McKay Nursery Company

What McKay Nursery Company does

McKay Nursery Company, founded in 1897 by William McKay in southern Wisconsin, is an employee-owned (ESOP) horticultural producer and retailer operating from headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin on nearly 2,000 acres of owned growing land. The firm's core competency is cultivation of cold-hardy nursery stock adapted to USDA zone 5 conditions, propagated using proprietary transplanting and root practices that produce dense, hardy root structures; a dedicated propagation division produces over 2 million plants annually, including perennials, trees, evergreens, shrubs, and edible plants. The product catalog is organized around five core plant categories (Perennials, Trees, Evergreens, Shrubs, Edibles) with unit prices ranging from roughly $21 for entry perennials to $482.99 for premium trees.

The company monetizes this growing base through four parallel channels: a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site (mckaynursery.com) with nationwide FedEx shipping and free shipping above $199; two retail garden centers in Oregon and Oshkosh, Wisconsin; a wholesale nursery division shipping bare root, balled-and-burlapped, and container stock to growers, garden centers, and landscape contractors across the northern US from Alaska to Maine; and a Design Pros landscape design, installation, and maintenance service operating in Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and Minnesota. Ancillary revenue includes landscape architecture for residential and commercial properties and digital gift cards redeemable online. Customers span home gardeners and DIY consumers (primary), residential landscape clients, wholesale buyers, and commercial-properties segments. The firm differentiates on heritage (125+ years), regional climate adaptation, warranty support, and ESOP-driven operational continuity, holding recognitions including WI ESOP Company of the Year and multiple WLCA and hardscape industry design awards.

Name

McKay Nursery Company

Legal name

McKay Nursery Company

Website

https://mckaynursery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1897

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

McKay Nursery Company is an employee-owned, Wisconsin-based horticultural producer founded in 1897, operating nearly 2,000 acres and over 2 million plants annually, serving home gardeners, landscapers, growers, and commercial clients across the northern US via e-commerce, garden centers, wholesale, and landscape design services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nursery Plants & Landscape Services

NAICS

Nursery and Tree Production (111421), Nursery and Floriculture Production (11142), Nursery, Garden Center, and Farm Supply Retailers (44424)

SIC

Agricultural Production-Crops (100), Retail-Building Materials, Hardware, Garden Supply (5200)

akta.pro primary industry

Protected Cultivation of Specialty Crops (Orchids, Bonsai, Exotics) (AFAGAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Nursery Stock & Propagule Production (Cuttings, Rootstocks, Grafts) (AFAGAIAO), Landscape Plant & Nursery Stock Wholesalers (Grower-Wholesalers) (AFAGAHAM), Plants, Seeds & Nursery Retail (Garden Centers) (CRAIAIAB)

Keywords

• Wholesale nursery stock
• Landscape design services
• Retail garden center
• Nursery plant cultivation
• Ornamental tree production

Headquarters

HQ city

Waterloo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Retail Plant Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales of perennials, trees, shrubs, evergreens, and edibles through online store and garden centers
2. Wholesale Nursery: Bulk nursery stock sales to growers, garden centers, and landscape contractors including bare root trees and shrubs, balled and burlapped trees, evergreens, and potted nursery stock
3. Landscape Design and Installation: Full-service landscape architecture, design, installation, and maintenance for residential and commercial properties including hardscapes, softscapes, natural stone, pavers, fire features, and outdoor living spaces
4. Gift Certificates: Digital gift cards redeemable at online store in denominations from $25 to $300

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

McKay Nursery Company cultivates and sells northern-hardy nursery stock (perennials, trees, shrubs, evergreens, and edibles) through direct-to-consumer e-commerce with nationwide FedEx shipping, two retail garden centers in Oregon and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and a wholesale division supplying growers and landscape contractors from Alaska to Maine. The company also provides professional landscape design, installation, and maintenance services through in-house Design Pros serving Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and Minnesota.

