Garden Gate Nursery: 20 Years

Our Story

From a dream on the road to rows that stretch for miles

Garden Gate Nursery began with Everett and Sandra, and a slogan that still greets every visitor.

1985

Kansas roots, Washington horizons

Everett and Sandra came from Kansas after years managing their family dairy farm through hard financial times. In Washington they farmed hay, and kept dreaming of what might grow next.

Early 2000s

Named on a drive

Their son Chris remembers Everett and Sandra dreaming up a nursery while driving. They landed on the name Garden Gate Nursery, and Everett shared the slogan with Sandra: “Meet you at the Garden Gate!”

Everett and Sandra walking hand in hand through the nursery — Everett & Sandra

2005

Three rows in the ground

They planted three rows of trees and began the long learning curve of growing high-quality container trees in Eastern Washington: trial, error, and care, season after season.

July 2006

First order shipped

The nursery sold its first order, the start of serving landscapers, retailers, cities, and homeowners across the Pacific Northwest.

Today

Over 70,000 trees

Garden Gate has grown into a Tri-Cities company known for container trees shipped throughout the PNW and beyond: still family, still local, still glad to meet you at the gate.

Long rows of container trees at Garden Gate Nursery — Growing over 70,000 trees

Children running down a path between blooming nursery trees — Joy among the rows

Children smiling on a red golf cart among nursery tree rows — Family days among the rows

How We Grow

High-quality container trees, season after season

From bare root to delivery, every tree spends years in our care before it reaches your landscape.

We bring in most of the trees we sell as two-year bare-root stock, plant them in containers with a soilless bark mix, and keep growing them for one to seven years.

Countless hours go into irrigation management, pest control, pruning, transplanting, and order fulfillment: the quiet work behind trees that thrive in the Pacific Northwest.

We deliver quickly across the PNW, and as a Tri-Cities company we are glad to serve local businesses and homeowners. Over the years we have hosted open-to-the-public events and welcome scheduled nursery visits.