Colonial Gardens celebrates grand reopening after two years of renovations

Blue Springs, MO – Colonial Gardens is announcing their grand reopening April 7-15 after two years of renovations. Formerly Colonial Nursery, owner Tory Schwope purchased the property in February of 2016 with a vision “To reinvent the retail nursery business by introducing events, entertainment, food, and local agricultural to the traditional Garden Center business model."

Colonial Gardens is a part of DCA Outdoor, a family of brands that connect the agricultural, nursery stock production, landscape distribution, retail, agritourism and transportation industries. 

Extensive renovations include five remodeled greenhouses, an 11,000 square foot outdoor showroom, enlarged pond, offices and an eco-friendly bio-swale and bio basin. The redesigned garden center blends the original architecture of the site into a newly created open-air courtyard, showcasing cutting-edge landscaping design techniques with a naturalized boulder wall, stone fireplace, contemporary covered stage and luminous event space. A new classroom and workshop space offers educational opportunities for everyone from beginning gardeners to experts. 

“We have a dedicated focus on creating healthy soil, which creates healthy plants and ultimately healthier foods,” says Bryn Takle, Director of fruit and vegetable production.

A fresh market will be open later this spring, featuring locally sourced foods including produce, organic pork, grass-fed and Akaushi beef, farm fresh eggs, jams, jellies and local wines and beers. The Bean Counter Café has relocated to a new space at Colonial Gardens and will be open in late April.  

“Everyone that sees Colonial Gardens cannot believe the transformation," says Keri Lauderdale Olson, director of agritourism. "There is no other place in Kansas City where you can take a class on gardening, grab a cup of coffee, listen to live music while you are eating lunch, pick out flowers and landscaping materials and even complete your grocery shopping for the week!” 

Colonial Nursery has been around for 49 years. It was important to Schwope to stay true to the rich history of this site while creating a space that will lead landscaping, gardening and agricultural trends nationally.

“It feel great to be finished with the first phase of our project," Schwope says. "We are really looking forward to sharing what we’ve created with the community.”

Look for more updates from Colonial Gardens in Garden Center magazine soon. 

Photos courtesy of Colonial Gardens