Perhaps you know Kurt and Angie Hughs; they’ve owned Parker-based Hughs Landscaping for more than 30 years. But you may not know the Hughs also own Pine Lane Nursery on Apache Drive in Parker. “Pine Lane Nursery was where we got our plants from,” Angie says. When the nursery came up for sale in 2010, Kurt and Angie bought it.
Under Angie’s management, you might say the business has bloomed. Known for its incredible hanging baskets, Pine Lane Nursery is nine acres of floral nirvana, a place that delights gardeners—especially early in the planting season when everyone is done with their stark winter landscapes and are itching to get their hands in the dirt.
“Every year, we spend the profits basically improving this place, every year we do a little bit more, and we continue to add more greenhouses,” Angie says. “We grow a lot of our own perennials and annuals, and I think we're known far and wide for how beautiful our hanging baskets are.”
A self-described “lazy gardener,” Angie is all about creating and maintaining a foliage-laden yard with minimal work and care. She’s a Colorado Certified Nursery Professional and says that having a garden that lasts from May to October is all about planting the right plants at the right time.
“We don’t do full-fledged landscaping projects,” Angie says, “but we can help people design their beds. Just bring us pictures of your yard, and we can tell you which perennials or shrubs or trees to plant. And then we have crews that will plant them for you.”
Inspired by customers who would bring their pots to the nursery to be properly planted, the nursery decided to start its Custom Container Program—instead of lugging pots to Pine Lane, the nursery will come to you to plant, fertilize, water, and maintain your container gardens.
Kristy Psaltis has been in the gardening business for 10 years and is in charge of the program. “Creating custom containers has always been my favorite part of my job,” says Kristy. “People would come in and have all these ideas and then I get to implement them—I learn what kind of sun their yard gets, what colors they like, how tall they want the plants to be. Then I design their containers. It’s the fun stuff that I really enjoy doing.”
“Kristy is really good at it,” says Angie. “And this is such a great idea because even though we’re happy to plant pots our customers bring to us, going to them allows us to do it on a much bigger scale. And it’s hard to bring the really big pots to us.”
By signing up for this service, customers can make it completely custom for their specific needs. If you want a truly maintenance-free container garden, Kristy and her team will take care of everything—from planting to watering and fertilizing to deadheading and trimming (or replacing) dead or spent flowers. If you just want Kristy to plant your pots and then take care of them from there, she can do that too. Or any combination of services.
Kristy can also keep your pots beautifully filled year-round through Pine Lane’s Four Seasons Gardening Program. Starting with those cold-hardy plants in spring, she’ll add summer blooms like petunias and geraniums when the time is right, then replace them with fall plants like chrysanthemums. When the snow starts to fall and the holiday's approach, Kristy can fill the pots with small evergreens and festive decor.
“So we do both,” Angie continues. “We have people who prefer to bring their pots to us because we start them here with the little plants we get and grow them in our greenhouses so they’re full and beautiful by Mother's Day. The Colorado growing season is too short to start with those new, little plants in May.”
To learn more or sign up for Pine Lane’s Custom Container Program, email Kristy at pots@pinelanenursery.com.
Pine Lane Nursery
18200 Apache Drive, Parker
(303) 841-3009
pinelanenursery.com