Tidal Creek Growers expands into nursery production

In early 2026, customers of Tidal Creek Growers received an announcement: The Maryland bedding plant producer had acquired a nursery property. With the acquisition, Tidal Creek owner Jake Van Wingerden officially established a tree and shrub division — and added more than 500 acres to his production capacity.

For many people who know Van Wingerden, the acquisition wasn’t surprising. Since founding Tidal Creek Growers in 2002, he’s grown from 2 acres to 14 acres in greenhouse production, plus shade houses and field production. In 2015, he launched SunMed Growers and, relying on proven horticultural principles, grew it into Maryland’s largest cannabis production facility.

As this news about his nursery expansion goes to press, construction is underway on a new Tidal Creek state-of-the-art bedding plant facility. Phase 1 of the new build will be 10 acres of Dutch-style greenhouse production. Van Wingerden’s master plan calls for 40 acres, meticulously executed one phase at a time.

On the surface, the Tidal Creek expansion into the nursery industry might look like a case of a grower intent on breaking boundaries, ignoring traditional divisions between greenhouse bedding plants and nursery stock.

But that’s not the real story here. Van Wingerden’s goal isn’t horticulture industry domination. It hits much closer to home. As any grower in a family business — in any branch of horticulture — will understand, the investments he’s making are more than financial.

From real estate to real opportunity

The backstory to Van Wingerden’s entry to nursery production goes back several years. Almost daily, he has driven past the property now Tidal Creek’s tree and shrub division on his way to his bedding plant and cannabis businesses. Then it was Moon Nurseries, an area fixture for nearly 40 years.

He watched as the family-owned nursery was caught up in the chaos of COVID-19. Just 15 minutes from Tidal Creek and SunMed, the property slipped into disrepair.

At the time, Van Wingerden was looking for a site for the new greenhouse facility now under construction. He was interested in the real estate, not the nursery. When it came up for sale as part of bankruptcy proceedings, he made an offer. But, as he says, it was not to be. He moved on and purchased a different farm.

The nursery property continued to languish. Weeds grew taller and taller, and activity at the nursery happened less and less. Every time he drove past, he wondered, “What’s going on?” He asked others, and answers varied. For a while, someone planned a tomato facility with an onsite power plant. But that too was not to be.

Soon he heard the property was back “on the auction block,” under court-appointed receivership. But this time, he wasn’t looking at real estate. He was looking at trees and shrubs.

Can we sell it?

Strong production and sales teams are a Van Wingerden signature. He didn’t need to ask if they could grow nursery stock. From bedding plants to cannabis, his teams are filled with men and women with strong, solid horticultural histories. Five team members had previously worked at Moon, including his SunMed general manager, Mark Bleezarde, formerly general manager at Moon.

The first question Van Wingerden had for his Tidal Creek team was direct: Can we sell this line of products? “The answer was absolutely yes. We could definitely sell them because there is a shortage of this type of product in our local marketplace,” he says.

Moon had been a big woody plant supplier in the Mid-Atlantic. With its bankruptcy, local independent garden centers, landscapers and landscape rewholesalers — Tidal Creek’s primary customer base — had to get trees and shrubs from distant sources, complete with increased freight charges.

He also reached out to a former long-term Moon Nurseries employee, Mark Brinsky. They discussed the possibility of him joining the Tidal Creek team, if a nursery expansion took place. “Mark was very passionate about his ability to offer those products to customers as well,” he says.

Van Wingerden was confident he had the right people in place to steer the acquisition to success. He started the process to purchase the nursery out of receivership in November 2025. Over the next five months, he learned that buying a property through a receiver is very different than a normal real estate purchase — and much more nerve wracking.

Unlike private real estate transactions, the deal was negotiated and then details were then published for public scrutiny. “Theoretically, anyone up until the date when the judge said sold could come in and outbid us,” he recalls. He finally closed in April 2026.

A dream takes root

Van Wingerden had found the market opportunity. He had the land. He had the people. But there was another reason the acquisition mattered so much.

He and his wife, Wendy, have three children. Their youngest just started college. Their oldest, Jacob, works at SunMed Growers in sales. Their daughter Emma recently married Harry Pritt.

“Harry’s dream had always been to be in the nursery business, and we had kind of always talked about him one day joining our company in the Tidal Creek realm,” Van Wingerden says. “But they were doing their thing up in Lancaster [Pennsylvania], biding their time ‘til when it was right.”

