HILA Class of 2026: How Danny Shreckhise has set up Shreckhise Nurseries for another win

“Success is born out of faith, an undying passion,

 

and a relentless drive.” – Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors point guard

Danny Shreckhise is no stranger to basketball. He loves the game. He grew up playing and has spent hours in the gym watching and coaching from the sidelines. He shares this passion with his son Matt Shreckhise who played and his grandsons who currently play.

When Danny finished high school, he went to junior college in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, to play basketball as a shooting guard. At this time, Danny’s plan was to become a teacher and a basketball coach, but there was a pull to come back and work at the nursery his family started. So, Danny decided to stop pursuing education and pursue a career in the family business.

“It was time to move on; it was time to get something done,” Danny says.

First quarter

A third-generation nurseryman rooted in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Danny has dedicated his career to advancing both his family business and the broader green industry across the Mid-Atlantic.

Shreckhise Nurseries was founded in 1935, but the family’s roots in the nursery industry go back even further. Noah Shreckhise, known as Uncle Noah, founded Augusta Nurseries in the late 1800s and in fact, his nursery is located exactly where Danny’s house is today. Years later, Danny’s dad with two of his brothers formed a partnership to start a small landscaping nursery and a dairy farm, that eventually became Shreckhise Nurseries.

“I remember getting up at 2:30 in the mornings to go to the dairy barn and help milk the cows,” Danny says. “We did that, then we’d come in, get showered and go to school. Then come back from school and go straight to the dairy barn to help clean up. … I pretty much decided right then, I didn’t want to be a dairy farmer.”

Around that same time, Danny started working at the nursery when he was 11 years old. He spent his days hoeing weeds at the nursery and watering plants with the landscape crew. Danny credits his love for plants to one of his dad’s brothers, Uncle Charles Shreckhise.

“He introduced me to plants,” Danny says. “Not just how to grow them or how to sell them or how to profit from them, but to appreciate them and love them. … He taught me the importance of showing up on time and doing whatever task was in front of me to the best of my ability. He taught me perseverance also, by putting me at the end of a long row of weedy plants with no promise of anything better until they were cleaned.”

And that has stuck with Danny through life.

“He has been a student of the industry his whole life,” Matt says. “He just truly loves plants.”

From hoeing weeds to landscaping and production, his deep understanding of many aspects of the business has shaped Danny into the knowledgeable leader he is today.

Second quarter

The biggest change

“We actually began wholesaling plants to landscapers up and down the Shenandoah Valley in the 70s,” Danny says. “We primarily grew plants in the field at the time, and then in the early 80s we started switching over to container production.”

This was a big change for the nursery, and the management of labor was easier after the switch. When the nursery first started container production, they were potting everything by hand with people at the potting wagons and later switched to potting machines.

“When we were in field production, it was truly a seasonal business,” Danny says. “Container production has allowed it to be a year-round business and that has been huge.”

In an era of consolidation, Danny sustained and modernized this multi-generational operation while maintaining deep customer relationships and outstanding plant quality. Because the team at Shreckhise nursery doesn’t propagate, they buy in liners and bare root trees which allow them to adjust to market changes quickly.

“We usually look at a season for turnaround on plants, sometimes it’s two seasons because we’re not growing plants for a long time — keeping plants at the nursery where they’re holding residence for a long period of time,” Danny says.

Every year, Danny and the team review the cost and availability of labor to improve efficiency and introduce as much technology and automation as possible.

“The industry is still pretty labor intensive,” Danny says. “We’re currently looking at the possibility of using drones for spraying.”

Halftime

Meant to be

Danny and his wife, Linda, attended the first grade together. Linda’s father was a farmer, and when her family moved to a different farm about a mile down the road, she started going to a different elementary school. They met again in high school and started dating at the end of their sophomore year. Young and in love, they got married at 19 years old.

“She was someone you would want to meet and still is,” Danny says. “I often say the world became a better place the day she was born.”

He and his wife, Linda, have been married for 53 years and have raised two children, Tara and Matt, who now help lead the business.

Matt has been working at the nursery since 2006. When he graduated from Virginia Tech in 2002, he wanted to come back to work at the nursery.

“I told him I thought it was best that he not,” Danny says. “I thought it was best that he worked somewhere else for a while.”

He worked away from the industry for almost five years in corporate sales in Washington, D.C., and when he returned to the family business, he came offering something — outside experience.

“It was a good time for him, and he brought something to the table, to the business, that was very helpful,” Danny says.

