About Us
A Unique Retail Garden Center and Nursery
Our retail garden center has a beautiful selection of plants for you to choose from. You will notice that each plant receives personal attention and we are always on the lookout for the unusual specimen, and will help you find the special plant you want. Our selection of garden accessories is different from the rest, and we hope you’ll find the perfect compliment to your landscape–perhaps an arbor, bird bath, or a garden sculpture.
Mission Statement
Since 1928 when Alexander J. MacKenn started his design, landscape and nursery business, exceptional customer service, peerless design, and the highest quality products have always been an integral part of our business model. These continue to be our bedrock principles and inform everything we do. We are deeply committed to our community and constantly strive to improve it through close relationships and community service. Our unique and varied classes help educate our customers about the importance of organic gardening, responsible stewardship of our environment, and sustainable gardening methods.
We are known as a top gardening destination for Northern New Jerseyans who have the highest standards and expect both quality and service as part of the shopping experience, as well as a bit of an old fashioned, friendly experience! We want our customers to enter as shoppers but leave as friends. We try to inspire every resident to live well by providing access to simple and effective gardening solutions, healthy, beautiful plants and unique products, with a helpful and happy staff to support you!
90 + Years of Business
Alexander J. MacKenn Landscaping and Contracting opened for business in 1928, often using a team of oxen to pull stumps and haul wagons of bluestone slabs hewn from the hills of West Milford. As World War II ended, the company became very busy and indispensable to the boom in housing in our area. Many homes and businesses still boast the beautiful mature trees, landscaping, patios and other stonework that his landscape crews installed in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Alex became a well-known nurseryman in the state, being one of the early members of the New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association, then called The Metropolitan Nurseryman’s Association. He brought in trees from all over New Jersey, including many beautiful specimens of rhododendrons, azaleas and more from John and Dorothy Knippenberg of the widely known Laurelwood Gardens in Wayne. Constantly evolving and responding to the needs of the community, Alex ventured into stonework, driveway and tennis court paving, housing development, and at one point, even started a side business selling swimming pools. The sample pool is now Glenwild’s greenhouse, and where classes are held in inclement weather.
Alex and his wife Mabel converted a garage on the property, (the property included Mabel's aunt and uncle's pond, called Bogue's Pond), into the retail shop in 1958 and the name Glenwild Garden Center was born. Though it was called Glenwild after Glenwild Avenue, and the Scottish origins of that name fit perfectly, the connotations of a beautiful secluded valley seemed ideal with the all trees and shrubs in the nursery.
Mabel sold african violets and other small houseplants in a ‘greenhouse room’ behind the fireplace and they also sold gardening supplies like grass seed, fertilizers, and lawn mowers. After getting a degree in Landscape Design & Horticulture, their son Alex Jr. started designing and running landscape crews in 1962. Father and son worked together for at least 20 busy years landscaping, which included installing plantings, driveways, patios and more.
A Hidden New Jersey Gem
If you live in Northern New Jersey, and you are an avid gardener who loves exploring garden centers that truly care about the product they sell, you will have a wonderful experience at Glenwild Garden Center. We love what we do, and so will you.
Third generation siblings Jodie and Brad, now work with their nurseryman father, Alex, and round out the landscape and retail sides of the business. Jodie’s passion for organic gardening has given the business its mission for years to come with an emphasis on natural products, organic gardening classes and community involvement. Brad is a licensed landscape architect, with an eye for beautiful plantings and stonework, and enjoys introducing clients to sustainable and responsible stewardship of the land.
As we look over the past near-century of serving our local communities, we are very grateful and proud of all of our wonderful customers. Bloomingdale is our home, and we love it! Thank you to everyone for keeping us here for 90 great years.
Staff
Our knowledgeable, fun, and attentive retail staff members are here to help with gardening questions and more. We are lovers of plants, and people who want to help you to leave happy! Some of us have a passion for house plants, some for perennials, some for vegetable gardening, some for ornamental shrubs and trees (and some for garden accessories). We all know the importance of healthy soil and want you to treat it with care and love. Come in and introduce yourself–we look forward to meeting you!
