more that 1000 species and cultivars of perennials and bulbs. Many other varieties might be obtained simply by asking about availability. We also contract with a number of local liner growers who custom grow for us hard to get or difficult to store varieties in liner form. Many of these varieties are plants produced from tissue culture. Starting with virus indexed certified clean stock virtually eliminates the potential disease problems sometimes found in specific varieties. Almost all of these liners are shipped dormant or actively growing and can be easily substituted for bare root divisions. The finished result will be the same.   The traditional shipping season runs from January thru early May. Custom cold storage can be arranged for shipping dormant plants outside of the traditional season. Plants like Astilbe, Hosta and Hemerocallis are excellent candidates for planting thru the spring and summer. This provides for a more efficient use of  nursery space. An added benefit is that fresh crops will bloom at later than normal times of the year to take advantage of a longer selling season. Cold storage kept plants perform much better when planted in July or August that fresh dug plants at that time of year.