We Grow Things 

Jennifer is really good at math. And she has spent the last 30 years teaching—not in a classroom, but one on one with her students. Starting with her children, and extending to the local community of students, there are hundreds of young adults across middle Tennessee she’s had the privilege of working with. Some have learned how to succeed in a subject they might have thought they couldn’t master. Others, Jennifer has helped maximize their performance in the classroom or on standardized tests that have earned them scholarships that made furthering their education possible. 

 

Michael has spent the past 35 years in white-collar business, most of which has orbited around corporate finance in some way. He has traveled from accounting and investment banking at Price Waterhouse, to business management in the entertainment industry, to quantitative market research. Typical, no, but it has led beautifully to this moment at Country Gardens. 

 

Country Gardens is a family business. Jennifer and Michael are the only owners and that’s by design. We want to be as close to our customers and our employees as we can be. It’s also efficient. When we have a decision to make we just look at each other, talk about what’s best for our customers, our team members, and the health of our nursery, and decide. We think that’s the best way to run a business. 

 

We have been together since 1986. We’ve lived on the same farm in middle Tennessee since 1995, and we have five grown children and six grandchildren. We miss them and look forward to seeing them all again when the spring season is in the rear-view mirror. 

 

One last thing. We would be remiss if we didn’t say a few words about Treva and Tim Yoder. They founded this business almost fifteen years ago. They built something beautiful and there are a whole lot of people in middle Tennessee who’ve made the drive to Vanleer to purchase plants and who think the world of them. Count us in that number. They have been gracious, kind, and patient with us as we’ve gradually taken the reins of the business from them. We don’t know anyone better than the Yoders. And we’ll work as hard as we can to uphold the high bar they’ve set for Country Gardens Greenhouse.