ABOUT US

Groth’s Garden & Greenhouse
2451 Cumming Rd.
Winterset, Iowa 50273
515-462-4445
demagroth@grothsgardens.com

Open April 15 through October 31st
Hours: Mon. – Sat. 9am-6pm; Sun. 12pm-4pm

From Winterset, take U.S. Hwy. 169 north to G4R (Cumming Rd.), turn right and follow G4R for 3 miles.

From Des Moines, take I-35 south to Exit 65 (Cumming), and turn right on G14. G14 becomes G4R; follow G14/G4R for 14 miles.

Groth’s Gardens and Greenhouses was established on our family’s Iowa Century Farm in 1993. We are located 25 minutes southwest of Des Moines in scenic and historic Madison County. We began by growing field-raised fall mums, pumpkins and ornamentals to supplement our farm income.

I had been a teacher for eight years before this but had decided it was in the best interest of our family if I could derive some type of income from our home. Our children were 11 and 8 when we set out our first mum crop of 500 plants. They are now young adults and can honestly say they grew up in the garden and the greenhouse!

We were originally known in this area for our huge, highly budded fall mums and were one of the first places to grow fall pansies. We currently raise 6,000 mums which are all sold retail from our farm location. We expanded into the spring greenhouse business in 1997 at the request of our customers. As folks came out in the fall for their mums they were welcomed to walk through our perennial gardens and would ask to dig up many of our more unusual plants. We weren’t anxious to part with plants that had been collected and passed down from our mothers and grandmothers so we did the next best thing – we built a greenhouse and started to grow them for our customers.

Our spring season has now greatly surpassed our original fall business! We currently have four greenhouses and grow over 450 varieties of hard-to-find perennials, vegetative annuals and geraniums for container gardening. Our selection of ornamental grasses, hostas and daylilies is one of the largest in central Iowa. We also grow hardy shrub roses, growing as many of the Griffith Buck roses as possible. We design and grow hanging gardens and container gardens and provide our customers with the plants and supplies they need to be successful in creating their own designs. We also carry a large variety of ornamental and evergreen shrubs.

We specialize in starter plants grown in quart and one-gallon containers. Our perennials are healthy and vigorous and grow rapidly. We believe it is much more economical to start with the smaller plants as they will catch up to the larger (and much more expensive!) plants within the year. Our vegetative annuals and geraniums , grown in 4.5" pots, are blooming, bushy and ready to explode once planted in your containers. Our roses, grown in three-gallon pots, are leafed out and many beginning to set bud by opening day on April 15.

People tell us they enjoy coming to the farm and getting to talk to the folks who grow the plants. We are open seven day a week from April 15 through October 31. We are here on a daily basis and enjoy sharing and swapping gardening tips with our customers. Quality and service are of utmost importance at Groth’s. Our perennials and annuals are tops – we grow them, care for them and know how they will perform in our area. We have several large display gardens where guests can wander and view the plants “in action.” Our employees are gardeners and can help customers with their gardening questions. If we don’t know the answer we find it and respond back as soon as possible.

We are a retail nursery and operate on a cash-and-carry basis. We do not ship plants as we enjoy visiting with our customers on a face-to-face level and prefer not be be concerned about whether or not the delivery service has turned our plants upside down!

At Groth’s we know that gardening is more than a hobby for our customers – it’s a passion – and we’re passionate about providing our customers with the best plants and service in the area.