Hi, if you are reading this, thanks for visiting our page. I am the owner, David Brennan, and have been selling plants and later doing landscaping for over 50 years. Way back in the early 70's I came to Athens, Ohio and never left. I started selling fruit from a cart on Union Street and Court in Athens in 73 and upon meeting my first wife, Nancy, we moved it to The Plains where we started selling produce and put up our first garden center. We later moved it down to the area in The Plains where Piggly Wiggly is now. We also sold plants at the Athens Mall for several years. I did a few plantings for elderly customers who had purchased material, but did not really do landscaping.
In the early 80's. we moved to Route 56 andf Route 682 in Athens next to the Crossroads gas station and stayed there for 25 plus years until the land was sold. I was by myself at this point though later joined by Paula who helped out a lot, like Nancy had. We did very well at that location for a number of years until the big box stores started selling plants under the now current system known as click and pay. In other words, a big store does not buy the material and only pays for it after it is paid for (the click stands for the cash register). Now the big stores could get huge amounts of plants without incurring a loss on unsold material. My little garden center, as all garden centers experienced, could not compete. Plus the land was sold and there was no sense in moving. But when one door closes, another one opens.
The last few years we had started to do more landscaping. Then a funny thing happened. People would want a nice rock border in front of the flower bed. Or deer netting installed to stop the plants from being eaten. I was constantly being asked if I did fences, pavers, walls, etc.. The next thing I knew, we were building a fence or two. Then a paver patio, then a retaining wall, more landscaping, then a backyard waterfall. I started making good relationships with various vendors. I became certified in Integrated Concrete Pavers (ICPI) and in retaining walls (SRW) through the Concrete Masonry Assocciation (CMA). My philosophy has been to overengineer and use the best products out there.
In the meantime, I joined Angi (formely known as Home Advisor) in 2012 and have gotten a lot of jobs through that platform. I am hoping this web site will also garner attention and possible jobs in the future. I have 5 employees and we added decks in 2024 to our portfolio. We believe in using 6 by 6 posts and as little ground contact as possible utilizing Simpson Strong Ties for the connectors. There are pictures in the gallery on the web page, please check them out. In the meantime, please ask any question at all. I do the flowers at the Ohio University Inn (for 28 years) and have some folks who follow me on Facebook. If you have any questions about growing plants, please ask. My lady friend and I garden like crazy and I am stopped constantly in Krogers or around Athens with plant questions.
Future posts will be about gardening, how we put up fences, decks, and any other aspect of our operation. Please stay tuned and thanks for reading this.
David Brennan