Mary Neville shows off this year’s flora, with her new business set to open May 8

New Neville greenhouse set to open this week

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

Les Serres Mary Neville, located just outside Lennoxville on Chemin Dillon, will open its doors to the public for the first time May 8. Selling a wide variety of flowers, vegetables, and herbs until June 30, the greenhouse is the latest iteration of the local Neville family’s decades-long history of providing plants to the area.

“My parents had the business for many, many years,” Owner and Operator Mary Neville said to The Record in a May 6 interview on her property. The Nevilles previously operated a garden centre in Lennoxville on Queen Street beginning in the late 80s. “I grew up in this,” she said.

Initially, Neville did not want to take over the business, but she helped out on and off her entire life. Neville returned to university in her early thirties and worked at the family business full time from spring until the early autumn. “It was those years when I started really liking it a lot,” she said.

Neville’s parents eventually sold the garden centre and she worked for the new owners for three years. This is when she really gained the experience to “be in charge of everything.” She learned a lot and it went really well.

The best way to do retail and production is to sell from the place you are producing, she went on, because it limits costs. Moving plants from one place to another is a “huge job.” Full time staff are needed to load, unload and place everything. That is why she decided to do it all at one location.

“This year we’re keeping it pretty simple, because it was a little last minute,” she said. She plans on expanding every year. Moving forward, she is looking to have more perennials, indoor plants, shrubs and even fruit trees.

The Nevilles suffered a fire at their production greenhouses on Dillon in 2018. All five greenhouses used to be heated and running all season. Two greenhouses remain functional. Her secondary greenhouse currently holds mostly vegetables. They are saving money by heating with sawdust from their own land along with the standard propane.

Neville received the cuttings for this year’s crop around March 22. Before that there was clean up and preparation to do. “I had about a month and three weeks to grow all this stuff,” she said with a laugh. Neville has no real staff; her parents are helping with some of the logistics, such as the accounting, setting up the cash register, taking orders, and taking care of the vegetables.

Neville emphasized she does not use any chemical fertilizers or any chemicals at all with her vegetables. She does use fertilizer for her flowers. “It’s pretty hard not to with flowers,” she admitted. Nevertheless, she uses no insecticides or plant-growth regulators.

She said many industrial-sized greenhouses use plant-growth regulators to slow the growth of their plants to keep them a certain size before shipping. Plant-growth regulator use can be hazardous and requires special safety equipment. She said they space the plants properly instead so they keep a nice shape.

Neville has already received advance orders from the municipality of Waterville and Bishop’s College School. Other individuals have pre-ordered special boxes of flowers and arrangements. “If people want something really nice, I’m your man,” she said.

Neville stressed that clients will be able to pay by card. “People think, ‘Oh, we’re going to the country, so it’s cash-only,’” she said, “but it’s not.” They will also provide a delivery service; she just bought a van for the purpose.

Expansion next year will depend on how things go this year. She would love to get her other greenhouses going, but they would need to set up the heat and plumbing, and do a few minor repairs. These greenhouses are framed in metal and were partially melted in the fire. “We know how to do it all,” she said, “I hope over time it will happen – I’d like it to.”

“We’re always here for advice,” Neville said. She said she can usually figure out her clients’ problems and offer solutions. She has accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years.

“Come on over to ours this season!” reads Neville’s new brochure.

Find out more here: www.lesserresmaryneville.com