PuckettFern.com
Title
WM. F. Puckett, Inc. - Grower, Shipper and Distributor of Floral Greens
Description
When Julie (my wife) and I were children growing up in Florida, both our grandparents were fern growers. The only product grown at the time was plumosus. The industry was a family business. Plumosus was grown under oak hammocks, wooden slat houses, and the family orange trees. I always enjoyed tagging along with my mother as she cut under the orange trees, especially when the fruit was ripe, as I would climb a tree and eat until I could hold no more. Our grandmothers would leave the field each morning to cook a nourishing lunch for the family.
A sign would be posted in the window of the packing house each day to let the ice man know how many pounds of ice to leave as the plumosus was shipped by non refrigerated train. The ice was chipped in each box to keep it as cold as possible.
Our fern was packed in wooden boxes and loaded on a flat bed truck for the four mile trip to the old train depot pictured above. (Julie and I left from the old train depot for our senior high trip to Washington D. C., I, a year ahead of her.)
