Oliver Nurseries

What Oliver Nurseries does

Oliver Nurseries is a privately held, family-owned specialty nursery founded in 1964 and headquartered at 1159 Bronson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. The company operates a single physical retail nursery with established display gardens, selling uncommon trees, shrubs, perennials, alpines, rock garden plants, annuals, hypertufa troughs, and garden ornaments sourced from regional and national growers. It also runs a landscape design and build subsidiary, Oliver Design Associates (established 1987), which provides conceptual landscape plans, masonry and driveway plans, site construction, planting installations with a two-year guarantee on materials, and recurring maintenance services. Co-owned by Jed Duguid (purchasing and nursery sales, University of Connecticut horticulture alumnus) and Will Hibbs (landscape architecture, Cornell University alumnus), the business employs a credentialed team that includes a national expert in alpine and trough gardening trained at the New York Botanical Garden.

The company generates revenue across multiple streams: one-time retail plant and merchandise sales, professional services for landscape design and installation, recurring maintenance contracts, paid and free events/workshops (yoga, craft workshops, speaker series, container design clinics), and gift cards sold online. Its primary customer segments are residential homeowners seeking high-quality and uncommon plant material and mid-market property owners requiring full-service landscape design, build, and maintenance. Distribution is regional within New England, combining the in-person retail storefront and on-site design consultations with light digital channels (Instagram, email newsletter, e-commerce gift cards).

Oliver Nurseries has built a 50-year reputation as one of the premium specialty nurseries in New England, evidenced by awards including the 1996 Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens installation, the 2013 A-List Award, and the 2014 Best of the Gold Coast award, plus features in House & Garden and athome Magazine. The company maintains a low public profile on financial, hiring, and technology metrics, with no disclosed revenue, external funding, or AI/ML capabilities; strategic momentum appears oriented toward incremental enrichment of the existing model through events programming, gift cards, and customer engagement rather than geographic or categorical expansion.

Name

Oliver Nurseries

Legal name

Oliver Nurseries

Website

https://olivernurseries.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Oliver Nurseries is a family-owned premium specialty nursery and landscape design/build firm in Fairfield, Connecticut, serving New England residential homeowners with rare plants, professional landscape design, installation, maintenance, and educational events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Retail Nursery and Landscape Design Services

NAICS

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

SIC

Retail-Building Materials, Hardware, Garden Supply (5200)

akta.pro primary industry

Nursery Production (Woody Ornamentals: Trees, Shrubs, Roses) (AFAGAHAF)

Keywords

• Retail nursery plants
• Landscape design services
• Specialty garden center
• Plant propagation
• Garden installation

Headquarters

HQ city

Fairfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Retail Nursery Sales: Sales of plants, trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, alpines, garden ornaments, containers, trellises, and handmade hypertufa troughs to consumers visiting the nursery.
2. Landscape Design Services: Landscape architecture and design services including conceptual plans, site construction, planting installations, and masonry/driveway plans.
3. Landscape Installation: Installation of landscape designs with 2-year guarantee on all materials purchased and planted by Oliver Design Associates if invoices paid in full within 30 days.
4. Maintenance Services: Ongoing landscape maintenance services for clients who have had designs installed.
5. Events and Workshops: Educational events including yoga, craft workshops, speaker series, and garden classes, some free and some priced.
6. Gift Cards: Gift cards available in custom amounts for the nursery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Oliver Nurseries is a premium specialty plant nursery in Fairfield, Connecticut that sells propagated uncommon trees, shrubs, perennials, alpines, rock garden plants, annuals, hypertufa troughs, and garden ornaments through a physical retail storefront with mature display gardens. Through its Oliver Design Associates division, the company provides full-service landscape architecture including free on-site consultation, conceptual plans, site construction, planting installation, masonry and driveway plans, and ongoing landscape maintenance with a 2-year guarantee on installed materials.

