We pride ourselves on excellent customer service and love to hear that we have been able to meet and exceed our customers' expectations!
Thanks - you made my Mom's day ;-)
Hi folks, Just wanted to drop you a quick note. I moved 3,000+ miles away to California after growing up in Greenwich, but my Mom is still back in good ole' CT. So my mother misses me. This weekend I sent her flowers from you guys, and she was soooo happy, it was unbelievable. Brought a few phone calls and was as good as getting together, I guess. You should know that she gardens and used to run a dried floral arrangement business that was very successful, so to impress her with flowers is not easy - she can detect the crummy stuff from miles away. She said the quality was great and they were beautiful and smelled wonderful. I have you to thank. :-) Now, the only problem... I outdid my dad. ;-) Thanks again, --D (from e-mail)
Greenwich Orchids was started by Wendy Siegel in 1982. It has grown from a small supplier of orchids, raised in Wendy's basement, into two retail locations and a 112 acre farm with a state-of-the-art greenhouse.
It all started with one orchid…
"It was a single potted Epidendrum Radicans that my husband, Ted, brought me after a trip to Florida in 1980. I had never considered myself a flower person, but I was so taken by the beauty and elegance of that first orchid that I began to read up on its care and nurturing. Soon I was sending away for more plants (there were no orchid suppliers in the Northeast).
Attention to Detail
Before long the entire upstairs of our house was a celebration of orchids. An entrepreneurial friend of ours who was visiting was so taken with the display that he said to me, ‘Wendy, there’s got to be a business in all of this.’ The idea of raising and selling orchids quickly took root in my imagination. Since I didn’t have a store to sell from, it made sense to me to try wholesale.
I called friends and looked through the Manhattan phone book to identify the leading flower shops in New York City. Then I loaded up the trunk and seats of my car with potted orchids and set out to try my luck in the Big Apple. I had no idea what would happen, but I found out soon enough. Within three hours I was sold out and the shop owners were asking me when I could provide more. They say that successful entrepreneurs find a need and fill it. Since there were no sources for orchids in the Northeast at the time, that’s exactly what I did.
We installed lights in our basement and began raising plants as fast as we could. Greenwich Orchids became the first and only orchid wholesaler in this part of the country and soon flower shops up and down the Eastern Seaboard were calling us for plants.
But flower retailers weren’t our only customers. One of the first was Enid Haupt of the New York Botanical Gardens. Enid was delighted not only by our proximity, but also by the quality of our offerings. She became a regular customer beginning a relationship with the Gardens that continues today. Enid has since retired, but you can see Greenwich Orchids offerings any time in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
It wasn’t long until the basement wasn’t large enough to meet our needs and Ted and I built our first greenhouse in Greenwich in 1982. It was only 1,100 sq ft, but it served our needs – for a while. Three years later we had to expand again and built a 12,000 sq ft greenhouse just across the state line in Banksville, New York.
We also opened our first retail establishment in Greenwich that flourished and led to the creation of another location in Cross River, New York. We even expanded the Greenwich and Cross River stores to feature furniture, antiques, porcelain, and other accessories in addition to our orchids.
Then came our latest expansion – a 56,000 sq ft greenhouse on our farm in Pine Bush, New York. With this added capacity, Ted and I are positioned to serve the wholesale needs of the entire country with our stock-in-trade – top quality orchids at competitive prices.
From the very start Ted and I relied on word of mouth to get our story out. And it worked very well, indeed. Our orchids have been featured on Martha Stewart’s TV show. Major magazines and newspapers ranging from Westchester Spotlight to Better Homes and Gardens have published more than 30 feature articles about our offerings and operation. And interior decorators throughout the Northeast insist upon Greenwich Orchids for use as major elements in their designs for special events.
Now, no matter where you are in the country, you can select from our vast array of top quality orchids with the confidence that you will receive the kind of plants you want at a fair price. I know that you will enjoy our orchids as much as we enjoy bringing them to you."
Greenwich Orchids, Inc. - Main Store, Fine Flowers and More Greenwich, CT Ph: 203-661-5544 Fx: 203-661-8149 Greenwich Orchids, LLC - Shopping Village, Flowers, Antiques and More Cross River, NY Ph: 914-763-4600 Fx: 914-763-4618 Greenwich Orchids International - Greenhouse, Wholesale Orchids Pine Bush, NY Ph: 845-744-5304 Fx: 845-744-2105
