Ten minutes down the road, just off U.S. 17, there are a couple of low-slung buildings and, beyond them, a big enough greenhouse to cover 16 NBA regulation-size basketball courts. Inside, what you see first are the almost endless rows of seed trays growing wiry, grassy sprouts: 1.3 million sea oats.

EarthBalance was founded nearly 40 years ago and does other kinds of work — growing upland natives and freshwater aquatics, sending crews on swamp buggies and airboats into nature preserves, where they hack out invasive plants. But something is happening with beach plants now that the company has never seen. Last week, all 1.3 million sea oats in that greenhouse were spoken for, with many heading to Pinellas.

Once sea oats are planted, their root systems can grow 40 feet deep and help keep sand and soil from washing or blowing away. Their stems bat down more sand floating on the sea breeze. As the sand accumulates, dunes grow.

In Pinellas, the plants are one piece of a project to which the county has dedicated more than $30 million since last fall. It is, by far, the largest beach-planting project the county has undertaken, said John Bishop, its coastal management coordinator.

EarthBalance can go a year or two with no beach planting jobs. But more erosion means more work, so storms keep the company busy. The one-two punch of Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Idalia last year have left coastlines all over the state in need of restoration. This year alone, Laroque said, EarthBalance expects to install about 7 million beach plants, with no sign of demand slowing down.

The need for beach plants presents both a business boom and a quandary for EarthBalance. It is by far the largest grower and distributor of such plants in the region, Laroque said, but even it has only so much capacity. The company is adding 25,000 square feet to its greenhouses, but space isn’t its only limitation. Sea oats may look uncomplicated, but the process of cultivating them is complex. That’s why other nurseries don’t grow so many, and why EarthBalance values the seed at $500 to $1,000 per pound.

“It’s not easy,” Laroque said, “or everybody would do it.”

'Many sleepless nights'

EarthBalance’s nursery manager is Joe Hayden. He has tan forearms and inquisitive blue eyes. Hayden comes from a family of citrus growers. His grandfather ran the only grocery store in Fort Ogden, a small community south of Arcadia. He went to college for architectural design but, after getting his degree, found that he missed working with plants.

“The first week of sitting there drawing a house, I’m like, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t sit inside,’” he said.

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