Miramar Celebrates a Decade of Growth

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – This year, one of Southern California’s largest wholesale nurseries is celebrating a decade of growing – both healthy plants and a successful business.

Miramar Wholesale Nurseries opened its San Diego site in 1993 on the property adjacent to I-805 at Governor Drive. Convenience was the goal. Specifically, the plan was to give commercial property managers and landscape contractors an easily accessible wholesale nursery – a radical alternative to the traditional rural locations. It worked. And with room to grow, the nursery was soon stocked with huge quantities of healthy plants.

Nursery founder Tom Ewing had one additional goal: to staff his facility with the most experienced team of growing experts in the country. Ten years later, the nursery’s management staff brings decades of industry experience and education to its clients.

In 1998, Miramar Wholesale Nurseries acquired two additional sites, one in Irvine/Lake Forest and the other in San Juan Capistrano. With three locations, the nursery services all of Imperial, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The San Diego site is the largest, occupying 230 acres, while the Irvine/Lake Forest facility sits on 75 acres near I-5, and the San Juan Capistrano location comprises 40 acres on Ortega Highway.

Each houses a wholesale operation and commercial landscape center (CLC). The CLCs allow the nursery to extend the convenience concept. Customers can call ahead and place an order for pickup, or ask for plant materials to be delivered on site or even out of state. And the vast production acreage allows for custom growing – landscapers can have the plants they want in the sizes and quantities they need but working with the nursery to custom grow whatever is needed for a project.

With the vast acreage, the nursery’s plant selection is huge, from seasonal and perennial color, to more than 2,500 varieties of trees and shrubs, as well as the largest selection of ground cover in San Diego. But Miramar Wholesale Nurseries is best known for its extensive phormium, daylily and canna collections, as well as its distinctive assortment of trees in the Vista Hill collection.

Beyond acreage and plants, Miramar Wholesale Nurseries has made a name for itself as an exceptional place to work. In 1999 the San Diego Business Journal and Ken Blanchard Companies named the nursery as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in San Diego.” And in 2000, the nursery earned a Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics from the San Diego Better Business Bureau.

After a decade, the nursery’s goals – convenience, selection and service – have not changed.

To celebrate the success of its first decade in business, Miramar Wholesale Nurseries is holding an anniversary bash in conjunction with its annual customer appreciation day event. On Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 29 and 30, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the San Diego Landscape Center will host a customer appreciation extravaganza featuring a variety of activities, including vendor product displays, equipment demos, site tours, lunch and various prizes and giveaways. The nursery is also offering special anniversary savings on purchases made either day at all three of its locations.