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A history of Van Thomme's Greenhouses past, present, and future...
In 1963, Blase and Eleanore Van Thomme
had the opportunity to rent this 40 acre farm. We named it Van
Thomme Produce, as we planned on growing vegetables to sell at our
roadside stand. We had planted a small field of pansies to
sell at the Detroit Eastern Market.
In the spring of 1964, people had seed
those beautiful pansies and stopped to buy them. About half of
those pansies were sold at the farm. The rest went to market.
We had built a small greenhouse to start vegetable plants for the
field. Later those plants were picked and sold at our stand.
In 1985 we built another small
greenhouse to grow some flowering plants to sell with our pansies.
Almost all were sold at the farm. We continued to increase our
flower growing as they sold well. Every customer walked out
with a smile.
In 1967, we purchased the farm and
continued growing until 1977. At that time we were so involved
in growing flowers that we discontinued growing field vegetables and
the name was changed to Van Thommes Greenhouse. We expanded
into year round flower production...spring bedding plants, fall
hardy mums, potted plants for Thanksgiving, Poinsettias for
Christmas, and Easter plants. We have tried to serve the
public as best we know how and we are proud of our operation.
Our three children always worked with
us and today we are going strong with the help of Debra, Dan, and
Carol, along with wife, husband and their children. It's truly
a family affair. Our children have pretty much taken over now.
They are always researching new and exciting varieties to grow along
with the older heirloom varieties. We now have about 25
greenhouses encompassing about 100,000 square feet of growing space.
We grow an acre of outdoor potted plants and 30 acres of hay.
For Christmas time we make wreaths, garland, grave blankets, and
many other Christmas items. We put on special events each
year, and will continue to serve the public with pride and quality
in the future.
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