Where Quality Brings Success

Sponsored by the Gambrills Flower Farm

What started out as a hobby for local resident Al Richards has become a passion for his entire family and a source of beauty for our entire community.

It all began when Mr. Richards built a greenhouse in order to furnish poinsettias for his church, Seton Parish. “I wanted to do something special, and I love the beauty of them during the holiday season,” explained Mr. Richards. “So I put a large greenhouse in the backyard, and it became a hangout, a nice place to be by myself to keep me occupied.” His success enabled him and his family to begin growing for the wholesale market in 1992.

Once he retired from the phone company, he began exploring the possibility of opening up a garden type business in the area. When a deal fell through for a place out on Route 424, Mr. Richards followed up on a tip from a local realtor and found his current site, the land along Route 175, right off of Route 3. What had once been an orchard required a great deal of clean up and hard work, but his vision was finally realized nearly a decade ago.

Starting in the spring season and continuing through the fall, thousands of drivers witness his beautiful floral scene when meeting up with the familiar sign for Gambrills Flower Farm.  To keep everything looking so stunning, Mr. Richards counts on help from his entire family. His wife Joyce helps with the planting. Daughter Lisa and son Keith run the retail sales and operation on site, greeting customers and attending to their needs.

In fact, helping customers is what the Gambrills Flower Farm is all about.

“Our goals are to maintain the highest quality standards for our products, to provide the best customer service possible, and to be a good neighbor within our community,” said Mr. Richards. Each year, the business contributes to local schools, churches, and scouts groups.

“Giving back to our neighbors is one of our ways of saying thank you to our community,” Mr. Richards said.  “We try to provide an atmosphere that brings enjoyment and relaxation to our customers.  Since we grow most of the plants we sell, we can provide the customer with information about which flowers can be planted together and how to maintain them. “

 

The farm contains 13 thousand square feet of greenhouse growing space.  Their growing starts in early January with un-rooted cuttings from Costa Rica and Guatemala that they put on propagation benches.  When the cuttings are rooted, they are transplanted into hanging baskets, containers, and combination pots. 

“Our planting workload gets very busy in March when most of the flowers for spring sales are planted,” explained Mr. Richards.  “During this time, vegetable seeds are germinated and planted for retail sales and for planting in our fields for summer produce sales.”

In the summer, the team starts growing mums, pansies and ornamental cabbage and kale for September and October sales and in their fields, they grow pumpkins, gourds and winter squash for later fall sales. 

“This year our growing season will be extended through December to grow poinsettias due to our customers’ requests,” Mr. Richards said.  They grow many different varieties and colors, including poinsettia trees.  “We will also have Christmas trees (mostly Frasier Fir and Douglas fir), fresh garland (roping) and wreaths.”

 Also this year, the team plans to start residential and commercial irrigation and outdoor lighting.

In the meantime, they will continue their commitment to high quality products, great customer service, and reasonable prices - the very reasons their customers keep coming back. 

“We will greet you when you arrive, thank you when you leave, and help you in between,” Mr. Richards promised.

Note:  For the month of March, they will be celebrating "Mulch Madness." From Friday, March 5th through Wednesday, March 31^st, customers will save 10% on all bag and bulk purchases of mulch. Go to www.gambrillsflowerfarm.com for more information on these and other specials!