The Laemmle Greenhouse was started on the eastern side of Woodbury around 1988 by Bill and Marlene Laemmle. Bill had the experience and the drive to put the greenhouse together. “When he first started the business, I thought he was crazy,” Marlene says. “He bought two greenhouses from down in Farmington. And all the days he had off from work that whole winter, he drove down there.”
Bill took the time to make sure he was doing things correctly. “He had this little pad of paper [where] he drew how he was taking [the greenhouses] apart, so he’d know how to put it all back together,” Marlene says. Bill, who was a firefighter, decided to enlist some help from his fellow firefighters, and the greenhouses were up in the spring.
So where did Bill learn everything?
He used to work in a greenhouse when he was younger.
Laemmle Greenhouse, open from May 1 to the end of June, is home to a lot of beautiful bedding flowers, including geraniums, New Guinea impatiens, petunias and marigolds. They also sell produce at the Woodbury Farmers’ Market, but they hope to stop their trips to the market soon and run their business from just the greenhouse. “If we didn’t have to load up the truck for the market, we could try and stay open later in the summer,” Marlene says. And greenhouse customers certainly gush. “They just can’t believe how beautiful and how healthy everything looks.”
Marlene has grown to love flowers. “Just looking at the flowers when they’re done ... I never used to like flowers like that, but I think I appreciate now how they get there,” she says.