Today Matt is the sales manager and also works with production and irrigation. He has served the green industry as president of the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association (VNLA) and the Shenandoah Valley Nursery & Greenhouse Association (SVNGA). He was also an advisory board member for the Virginia Tech Department of Horticulture.

Tara spent most of her career outside the family business working for a consulting company. When her family moved back to the area, she worked at a family-owned winery for about three years handling payroll and finances.

“Her husband told her, ‘If you’re going to work for a family business, you may as well work for your own family’,” Danny says.

Tara started working part-time at the nursery about five years ago. She works in the office helping with finance and marketing.

“One of the biggest wins is working with my children on a daily basis in the business,” Danny says.

Third quarter

Marked by innovation

Even though Danny doesn’t have a college degree, he’s known for his deep knowledge of plants and the industry. He simply loves plants. He remembers as a young man getting “all these beautiful nursery catalogs,” and he would take them home and study them at night.

“A true plantsman and self-described ‘plant geek,’ Danny combines curiosity with deep horticultural knowledge,” says Tom Saunders, a horticultural consultant at Saunders Brothers and past HILA honoree. “His discovery of Emerald Squeeze led to a partnership with Star Roses and Plants to patent and introduce the plant nationally through the Bloomables collection. This achievement demonstrates his ability to turn field-level insight into meaningful commercial value.”

Emerald Squeeze was found in a block of field-grown Emerald Green arborvitaes. One of Danny’s employees found it and pointed it out. When Matt came to work at the nursery in 2006, he kept telling Danny, ‘Dad, you need to do something with that plant; I think that’s a good plant.’

“It grew really fast, but it didn’t grow as fast as the other emeralds in the block,” Danny says. “It was noticeably different in its growth habit and its texture, even in its color, so we cleared up that block of plants when we finished digging everything out of there and planted it (Emerald Squeeze) beside our office and just observed it for a number of years.”

They had some Emerald Squeeze plants propagated and grew it in containers for a couple of years, stepping them to different size containers.

“We just really liked the plant,” Danny says. “It looked good and grew really well in a container.”

After a few years of observation at Shreckhise Nurseries, Danny spoke with Star Roses and Plants about Emerald Squeeze. Star Roses and Plants planted it in their trial gardens to observe it for a few years.

“They found it worthy of introduction to the industry,” Danny says. “We’re now at a point where we have some in 15-gallon containers that I hope will be available late this summer, early fall. It’s a plant that will meet a need in the industry for a smaller conifer, but it still grows fast enough to be worthy of production.”

When he’s not working, Danny enjoys working in his yard — gardening, trialing new plants, tinkering, pruning and just trying to make something out of nothing.

“Plants can’t love you back, but they do offer a lifetime of enjoyment,” Danny says. “My wife said I was more interested in growing plants and giving them to someone than I was about making money; she’s probably right.”

Fourth quarter

A humble leader

Danny has a reputation for integrity and mentorship. He tries to treat everyone with an honesty and respect that reflects his Christian faith.

“I grew up in church,” Danny says. “When Linda and I got married, we made a conscious decision that we were going to surround ourselves with positive people, and we were going to go to church. And we’ve done that. … Faith gives us purpose beyond ourselves.”

He consistently shares knowledge, encourages emerging professionals, and leads with humility. His thoughtful guidance has influenced employees, peers and the next generation of industry leaders.

“We value honesty and integrity,” Danny says. “We try, on a daily basis, to show our employees that they are important to the success of the business, regardless of the position they have within the organization. We want our employees to know everyone’s contribution is valued.”

Danny’s influence extends far beyond his nursery. He has devoted decades to industry leadership and advocacy. As past Chairman of the Virginia Agribusiness Council and past president of the VNLA, he strengthened the industry’s voice in legislative and regulatory matters and fostered collaboration among growers, retailers and allied partners.

Today, he serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) and in 2025 was elected by his peers to serve as MANTS president for the 2026 show year. Shreckhise Nurseries has exhibited at MANTS for 54 consecutive years, nearly since the show’s inception, reflecting Danny’s enduring commitment to professional connection, education and industry advancement. He believes that a strong horticulture industry is dependent on shared engagement and mutual support, which is lived out through his board role and leadership at MANTS. His career reflects sustained leadership, industry service, innovation and character, and his contributions have strengthened horticulture in Virginia and throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

Like any good coach, Danny looks ahead and plans for the future. His faith and family are what motivate him, and his legacy continues through his family. By successfully transitioning leadership while remaining actively engaged, Danny has ensured that his family nursery tradition, dating back to the late 1800s, will flourish for years to come.