Product overview

McKay Nursery Company is a horticultural nursery and online plant retailer offering a diverse catalog of plants across multiple categories. The company operates as both an e-commerce platform and a traditional nursery, selling perennials, trees, evergreens, shrubs, and edible plants through its online store and two physical garden center locations in Wisconsin. Beyond retail plant sales, the company provides wholesale nursery stock to growers and landscape contractors, and offers professional landscape design and installation services. The product portfolio is organized around core plant categories (Perennials, Trees, Evergreens, Shrubs, Edibles) supported by services (Landscape Design, Wholesale Nursery) and retail operations (Garden Centers, Gift Cards).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Perennials Herbaceous plants that return year after year, including sun and shade perennials, ornamental grasses, groundcovers, coral bells, daylilies, geranium, hostas, phlox, and vines, sold to home gardeners and landscape buyers.
• Trees Hardy trees for sale including small space, flowering, and shade trees, plus birch, crabapples, elm, maple, and oak varieties, sold in B&B, container, and grow bag formats.
• Evergreens Evergreen plants including privacy trees, upright evergreens, evergreen shrubs, specialty evergreens, arborvitae, junipers, pine, spruce, and yews.
• Shrubs Deciduous and flowering shrubs including privacy shrubs, small space shrubs, flowering shrubs, colorful foliage, dogwood, forsythia, hydrangeas, lilacs, ninebark, potentilla, rose bushes, spirea, sumac, viburnum, and weigela.
• Edibles Edible plants including apple trees, berry plants, cherry trees, fruit trees, raspberries and blackberries, strawberries, and vegetable plants.
• Landscape Design Services Professional landscaping services including landscape architecture, residential and commercial landscape design, installation and maintenance, hardscapes, natural stone walls, paver patios, fire features, and outdoor lighting.
• Wholesale Nursery Wholesale nursery stock sales including bare root trees and shrubs, balled and burlapped trees, evergreens, and potted nursery stock sold in bulk to growers, garden centers, and landscape contractors.
• Garden Centers Physical retail garden center locations in Oregon and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for in-person shopping of plants and gardening supplies with seasonal hours.
• Gift Cards Digital gift cards redeemable at the online store in denominations from $25 to $300.
• Great Plains Silky Dogwood A proprietary McKay Nursery plant introduction — Great Plains Silky Dogwood — launched in January 2025 as a new shrub variety for northern climates.

Quantifiable outcome

• Property value increase of 12% - 15% with landscape design and installation
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Horticulture Research Institute (HRI)coreOthersFounding Member of HRI, supporting horticulture research and development initiatives within the nursery and landscape industry
• American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA)minorOthersMember of national industry association for nursery and landscape professionals
• Wisconsin Nursery & Landscape Association (WNLA)coreOthersMember of state industry association supporting nursery and landscape professionals in Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association (WLCA)coreOthersMember and award recipient for landscape design excellence
• Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA)minorOthersMember of neighboring state industry association
• Iowa Nursery & Landscape Association (INLA)minorOthersMember of regional industry association
• Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association (MNLA)minorOthersMember of regional industry association serving Minnesota
• Nebraska Nursery & Landscape Association (NNLA)minorOthersMember of regional industry association serving Nebraska
• Colorado Nursery & Greenhouse Association (CNGA)minorOthersMember of regional industry association serving Colorado
• ESOP AssociationcoreOthersMember of National and Wisconsin Chapter of the ESOP Association for employee-owned businesses. Received WI ESOP Company of the Year recognition

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Costa Farms: Large-scale national ornamental and houseplant grower with broad retail distribution. While mostly tropical/houseplant focused, overlaps with McKay in supplying big-box retailers with ornamental plant categories.
• Monrovia Nursery Company: Large California-based wholesale nursery growing ornamental plants nationally. Operates broadly across categories and climates but overlaps with McKay in premium shrub and tree liner supply to retailers and landscapers.
• Proven Winners: Plant brand licensing network with proprietary annuals, perennials, and shrubs sold through independent garden centers. While not a direct nursery operator, it competes for the same consumer shrub and perennial purchase occasions as McKay.

Direct peers

• Bailey Nurseries: Minnesota-based wholesale nursery producing woody ornamental trees, shrubs, and perennials across the northern US. Most direct competitor to McKay's wholesale nursery stock operations with similar climate-adapted propagation focus.
• Spring Meadow Nursery: Michigan-based wholesale shrub liner and propagation specialist. Comparable to McKay in woody ornamental production and is a peer competitor for northern-tier landscape contractor and garden center wholesale accounts.
• Walters Gardens: Michigan-based perennial plant producer and Proven Winners partner. Direct comparable to McKay's perennial production division with overlapping wholesale customers among landscape professionals and garden centers.
• Bower & Branch: Online direct-to-consumer tree retailer partnering with growers nationwide for delivery. Comparable to McKay's e-commerce FedEx channel for premium-sized trees sold to homeowners.
• Stark Bro's Nurseries: Long-established (1816) mail-order nursery specializing in fruit trees, edible plants, and ornamentals. Comparable to McKay's e-commerce plant sales and overlapping customer base of homeowners shopping for trees and edibles online.
• Arbor Valley Nursery: Colorado wholesale nursery producer of trees and shrubs serving landscape professionals in the Plains and Mountain West. Comparable to McKay's wholesale distribution across the northern tier for nursery stock.

Regional players

• Gertens Garden Center: Minnesota-based regional garden center and nursery retailer. Comparable retail model to McKay's Oregon and Oshkosh garden centers and competes for the same Wisconsin/Minnesota gardening customer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/McKayNursery
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCmHnWIROA5PyIzCYwIZFZyQ?view_as=subscriber
• Facebookfacebook.com/mckaynurserycompany
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mckay-nursery-company
• Instagraminstagram.com/mckaynursery

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about McKay Nursery Company