In June 2000, Ray and Stacy Greenstreet purchased a greenhouse operation in Southern Anne Arundel County, Lothian, Maryland to grow some plants and raise their family. But, "our roots" actually began in the mid-seventies on the existing 55-acre farm. At that time, a small "rooting station" was established to grow plants for Ball Seed Company wholesale customers. As the years passed, neighbors and locals bought the extra plants for their gardens. Word-of-mouth referrals helped build the landscaper and homeowner side of the business. In the summer of 2000, the Greenstreets expanded the property to the ever-evolving business of today. Greenstreet Growers, Inc., home of Greenstreet Gardens, is a dynamic complex, located around the corner from Prince George's and Calvert counties. We are just south of Annapolis and not too far from Baltimore, Washington D.C., or our neighbors in Virginia.

We are a year-round operation, growing all kinds of plants from ageratum to zinnia for both our wholesale and retail customers. The aerial photo gives you an idea of how big an operation we really are. We utilize existing quonset houses from earlier days, and have constructed a 70,000 sq-foot state-of-the-art greenhouse equipped with all the latest technology to both grow and ship our plants. Ask those who take our tours; our facility is quite impressive.

We employ close to 60 people, most of whom work directly in our greenhouses. We receive "cuttings" and "seeds" and immediately start the growing process. They start in small trays then are transplanted in larger pots to ship out to our customers. We have customers nationwide and ship our plants via our own fleet of trucks, air travel, or overnight fed-ex. With our modern loading dock access, local and regional customers can easily and safely pick up their plant orders.

In the spring of 2005, we opened our Retail Garden Center and Flowers & Gift Shop. Here you'll find all kinds of shopping delights. Our 14,000 sq. ft. greenhouse is filled with a huge selection of annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs and all the amenities for your landscaping projects. The staff's enthusiasm for gardening is quickly obvious -- we want our customers to have fun, learn new gardening tips, apply them to their own specific environment and, most importantly, enjoy their gardens. Our Gift Shop offers, Vera Bradley, Crocs™, Lampe Berger, Summer Classics outdoor living furniture, Beanpod Candles®, Chamilia, She Beads, Yankee Candles™, Pawley Island hammocks, unique pottery, local art and wood works, yard ornaments, yard tools, and other garden goodies for yourself or for that special gift item. So come on by to South County's shopping destination.

We have quite a staff on board. The owners, Ray, Stacy, their three kids, Ryan, Seth and Abigail (photo above) live on the property. Ray has been in this business all his professional life and just about all his personal life too. His first job as a teen was at a greenhouse operation. After high school, he attended horticulture school in Chicago, then returned to Maryland, managing both landscaping projects and propagation programs. Ray joined Ball Seed Company as a Sales Representative and during his time on their sales force, he learned about the opportunity to purchase the business here. Stacy, as Vice President, has an integral role in the operations of the business; from our advertising and marketing to employee payroll and benefits. She takes an active role in our community programs and can often be seen assisting our customers in the greenhouse or the Gift Shop. It's really a family affair. Ray's parents, and his plant-crazed, exuberant aunts (that's them in the picture) take an active part in the business as well. It's very common to see Ray Sr. riding the tractor, Ray's mom Sandy setting up a product display, or one of the aunts running the cash register in the retail shop. The Greenstreets work hard to cultivate not only plants but the warm, friendly atmosphere patrons expect from a family business. The rest of us consider ourselves extended family and bring various backgrounds to the business. Whether you deal with our retail managers on what plants would do well in your outdoor space or you are helped by one of our high school staff loading mulch bags in your truck, we all are committed to providing the best customer service to go with our high quality plants and products.

Every season brings different activities here at Greenstreet Growers, Inc.. We start each new year receiving millions and millions of cuttings and seeds. We manually plant them in trays and grow them for the required crop time. Each week, we are ship these pre-finished plants to our wholesale customers to finish the growing process. Our drivers deliver plants up and down the East Coast with plans to expand our delivery area to include some Central states. While folks are more worried about the snowfall than their gardens during the winter months, that's when we are in full gear preparing for the spring season.

By mid-April, we are bursting at the seams with finished plants for our retail division as well as our local landscaper clients. Our plants come alive with vibrant colors. You can find our plants all over the metro area; from Pentagon Row to historical preservation and hotel sites. And, of course, in many of the local homeowner's yards; that's how we earned our tag line, "We're the place your neighbors are talking about".

When summer comes along, we are ready with all kinds of exotic tropicals to compliment decks, patios and poolsides. One of our buyers makes a special winter trip to Florida to ensure that our tropicals are of the highest quality. People love having us pot up palm trees with annuals tucked inside to create a one-of-a-kind container garden for their backyard. During the summer months, we also begin receiving our fall cuttings; mums, pansies, and poinsettias.

Once summer fades into fall, we're ready with everything folks need for autumn- pansies, mums, millet, pumpkins, cornstalks, ornamental cabbages and kale, Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations that naturally gear you towards the Christmas Holiday season. You have never seen so many shades of red until you have visited us during December and walk through our holiday displays. Our poinsettias fill homes, businesses, and churches. We also specialize in custom-made wreaths and centerpieces to complement our customer's personal home decor. Check out our Gift Shop for some new and unusual holiday gift ideas and great stocking stuffers. We also carry live, fresh-cut and artificial Christmas trees.

We also are very community oriented. When shopping on the weekends, you may see a local Boy Scout trooping selling hotdogs or a nearby church group selling snow cones. We host various school FUNdraisers on the property where people come to get their faces painted, go for a tractor or pony ride, visit the petting zoo, jump in the moon bounce, buy our plants and gifts, and lots of other activities that generate money for a worthy cause and provide a day's entertainment for the family. We all take pride that our place of work gives back to the communities in which we live and raise our families in.

For those of you who enjoy some technical details about us, Greenstreet Growers, Inc. propagates rooted liners for Simply Beautiful and the Flower Fields, poinsettias, mums and tender perennials and vegetative plants for fall. Our newest greenhouse complex is used for both cutting and finished production. The propagation area is equipped with a fog system and an under-the-bench hot water system with rolling benches. The greenhouses are monitored by an ACO computer system. Some other features include: double-shading system, in-floor hot water system, open roof, and a monorail cart system that travels along the hearing system to move the products. We also have two weather stations that monitor temperatures so we can make necessary adjustments when Mother Nature pulls a change on us. And speaking of Mother Nature, our modern technology enables us to expedite the growing process for our crops, making sure proper nutrient requirements are met. A substantial investment was made for our irrigation systems. To make all this happen, we worked closely with Soil Conservation and other Anne Arundel County agencies to comply with storm management and erosion control.

Thanks for learning a bit about us; we look forward to seeing you soon and if you have already stopped by, well, come again soon as plant crops change and new gift shipments arrive regularly. If you haven't already, check out our Calendar and Happenings pages for current information about events on the farm.