Product overview

Oliver Nurseries operates as a single unified offering comprising two interconnected divisions: the nursery retail operation and Oliver Design Associates landscape design/build services. The nursery provides premium specialty plants including propagated uncommon trees, shrubs, perennials, alpines, and rock garden plants, along with merchandise like hypertufa troughs and garden ornaments. Oliver Design Associates extends the business into landscape design, construction, and maintenance services, creating a complete ecosystem where customers can purchase plants and receive professional design and installation services. Additional offerings include gift cards and seasonal events/workshops. The two divisions share staff expertise and cross-refer customers, making the product portfolio a unified nursery-plus-design service model rather than discrete separate products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Oliver Nurseries Retail Nursery
• Oliver Design Associates Landscape Design and Build
• Landscape Maintenance Services
• Oliver Nurseries Gift Card
• Events and Workshops
• Hand-made Hypertufa Troughs

Quantifiable outcome

• 2-year guarantee on planted materials
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• CRAFTCAST (Alison Lee)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 August 2026Alison Lee of CRAFTCAST leads a Cyanotype Workshop using plant materials from Oliver gardens. CRAFTCAST provides craft education content and instructors.
• J Fitness (Vera Efimov)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 25 July 2026Vera Efimov, E-RYT 500 certified yoga instructor, leads candlelight yoga sessions in the Oliver Nurseries gardens as a complementary wellness event.
• Homefront FarmersminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 23 May 2026Homefront Farmers provides organic, non-GMO vegetable transplants grown from Row 7 Seeds (bred for flavor, nutrition and sustainability under Dan Barber's guidance) for the Vegetable Gardening Tips event.
• Prides Corner Farms (Chris Valley)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerChris Valley of Prides Corner Farms presents a hydrangea workshop covering selection, siting and care of various hydrangea varieties.
• Ocheltree Design (Richard Killeaney)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerArtist Richard Killeaney conducts a plant dye workshop sharing techniques for growing and dyeing with plants. Natural-dyed silk scarves and tote bags available for purchase.
• Mushroom Microfarm (James Calcagnini)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerJames Calcagnini of Mushroom Microfarm leads an introduction to mushroom foraging workshop.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Broken Arrow Nursery: Hamden, CT specialty nursery renowned for rare and uncommon woody plants and alpines. Comparable small-scale premium plant specialist serving the same regional market with a similar curated-catalog model.
• Bluestone Perennials: Madison, OH premium mail-order perennial nursery. Comparable specialty plant retailer offering curated, high-quality perennials with a similar direct-to-consumer model focused on plant quality and selection.
• Brent and Becky's Bulbs: Gloucester, VA specialty bulb and plant nursery. Comparable small specialty plant retailer with curated stock and a similar premium independent-operator model.
• Wayside Gardens: Premium plant retailer offering curated trees, shrubs, and perennials. Comparable premium specialty nursery positioning serving a similar affluent gardener demographic with mail-order delivery.
• White Flower Farm: Litchfield, CT-based premium mail-order and online nursery founded in 1950. Directly comparable as a New England premium specialty plant retailer offering curated trees, shrubs, perennials, and design content to a similar affluent demographic.

Broad incumbents

• Monrovia: One of the largest wholesale and retail nursery growers in the U.S. Broad incumbent offering wide plant selection across categories, including premium branded varieties, with overlapping capability in landscape-grade ornamentals.
• Proven Winners: National plant brand spanning annuals, perennials, and shrubs via a broad grower network. Comparable as a broader incumbent in the same plant retail/wholesale space, with curated branded lines.

Emerging players

• High Country Gardens: Specialty xeriscape and water-wise plant retailer (now part of Proven Winners). Comparable premium specialty plant retailer with a curated, niche plant focus and direct-to-consumer mail-order model.

Regional players

• Logee's Plants for Home & Garden: Danielson, CT specialty tropical and houseplant nursery. Comparable CT-based specialty plant retailer serving an overlapping regional customer base with a niche plant focus.
• Native Plant Trust (formerly New England Wild Flower Society): New England's primary native plant conservation organization operating a nursery at Garden in the Woods. Comparable regional specialty plant producer with curated native species and educational programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/olivernurseries

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 Oliver Nurseries