Four Seasons Greenhouse & Nursery, Inc.
26650 Co Rd P
Dolores, CO 81323
(970) 565-8274
https://fourseasonsgreenhouse.com
Interview with Lisa and Gary Winn, co-owners
When did you buy the business?
Four Seasons Greenhouse & Nursery has operated since 1983. Our purchase was official in October 2022, but we started living on the property in August 2022, which means we’ve been here for about a year now. We lived in southwest Colorado earlier in our lives, and our family is here, so this feels like coming home for us.
What did you know about the greenhouse and nursery business before buying?
We both love gardening and over years had learned a lot about plants and planting and thought the business was a natural extension of something we already enjoyed. We soon realized how much we didn’t know and we’re still learning.
What markets do you serve?
Four Seasons is well-known in the Four Corners area as a regional greenhouse and nursery. We are both a grower and a retail operation, and focus as much as we can on plants that are suitable for the local climate.
Our customers drive 75 or more miles from New Mexico, Utah and other Colorado mountain towns. It’s a beautiful property. In the spring, the garden center is filled with hanging baskets and annuals that our customers love. Additionally, many of the trees we offer from our nursery have a mature counterpart on the 20-acre property. Not only can we can show customers that it thrives in the area, but they can see how large it grows. And of course, these mature trees add to the beauty and vibrancy of the property.
What are some unique offerings?
We operate year-round, which means we can keep employees all year. We grow produce in the winter and host a winter farmers market every Saturday from November through March. We sell our produce and provide a venue for other vendors to sell local produce, local grass-fed meat, and a variety of other local items. We also have live music. It’s a community event every weekend, and a way of giving back to the community.
What have your learned during your first year?
The experience was like drinking out of a fire hose. We were crawling up the learning curve and are very grateful to our dedicated and knowledgeable employees who made it all happen. We have remarkably qualified staff who continue to be educational resources not only for us but for our customers as well. We had a good year and feel we are getting our feet planted.
What’s in the future for the company?
We are listening to our customers and learning from them. They are looking for more selection in high elevation plant choices. We are getting more custom orders and focusing on growing what they want.
We have other ideas to continue being a destination for the community, and hope to reveal more on that soon.
Why did you join CNGA?
We feel it’s important to connect with other garden centers and nurseries in Colorado and be part of an industry group. While we are busy with day-to-day operations, it’s good to know that CNGA will be focusing on other important issues such as the economy and legislation affecting the industry. We look forward to connecting and engaging more with other members in the next year.
