March 1994 Carroll Gardens perennial mail-order catalogue
Carroll Gardens 444 East Main Street, Westminster, Carroll
County Maryland 21157
Labels and keywords: plants, horticulture, perennials,
mail-order catalogue, Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland, agriculture,
history
Carroll Gardens was once an important part of the history of
the business of agriculture in Carroll County
December 31, 2014 by Kevin E. Dayhoff
I recently came across a box of old plant catalogues,
invoices and papers from the years I made a living as a nursery stock farmer,
1974 to 1999. I raised perennials, shrubs and trees. To further make ends meet,
I also did landscape design and contracting and property management. It kept me
very busy for 25 years. I’ve now been retired from farming for over fifteen
years and I still miss it.
I worked for Pasquale Donofrio at Carroll Gardens in the
late 1960s. I loved working there.
I also enjoyed working with Alan Summers beginning in 1984,
when he purchased the business. It was great to take my landscape design
customers there to pick out plants. Mr. Summers was a wealth of knowledge and
worked tirelessly to make Carroll Gardens weather the changes in the market and
the economy.
The plant mail-order business that Carroll Gardens did so
well, was a natural outgrowth of the mercantilist economy that made Carroll
County Maryland an agricultural and economic powerhouse for over a hundred
years after the American Civil War in the early 1860s.
The unfinished goods were brought to Westminster and Carroll
County and exchanged for finished goods. This resulted in accumulated capital
that was leveraged into public infrastructure, factories plant and equipment,
manufacturing, agri-business and a great quality of life for Carroll County
citizens.
The mail-order plant business was a great economic model
that we see today repeated in the internet – on an even more global scale.
Carroll Gardens did it well.
I retired as a nursery stock farmer– perennial grower in
1994. Changes in the business compressed profit margins and the increases in
doing business and difficulties in the regulatory climate, especially in
Maryland, simply made it too difficult to continue. Or at least, I was
certainly not smart enough to adapt.
Carroll Gardens was once an important part of the history of
the business of agriculture in Carroll County - that will no doubt fade into
history and it makes me sad...
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Economy blights a beloved garden center
Debt, poor sales forcing owner to close Carroll Gardens at
end of this month
By Susan Reimer Baltimore Sun reporter
June 2, 2009
Carroll Gardens, a quaint and slightly ragged cinder-block
garden center at the end of a dirt road in Westminster, is closing at the end
of this month after having been a resource for gardeners since the 1930s.
Alan Summers, who has owned Carroll Gardens since 1984 and
hosted a garden talk show on WCBM-AM for nearly as long, announced his decision
Saturday on the show, stunning customers and disappointing longtime employees
who had hoped against hope for a reprieve….
No hyperlink to this story is readily available…
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Carroll Gardens to Suspend Business
Effective June 30th, 2009, Carroll Gardens will suspend
accepting orders for shipment. Our store in Westminster is also scheduled to
close on that date. The Saturday morning call-in radio show, which we have
provided for the last 20 years, will continue for the foreseeable future. (The
Garden Club; WCBM-680AM; 7-8 a.m. Saturday Morning)
To satisfy our creditors, we must raise cash. Our loss is
your gain! All products and plants on CarrollGardens.com and in the store are
being sold at 25% off, subject to availability and first come first served. If
you have gift certificates or credits, please use them now. Your credit card
will not be charged until your order is shipped and there can be no backorders.
If Carroll Gardens can resolve its financial problems, we
will resume business. We have the potential of an investor which may allow
Carroll Gardens to continue. There is one last thing that we are requesting of
you. If Carroll Gardens returns, I would like it to be better than it is now.
Please send me a brief email describing what Carroll Gardens means to you and
what you will miss without Carroll Gardens. (Please send emails to
info@carrollgardens.com.)
Carroll Gardens was founded more than 75 years ago as a
mail-order company. Through these years, it has been our pleasure to serve you
and we truly regret having to suspend business.
Alan L. Summers
President
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
Patuxent Publishing Co., The Carroll Eagle: www.explorecarroll.com: http://www.explorecarroll.com/search/?s=Dayhoff&action=GO
The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41
The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41
Westminster Patch: http://westminster.patch.com/search?keywords=Dayhoff
Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net
Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/
E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net
Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/
E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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