South Cedar Greenhouses Expand into Burnsville

The Leipnitz family is turning over a new leaf. After 21 years in the greenhouse business, on Tuesday they opened a new retail garden center at Burnsville's Buck Hill Ski Area.

"It was time to branch out," said Judy Leipnitz at the ribbon cutting on Tuesday.  

The couple had no formal background in horticulture or gardening when they bought their first greenhouse. Alan, Judy's husband was a chemist for the Research & Development Department at Ecolab, but he had long wanted to work for himself. Then one fateful day he spotted a greenhouse for sale.

"We didn't know a thing about running a greenhouse. He couldn't even recognize a geranium," Leipnitz said. "But he thought we could do a good job."

Happily, he was right. The family's greenhouse began as a wholesale operation—supplying garden centers and landscaping companies with flowers, shrubs and other plant life. Before long they operated three greenhouses. Customers kept asking the Leipnitz clan to consider retail, however, and seven years ago they took the leap: They opened their first garden center at a spot on Cedar Avenue just south of Lakeville.

Though the economy has made the last few years challenging, Leipnitz said it has also offered the Leipnitz family some new opportunities.

"I think a lot of our competitors went out of business because now our wholesale business is booming," Judy said. "We've gotten a lot of new customers and quite a few old ones we hadn't seen in a few years."

Emboldened by success, in March they decided to expand into Burnsville after Buck Hill extended an invitation. 

The Garden Center will be open until the first weekend in July. Hours run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.