Our Story

What started as a wholesale only greenhouse business blossomed into a full-fledged

Garden Center in 2020.

Tim and Kathy are the owners of Westside Garden Center. Tim started working in greenhouses when he was 8 years old. He started his own wholesale location in Mattawan in 1987 and added another location in Paw Paw. Kathy worked in business administration in Kalamazoo and Mattawan. She took over the bookkeeping for the greenhouses in 1995 and be a stay-at-home mom. In 2019 they had the opportunity to purchase the retail location and opened Westside Garden Center in the spring of 2020. Tim and Kathy have been blessed with four grown children, two son-in-laws, and seven grandchildren.

Our local roots keep us grounded and community-focused. We’re proud to provide quality plants and products at reasonable prices and to offer you the highest level of customer service you’ve come to expect from a local business. So stop on in to enjoy the beauty of creation, and come away with unique additions to your own gardening spaces.

Bedding Plant Industry History

Did you know that Kalamazoo was once known as the Celery Capital of World? In the late 1800s, Dutch immigrants introduced their celery-growing expertise to the area, and the mucklands provided the ideal soil for cultivation. Commercial growers started their crops in small greenhouses and marketed their celery as "fresh as dew from Kalamazoo". California eventually took over the celery market, and by the late 1950s, the flower industry emerged growing pansies. Kalamazoo County at one time earned the title of 'The Bedding Plant Capital of the World'. Michigan is currently the third largest production state in the nation.