Hines Nurseries, based in Irvine, Calif. filed under Chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Aug. 20. Hines officials did not return phone calls seeking comment, but released a statement saying that although the company will continue to pay its employees and operate its business throughout the court proceedings, its assets will be sold to Texas-based Black Diamond Capital Management, a majority stakeholder in the company.

?EUR??,,????'??I think it?EUR??,,????'???s a sign of things to come,?EUR??,,????'?? said Brian Bradshaw, owner of Bradshaw Nursery, which grows specialty trees near Forest Grove in Oregon. ?EUR??,,????'??If sales are falling off and (Hines has) more expenses than they can continue to pay, it?EUR??,,????'???s likely there are other nurseries in similar situations and may see the same fate.?EUR??,,????'??

The business is part of a larger holding company that also owns nurseries in California, Arizona, Oregon and Texas. Hines Horticulture, Inc. earned more than $215 million last year.

More worrisome are the larger issues the nurseries now face. A struggling housing market has reduced the need for landscaping plants and rising labor and fuel costs have squeezed profit margins.

Container plants, used mostly for landscaping, have sold poorly this year with the national decline in the housing market.

Developers aren?EUR??,,????'???t building homes, which means less landscaping. And grocery shoppers have less change left over for flowers and plants.

Lagging sales of those same container plants are now contributing to the industry?EUR??,,????'???s slower growth, just 2 percent last year, according to an annual survey released by the Oregon field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service last week.

With less demand for their products, nurseries are cutting back on production to reduce the likelihood of excess inventory. As a result, some nurseries have seen as much as a 50 percent drop in sales and have begun trimming staff.