Debra Croft says she finds “peace of the spirit” growing flowers and vegetables at her Burnham greenhouse business. From February to late fall, Croft can be found – often barefoot – amid her poppies or day lilies or pansies or lobelia. The satisfaction she gains from working the earth, planting and growing is immeasurable, she maintains.

“This is my dream, my goal,” she said, gazing around at the rainbow of colored flowers in one of her greenhouses. “This is my life.”

A one-person operation, Croft’s Maplecroft Farm just off Route 100 clearly illustrates the exploding growth of the industry in Maine. This fall, Croft and her husband, Brian, a contractor, will build a third greenhouse to accommodate more inventory.

“Every year it has grown. Every summer I see new customers,” said Croft. “And every year I sell out my inventory of thousands of annual plants.”

Croft is even considering hiring summer help.

More than 830 Maine businesses exist in this growing industry with 115 firms established just in the past five years. Maine Department of Agriculture statistics reveal that between 1993 and 1998, income from horticulture, landscaping and floriculture grew by $93 million.

The horticulture segment of the state’s agriculture industry now generates $288 million of business a year. Nationally, the value of production has grown an average of $440 million a year since 1991. Maine’s greenhouse and nursery businesses account for 5 percent of all farm cash receipts, coming in slightly less than wild blueberries at 8 percent and all other fruits and vegetables, excluding potatoes, at 8.3 percent.

Just south of Maine, horticulture receipts account for a full third of all cash receipts by farmers in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“This aspect of Maine agriculture is experiencing staggering growth,” said Deanne Herman of the marketing division of the Department of Agriculture.

At least 10,500 people have careers in this industry in Maine and an estimated 2,200 more employees are needed. More than 52 percent of those jobs are full-time positions. Last year, the industry paid $21 million in taxes. A bonus, said Herman, is that the industry is keeping more than 14,200 acres of Maine land in agriculture.

For Croft, the decision 25 years ago to work the land was simple. “I just wanted to stay home and work the farm,” she said.

The couple established a maple syrup business at their maple tree grove, set back a mile from the roadside where the greenhouses and gardens are located.

Also in the woods, unseen from the hundreds of greenhouse customers, is the couple’s farmhouse and pond. For the past 25 years, the Crofts have maintained a nearly pioneer existence. “We just got running water and indoor facilities two weeks ago,” said Croft. “But I’m rich. Doing this – gardening, planting, growing – I’m rich of spirit.”

Her customers count on Croft’s passion, frequently asking questions about cultivation, hardiness and when to plant. (“Wait until the full moon begins to wane,” she advised a customer Wednesday.)

A graduate of Unity College, Croft said she always has been fascinated by gardens.

“Maybe that is why I put so many tall plants in the garden,” she joked, “because as a child I always felt so much smaller in the garden.” She said her customers tell her they are content spending more time at home and that gardening has become not just a pastime, but a way to increase the beauty and value of homes.

“Flowers also bring back memories,” she said. “Trading flowers and plants with friends creates meaning in the garden.”

Surrounded by thousands of perennials – her specialty – and thousands more annuals, Croft puts in 15-hour days and seven-day workweeks. She starts potting seeds during the first week in February and doesn’t take a break until after cider-pressing season in the fall. “Then I begin planning for next year,” she said.

Croft said that although Maine has a short growing season, there are hundreds of varieties of hardy perennials available and that annuals can provide constant color. Maplecroft carries the basic garden favorites but Croft said she can’t help adding a new variety or unusual species each year.

Maine agriculture researchers are doing their part to make sure they assist Maine growers like Croft.

Steve Reiling, associate director of the Maine Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station at the University of Maine, said there are a number of important studies being conducted on the Orono campus.

“A lot of what we do deals with testing plants for winter hardiness,” he said. “There are trials going on continuously. We are also trying to look at native Maine species and are propagating those so they can be sold in local greenhouses.”

Promoting Maine’s species has two benefits, said Reiling. “It would make the Maine landscape look like Maine,” he said, “while providing unique crops for local greenhouses that would set them apart from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot.”

Reiling said another important MAFES study involves turf grass. “We have been testing it for hardiness for several years,” he said. “We are working closely with golf courses, schools and towns where there are playgrounds.”

Surrounded by thousands of blooms and perennials hungrily reaching for the warm sun this week, Croft said she was ready for the crush of spring customers. “I’m ready. Let them come. The plants await.”