MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Tidal Creek Growers By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Contributing Writer Tidal Creek Growers is a strictly wholesale nursery business, selling exclusively to landscapers and garden centers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Tidal Creek Growers was founded in 2002 by third-generation grower Jake Van Wingerden. “My grandfather immigrated here in the 1950s from Holland,” he explained. “He was a pioneer in the containerized bedding plant industry. My father and uncles were also in the business.” Originally from the Doylestown, Pa. area, Wingerden move to Colorado after high school when his father relocated his business. When he was 26, he decided to branch out on his own. He and his wife moved back east to put down roots near her family. Tidal Creek Growers now has locations in Earlville and Davidsonville in Maryland, shipping plants by the truckload to points as far north as Connecticut, to points as far south as Virginia, and out to western Pennsylvania. The modern, heated greenhouses produce containerized plants in peat moss year-round. Annuals and perennials, flowers and vegetables, bedding plants and more, they produce the pots of plants that garden centers display and sell to consumers. It could be spring bedding plants and starter vegetable plants, mums and pansies in the fall or poinsettias for winter. Tidal Creek Growers’ most popular products include petunias,
tulips marigolds, and geraniums. “Maryland is a nice central location from a distribution standpoint, and the weather is mild,” Wingerden said. “We try to be very modern with our production practices. We try to be very environmentally friendly and sustainable as well, that’s a very important piece for us.” New items are available every day as plants reach their peak. The plant selection also changes from year to year, as hardier varieties are developed and new flower color choices become available. “There’s always a new color or variety—a better strain,” Wingerden said. “Vegetables are a big part of our business these days. We do a lot of pepper and tomato plants, the starter plants you would buy and put in your own garden. There’s always a new tomato variety people out there want to try.” While people were spending more time at home during the pandemic, many of them came back to gardening or started it as a new hobby, leading to a growth in the industry in recent years. “We’re experiencing quite a bit of success as far as sales and demand, and new people wanting out product,” Wingerden said. “We’re a local agricultural business. It’s what modern agriculture looks like.” Tidal Creek Growers is expanding, with the recent purchase of a farm outside Cecilton. “We’re going to build a brand-new modern campus that will allow us to consolidate our two facilities into one and set ourselves up to be very efficient and sustainable for the long term,” Wingerden said.
GROWING TOGETHER
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