Our Story

 

 

The Greenery Garden & Home changed its name on August 1, 2021, after 44 years of trading as a garden centre. 

It is now a second generation family business and under its new leadership has moved away from its garden centre roots and is creating a different type of retail experience, embracing ‘home’ and with a new emphasis on food. 

The Greenery will always offer the service and traditional product range including outdoor furniture, interiors, plants, advanced trees, landscape supplies, water features, pots and planters that it is known for but with a very new direction.

We sell fruit, vegetable, herb and nut plants in our new ‘edibles’ area and now sell fresh produce and other gourmet pantry items as a natural extension of that.

The ‘Little Coffee Cart at The Greenery’ also sells coffee and sweet treats.

We are a community here at The Greenery and we hope you will be inspired by our established gardens, friendly staff and let us help you create the garden and home of your dreams. 

We are proud supporters of Cancer Council Victoria, Kew Bears Football Club and Banyule Cricket Club.

 


 Our History

 

Barry and Daryl Teese bought what was then The Greenery Garden Centre, a then failed retail nursery, on its current location on six acres (2.4 hectares) on the Yarra River in Heidelberg, in 1977. 

Barry was a former policeman who had by then become a wholesale and then retail nurseryman and Daryl was a draughtsman. Together they embarked on the long process of developing the rundown site into what became one of the country’s most beautiful and successful retail garden centres. 

The brothers took their cues from research and travel to the best garden centres in the United States and were fuelled by their desire to do everything to the highest possible standard, to stock only quality plants and products and to employ a team of people who shared their vision.

The Greenery opened at a second location in Porter Street Templestowe in 1983 and served that community until closing in 2017. Over the years, The Greenery has won every possible state and national award and accolade and earned the attention of the gardening and lifestyle media. In 2002, Daryl retired and Barry owned and ran the business, working seven days per week and being well known for his early morning starts, until four days before his death at 78 in July 2020. 

The Greenery Garden & Home is now a second-generation family-owned business. It is owned by Barry’s children and run by one of his daughters who is pivoting the focus of the business away from its traditional garden centre roots to better meet the challenges of both customer expectations and the challenging economy. Embracing ‘home’ and ‘food’ is a natural evolution for the business.
Some of Barry’s grandchildren also work in the business along with a great team of more than 60 people, mostly locals, including some who have worked at The Greenery for more than 25 years.