Our Story Continued

Running a smarter garden center is no small feat. So to be clear about who’d help them with the business, Merle and Robert Snodgrass named it Seven Dees, after the first letter in each of the children’s names. Everybody pitched in — aunts, uncles and children — to make Seven Dees the best garden center in town.

Well, their idea must’ve caught on because people started coming from all over to buy plants and plan their dream yards. Portland was getting prettier by the day. Sounding better too, on account of the local performers who filled the nursery with Saturday morning music. But all that energy and excitement got too big for just one place, and before long Seven Dees had grown to four locations.

The children grew too. Especially Dennis, who decided to set off on his own. But One Dee wasn’t much of a name for a business, so a few of the brothers joined in. Together they took three generations of nursery experience and set out to make Dennis’ Seven Dees a household name.

Then, in 2000, Dennis must’ve done some more growing because he decided to sell his nurseries. The other brothers continued to run their landscaping business, but they knew in their bones things just wouldn’t be right until they brought the nurseries back to the family.

If you’re thinking a happy ending is in order, you’re in luck. In 2004, the brothers got their chance and bought back all three of Dennis’ original nurseries, once again establishing Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping and Garden Centers. And once again bringing the idea of smarter gardening to gardeners and landscapes everywhere.