In 1926 Ed Hershberger and his wife Rilla, bought the farm from J. S. Yoder, one of several sons of C..Z. Yoder who was the father of the sons that started Yoder Brothers, Inc. Ed Hershberger operated the business until 1944, when he passed it on to his daughter, Clara and her husband Ellis Buchwalter. Clara and Ellis grew greenhouse tomatoes, which were planted early in the spring as well as bedding plants and geraniums. At that time, all the vegetables and flowering plants were grown in open wooden flats. They were then cut out and wrapped in newspaper as many as a customer needed.
Snapdragons were raised in the winter months and sold as cut flowers to area florists. Ellis would also go to local restaurants and groceries to sell his hot house tomatoes. What ever was left at the end of the day was sold to Farris Produce in Massillon. Clara and Ellis ran the greenhouse from 1944 until 1976 when it was sold to their son, Bill and his wife Betty Buchwalter.
Bill and Betty Buchwalter purchased the greenhouse in 1976. The first several years they continued growing tomatoes and bedding plants but with the gas shortages of the late 1970’s, it no longer became profitable to raise greenhouse tomatoes. For a few years, Bill and Betty rented out some of the greenhouse space to Hyponex who was doing some test work with houseplants. Bill and Betty also increased the amount of geraniums they grew and started to wholesale as well. The bedding plant business began to grow and soon the greenhouses were not large enough to meet the growing demand for their products.
Everything went well for a couple of years until one evening in 1978 when Bill, Betty, and their son Bob, then 19, were standing on the lawn when his father suddenly slumped to the ground, unconscious and not breathing. Bob, who had recently seen a movie which depicted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, put his newfound knowledge to work. And work it did, for Bill regained consciousness and before long was under the care of a skilled neurologist.
Bill survived, and seemed to be doing very well. However, a month later he become paralyzed, as if from a stroke, which was then followed by a long series of operations and other setbacks. Through it all, Bill displayed an indomitable will to live and kept his wonderful sense of humor. Doubtless, the key factor in Bill’s amazingly successful fight for life is his environment. Betty is also cheerful with a ready smile, and able to chuckle a bit at the long series of misfortunes that have ambushed her and her husband.
Bob joined in the family operation early in 1980 and married his lovely wife Carol in the fall of that same year. Carol helps at the greenhouse in the spring months and they have two wonderful daughters, Tiffany and Bethany who also help around the greenhouse.
In 1980, the Buchwalters built a new greenhouse manufactured by Rough Brothers. The structure was 41 ft. wide and 96 ft. long. They used this greenhouse as their new retail sales area and the other existing greenhouses were then used for production only. Business was blooming, and the Buchwalters continued to add new products to there already extensive line of plant material. They started offering a variety of flowering shrubs, perennials, and in the 1980’s, water gardening came onto the scene.
About ten years later, the greenhouse expanded again. This time Bob bought two greenhouses at an auction, dismantled them and built them next to the existing retail greenhouses. These additional greenhouses gave the Buchwalters more than 5,700 sq. ft. of new shopping area. This brought their total retail sales area to over 10,000 sq. ft. Buchwalter's began to offer landscaping to their customers, including the installation and maintenance of water gardens.
In the mid 1990’s, the Buchwalters realized that if they were to keep expanding their business, they were going to have to move the retail operation. Their parking lot was growing too small for spring sales and the angle of the road to the property was not going to allow any more expansion. So, in the summer of 1998, the Buchwalters began working on their present retail location. and by the spring of 1999, the new garden center was ready to open. The new structure has 11,880 sq. ft. of inside shopping area, 7,200 sq. ft. of covered outside shopping area, 2,880 sq. ft. of covered outside area for a drive-thru to pick up mulch and potting soil, and an additional 13,200 sq. ft. of outside shopping area dedicated to trees, shrubs, and perennials. There is room for 65 cars to park in their parking lot.
The Buchwalters attribute their growth to their belief and trust in God, lots of hard work, and conforming to the business philosophy of providing the best products for their customers at a reasonable price—the definition of “value”.
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