The Brookfield Company

The Brookfield Company got its start the way many new businesses do — the founder couldn’t find a product she needed on the market. Hilda Gilkeson Jones was searching for tough but attractive planters for large plants while landscaping her yard and garden.

“We’re artists, and we were doing the landscaping ourselves, and there weren’t a lot of choices on the market,” says Jones, who co-owns the 30-year-old company with her business partner and fellow artist John Cline. “We started the business to offer a well-designed, weather-resistant concrete product for large plants and unusual, well-crafted artistic garden accents.”

The product line has grown significantly since The Brookfield Company began, and the business now offers a variety of mostly fiber-reinforced concrete products that are weather durable in all climates including fountains, garden sculptures, bird baths, garden cottages and miniature garden accents, in addition to their fine cast planters.

The Brookfield Company still manages the entire process, from initial design to mold making to production to shipping, which allows the small-but-strong team to better serve customers. Often, clients request specific surfaces or custom logos, and The Brookfield Company can handle these special requests quickly and efficiently.

“We can provide excellent customer service, which is our top priority. Our products aren’t sold to big boxes, so independent garden centers can offer their customers unique and unusual items,” Jones says. “We can get them what they want when they need it to keep their customers, who are looking for quality in design and craftsmanship, happy.”

The products are offered in a variety of colors and surfaces, and because they are porous and weather-resistant, they can be painted if a customer wants to customize the product.

One of Brookfield’s flagship products is its collection of elegant lion containers, which feature magnificently sculpted lions’ heads — four on the Large Lion Planter, three on the Medium, two on the Small — and a graceful drape motif.

Brookfield’s Garden Cottages also stand out from other miniature homes on the market. The collection of realistic, hand-painted miniature homes are made of hypertufa, and the structures have a variety of architectural features, some with a rustic, old-world feel and others with pastel hues and a whimsical look for fairy gardens. They can be used for miniature gardening projects or right out in the landscape because they are 15 inches wide by 18 inches tall by 12 inches long.

“Everything about them is durable, and they age just like a little house would,” Jones says. “It makes a lot of sense to use the Garden Cottages in your landscape because they aren’t so tiny they get lost. They’re good compositions, they’re good shapes and they leave something for the client or the customer to bring to them.”

For more information, visit www.thebrookfieldco.com