Hyannis Country Garden: Community is key

Connecting with their community on Cape Cod has been vital to Hyannis Country Garden's success as a third-generation family-owned IGC. 

“Big enough to serve you, small enough to know you” has been the motto of Hyannis Country Garden (#68 on the 2024 Top 100 Independent Garden Centers List) since its beginning as a fruit and vegetable stand more than half a century ago. 

Now in its 59th year of operation, Hyannis Country Garden has expanded far past a fruit and vegetable stand, but the commitment to community — and selling great products — has never changed. 

Three generations 

Founded in 1965 by Richard Griffith, grandfather of the current president and general manager Jocelyn Duffley, the single-location independent garden center and nursery has grown along with Cape Cod over the decades. 

Her grandparents, Nancy and Richard Griffith, provided the community with fresh produce, bedding plants and nursery stock. Now, the land Nacy Griffith owns is Hyannis Country Garden’s seven-acre parcel. 

“In the ‘80s, we moved away from the fruits and veggies and went more into lawn and garden,” Duffley says. 

Duffley has been at the family-owned business since age 13, continuing through high school and college. She made her return to her family's garden center in 2012 and was named president and general manager by 2013. 

Duffley says she and her cousin account for the third generation, with second-generation family members still on site, including her mother and father. 

“It’s just grown and grown and grown over the years,” Duffley says. 

New initiatives 

Duffley says they use every inch of space at Hyannis Country Garden and keep going back farther into the IGC’s yard space. They utilize renewable energy on site, including an operating wind turbine that picks up about 70% of the IGC’s electrical load. 

Departments at the garden center include a nursery with trees and shrubs; a plant department with vegetables, annuals and perennials; tropicals; houseplants; water gardening and koi ponds; and holiday. 

In 2023, Hyannis Country Garden was focused on increasing community engagement to help them get to know their customers. 

Duffley says the IGC gets involved in community events — it helps that they’re located near a music venue. 

Hyannis Country Garden also sponsors the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival. Established in 2015, the event was inspired by Garden Walk Buffalo in New York. 

But they’ve also been committed to increasing virtual events since the pandemic. Before, the IGC’s events were in-person only, but now, having virtual events in the mix is here to stay. That includes “Horticulture Happy Hour” in collaboration with C.L. Fornari, also known as “The Garden Lady” (who writes the “Retail Revival” column for Garden Center). 

Further community involvement includes the garden center working with The Cape Cod Landscape Association, a nonprofit that works with landscape professionals. The garden center has hosted CCLA scholarship awards over the past two years. 

“We are trying to grow our wholesale business. It's waned since the pandemic,” she says. “So, we love to host those landscapers.” 

A new addition to Hyannis Country Garden is a dedicated native section, as well as establishing Pollinator Pathway projects. 

Pollinator Pathway, which became a nonprofit in 2021, is a conservation corridor project linking pollinator waystations, according to its website. The first Pollinator Pathway projects began in 2017 in Wilton, Connecticut, and have since been established in more than 300 towns in 11 states. 

“We're just getting out and promoting the pollinators,” Duffley says. “And they don't look as showy as say hydrangea, but they're better for their landscape.”

Performance tracking 

Another new initiative for Hyannis Country Garden involves department managers tracking departmental performance through scorecards.  

The initiative tracks margins, gross margins, sales performance, customer interaction, labor and payroll dollars. It helps them stay profitable, Duffley says, noting that there are slim profit margins in the industry. 

“Really growing the accountability of my managers has been a goal,” Duffley says. “We've been able to save on our labor budget, and nobody thought it was possible.” 

Competition in the industry 

When a Home Depot opens right across the street from an independent garden center, it can be intimidating. Duffley says when one near Hyannis opened a new garden center, it was a bit of a threat. However, she says Hyannis Country Garden excels when it comes to its products. 

“We care so much about the plants, and we're taking care of the plant,” she says, “So, the quality is there. The selection is there.” 

She says Hyannis is known for its quality and selection, and she’d like it to be known for natives. 

“There's a lot of competition there,” Duffley says. “But I'd like to be known as a one-stop-shop for people. I want people not to just see us as a community fixture. I want them to shop here. So, finding that engagement with the customer is a goal for me. But I definitely think quality and selection is what we're known for in terms of plant material.”

What’s next? 

With community engagement on the rise, she says the IGC has managed to draw in a new, younger clientele. Duffley wants to continue increasing relationships with the community, and she still has more goals for Hyannis Country Garden.  

On the list includes growing wholesale, working on web development to update the website and working on layout. 

Duffley’s advice for other IGCs? Despite the competition, be brave and proud of who you are, because you don’t have to sacrifice standards. 

“I think every independent garden center is a little quirky, a little unique in their ways, and that's what makes us likeable,” Duffley says. “So, embrace that originality and uniqueness about your business.” 

Audrey Trevarthan was the GIE Media Horticulture Group editorial intern.

Meet more of the 2024 Top 100 IGCs:

#31: Glover Nursery

#50: Sawyer Home & Garden Center

#79: Colonial Garden