| Tom is a Member of Our Backyard Growers Business Center which is why his nursery is being featured here. |
| In July 2017, I began a journey which has led me to operating Wild Juniper Nursery in northwest Lower Michigan – located at my home in Traverse City, Michigan – near Leelanau, Antrim, Benzie, and Antrim counties. My business is propagating, growing, and selling perennials, shrubs and ornamental trees in trade gallon pots for $5.97. I was always accused of spending too much time in my yard. One day it hit me. I actually love working outside and around plants. Two and half years later, I now carry roughly 8,000 potted plants covering 250 varieties. I sell plants at my house by appointment only. You can contact me at [email protected], at my web site: wildjunipernursery.com, on Instagram: wildjunipernursery or through my Facebook page: Wild Juniper Nursery. I sell at the Sara Hardy Farmers Market each spring and have 3 or 4 pop up sales throughout the season. I grow from my house without a greenhouse. Plants often take 3 or 4 seasons of caring before they’re ready to sell. These are not some mamby pamby plants! They’ve sat outside covered in 2 feet of snow, faced down a howling artic wind from Canada and have grown up close to YOUR home – not shipped in from a greenhouse in Tennessee. That makes them ready for success in your own landscape. Are you fed up looking at your old landscape? Are the shrubs all woody and overgrown? Wild Juniper Nursery can help you. It seems silly to me now, but I was the guy going to the box stores making plant buying decisions from a ½” plastic tag stuck in the pot. I had no idea whether that plant would grow in my yard. The folks working in the Garden Center were friendly, but it was obvious they didn’t know plants from allen wrenches. Sound familiar? Stop what you’re doing! Come pay us a visit. We talk plants and will help you make good buying decisions. Did you catch what I said above? We offer all this and sell most of our plants for $5.97 – sure we have some plants that cost more than that, but even those are a bargain. I’m not going to list all 250 varieties here, but if you go to my web site wildjunipernursery.com, you can find more information. I take great pride in being a local business. Over 95% of my potted plant – from the soil, the plant, and heck – even the pots are made in Michigan, just up the road. If you’ve ever vacationed in our beautiful Traverse City area, you understand why I live here. Help me out by sharing my story with friends and family that have a cottage here but don’t know the “local nursery” to get their plants for the cottage. We carry a large selection of native plants, pollinators, and shade loving plants. WE ALSO CARRY PERENNIALS AND SHRUBS OUR LOCAL DEER AND RABBITS WON’T EAT! So who was my mentor that got me started on this journey? Where do I turn to for advice, support, or a kick in the pants from a donkey owner? None other than Mike McGroarty and the Backyard Growers Club. I turn to this group every single day. It’s like knowing the farmer down the road. They are there to help my nursery succeed! Mike is a no nonsense nurseryman with over 30 years’ experience. And yes, he too operates his own nursery, just like the farmer down the road. |
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