Local First Friday: Meadows Farms

Guest Blog by Joelle Lang

The History Behind It:

Meadows Farms have been supplying the Washington, DC, region with plants since 1960. Farmer Bill Meadows, who founded the company 55 years ago, began by selling tomatoes in a broken-down van door-to-door with his high school students. The nursery business began when a grower asked Farmer Bill to sell his distressed plants after another nursery closed. Farmer Bill found a permanent shop, one without wheels, in which to sell the plants and the company grew from there. Farmer Bill has since retired, but his son, Jay Meadows, now serves as Meadows Farms’ president.

What’s It is Like Today:

There are 22 Meadows Farms located around DC in Maryland and Virginia. They offer outdoor trees and shrubs, annuals and perennials, mulch, soil, fertilizer, and garden accessories. The company also has an additional location that handles landscape and employs over 30 designers. Their landscape service, in which they design and install things such as plants, decks, and ponds, spans all around the beltway. While the locations vary in their hours, most locations run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and all but two nurseries close for the months of January and February.   

What Makes It Special:  

With regards to the retail division, Meadows Farms has a tremendous plant selection and still offers reasonable prices well under many other nurseries.

With regards to the landscape division, Meadows Farms has a lifetime guarantee for any plants they install. If a plant dies, Meadows Farms will cover the cost of the plant so you can purchase a new one.   

About the Author 

Joelle Lang, a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, is a multi-platform journalism student in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This autumn, she is also an editorial intern for Washington Gardener Magazine.

"Local First Friday" is a weekly blog series profiling independent garden businesses in the greater Washington, DC, and Mid-Atlantic region. Washington Gardener Magazine believes strongly in supporting and sourcing from local businesses first!