"The new property enables us to design and create tenfold our production", says owner Evie Lynn. The husband and wife business recently moved from a 6.91 acre business in Land O' Lakes to a 55 acre property in Groveland to be closer to the Apopka; the Foliage Capital of the World.
The new 55 acre property of Eve's Garden in Groveland
Eve's Garden grows and designs decorative Plants, Bonsai Trees, Lucky Bamboo, Tillandsia air plants and Gift Kits and have become one of the largest wholesale suppliers of these products throughout the USA.
Apopka
The main reasons for their move is to be closer to Apopka and to expand and automate their business. "We were on a 6.91 acre facility and over the years, it turned into a prime commercial property, which is not designed for a production nursery anymore. The property was situated in an out of the way area so the trucks would not pick up from Land O Lakes, and the buyers would not come visit us because it is about 2 hours south west of Apopka."
For this reason, Ms. Lynn started to look for another site a few years ago and found the perfect 55 acre property in Groveland, which is just about 30 minutes south of Apopka, and close to major routes for their buyers. "We decided to purchase this beautiful property and build all the necessary facilities needed to have our growing business", says Lynn.
Building from scratch
For the last three years, Lynn and her husband have spent many hours building up the new location; they have built it from scratch.
"It was all weeds and dead orange groves and you could barely walk through it", says Lynn. Now, they have four polyethylene greenhouses with a total size of 15,000 square foot, 30 acres of outdoor production and a 25,000 square foot split level packing facility with 4 loading docks. They also added a 15,000 square foot shade house in which they can produce over a million clippings a year, which will tenfold their production. "And we live right on the property so we can work long hours if needed to fill all the orders", Lynn adds.
What's special about their current property is their own built facilities, like their greenhouses and shade house. "Before ordering the materials for the greenhouses, we did a lot of research. Afterwards, we ordered all the material from different countries all over the world and started to build it ourselves with help from other experienced greenhouse builders." And also the shade houses are 'home-made'. "My husband, who is from Germany, was not pleased with the way the shade houses are built here in Florida, so he decided to design and build it himself, with German techniques."
"All in all, the new property enables us to handle large orders and process the orders more efficiently."
Busy times
Eve's Garden supplies large groceries, big box stores, florists and garden centers all over the USA and is in full production at the moment. Fall and Christmas is one of their busiest time of the year. Other peak seasons are, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day.
Future plans
In the future, Evie Lynn is eager to work more with customizing orders. "We have a new showroom and a design studio for the buyers to come visit and help design products for their stores." Evie comes from many generations of famous European Artists and Ceramicists and she uses her artist ability to create unique and artistic arrangements for the retail stores. "Increasingly more often, we receive a lot of requests from buyers for specific products. So, we offer this service and work close together with the buyers to creatively design and customized their orders."
For more information
Eve's Garden
Evie Lynn
Email: eve@evesgardeninc.com
www.evesgardeninc.com