Gethsemane Garden Center: 2025 Innovator of the Year
What year was your garden center founded?
We were originally founded in 1977, although for the first couple of years of business, we were primarily a Christmas tree lot and pumpkin patch. The Christmas trees and the pumpkins have never left, but we’ve expanded countless times over the years and are proud to now be the largest garden center in Chicago.
What is your garden center known for?
Beyond having one of the widest selections of plants in the Midwest, with lots of specialty or hard-to-find items, Gethsemane is known for our top-tier customer service and staff expertise. We pride ourselves not only on the garden knowledge and expertise our staff brings to the table, but in curating an environment that truly inspires our customers to create their own indoor or outdoor oases. We strive to make Gethsemane a place that is just as enjoyable to visit or drive by as it is to shop at, no matter what season we’re in.
How do you set your store apart from the big boxes?
First and foremost, it’s our staff expertise and the way we approach customers creates a very different shopping experience than you’d find at a big box. Unlike a big box store where the employees might not even be solely dedicated to the garden section, our employees have a ton of plant knowledge and enjoy troubleshooting plant issues.
We also have close, long-term relationships with a number of small, private growers to ensure our plants are absolutely top quality. We have had relationships with many of these growers for over 35 years and most of them are on their second or third generation of growing for us. Those longstanding relationships just can’t be replicated on the scale of a national retail chain, and it shows in the quality of the plants and the education we’re able to provide on those plants.
How is your store involved in your local community?
The beautification of our property and the upkeep of “The Island” [a garden space across the street from the store at the intersection of Clark, Ashland and Edgewater in Andersonville, Chicago] are a huge point of emphasis and pride for us. We’ve cared for The Island for decades — it was originally the solo passion project of our founder Regas Chefas, who could often be found tending to The Island on a daily basis for many years. Gethsemane is proud to have great relationships with a number of schools, churches, community centers and nonprofits in our neighborhood and the whole city of Chicago. We frequently donate plant material, tools, soils and supplies from all departments to many causes in the city, and we do our best to share our resources and machinery with neighboring businesses whenever possible.
Photo courtesy of Gethsemane Garden Center.
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