Last winter, that time came. Van Wingerden told Harry, who has a horticulture degree, that he was buying the nursery. He asked if Harry would like to come run it. “Harry couldn’t say yes fast enough,” he recalls.

Now Harry is the general manager of Tidal Creek’s nursery division, working alongside and learning from experts like Brinsky, as well as Bleezarde, who’s just 15 minutes away at SunMed. Emma works alongside Harry, managing the office and doing marketing.

“It’s really special for me and my wife to be able to have opportunities to give to our children to join our company and build something from the ground up,” Van Wingerden says. “It’s not only about bringing trees and shrubs into our Tidal Creek universe, but it’s also about opening up an opportunity for my son-in-law and daughter to join our companies in a meaningful way.”

“Being a one-stop shop, being local, having that weekly delivery service is what we want and what we offer.”
Jake Van Wingerdon

Starting at ground zero

The team hit the ground running as soon as the judge finally said, “Sold!” Revitalization of the distressed property shifted into high gear. As former general manager of the property, Bleezarde was key. “He knew everything about that nursery, where every pipe was, where every valve was, every well, every timer,” Van Wingerden says.

The site had infrastructure, but much of it was in disrepair. Across the more than 500-acre property, about 100 acres was in above-ground containerized nursery production in poly hoop houses. Another 300 acres was for B&B trees. But Tidal Creek didn’t inherit any inventory; the remaining nursery stock was too picked over, too far gone or too big.

Typical to the Mid-Atlantic and some other regions, the nursery overwintered much of its inventory covered with a single layer of white poly in the existing hoop houses. The nursery infrastructure, from irrigation to roads, needed help. The maintenance team from SunMed went to work and got the infrastructure back on track.

From Buddleia to Betula, the team immediately started planting, with a goal of selling nursery stock by fall. Five months after April’s closing, Tidal Creek is shipping nursery stock from the new property.

“Those plans have come to fruition,” Van Wingerden reports. “We are currently offering a lot of those plants in our fall availabilities to our customers, and they are selling very well. We’re on month five and already selling high-quality products, so we’re very excited about how it’s turned out.”

A one-stop shop for IGCs

While many growers have broadened their customer base beyond independent IGCs, landscapers and landscape rewholesalers, Tidal Creek has not. Van Wingerden has no plans to change.

“In our industry, there’s a clear bifurcation between the growers that grow for Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot versus the growers that grow for independent garden centers and landscapers,” he explains.

He’s seen a lot of consolidation in the mass-market retail channel. As a result, there’s been a lot of consolidation among growers who supply that channel and the growers who contract grow for those who do.

“But then there’s this entirely different channel of independent garden centers and landscapers,” he adds, noting that consumers looking for anything unique aren’t buying that from “the Big Three.”

“You have to go to an independent, and so we have capitalized on that in our annual and perennial division side of the business,” he says. “What we’ve heard is, ‘The more you offer, the more I’ll buy from you.’”

He believes that being the one-stop shop for independent IGCs and landscapers — with annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, even B&B — gives Tidal Creek a competitive advantage. “We will bring value to our customer and be the preferred vendor. That’s really the business plan, and we’re pretty bullish about it,” he says.

“We’re not just interested in this week’s order. We want next week’s and next month’s and next year’s order. We want to be on the milk run to our local customers. Right now, we go every week with annuals and perennials and vegetables and herbs. Now we can add trees and shrubs into that equation.

“Being a one-stop shop, being local, having that weekly delivery service is what we want and what we offer. That adds value to our relationship,” he says. “Ultimately, it makes them more money. And if I’m helping my customers make more money, then that is a recipe for success in business.”

“Every day, I think what am I going to leave my children?”
Jake Van Wingerden

Building for the next generation

At a time when tariffs and supply chain issues have many growers putting expansion plans on hold, Van Wingerden’s new nursery division and new bedding plant facility construction are a striking contrast.

From a financial perspective, he acknowledges that SunMed’s success has given him the flexibility and ability to respond to opportunities like the nursery acquisition. With well over 20 years of business success in horticulture, he has very strong banking relationships as well.

But his explanation for his motivation quickly turns personal. When the opportunity to buy the nursery came across his desk, he viewed it as his chance to build a division his son-in-law and his daughter could run.

“I just recently turned 50. My children are coming of age and coming into the business. Every day, I think what am I going to leave my children?” he says.

“My faith is very important to me, and I know the Lord has only given me a certain amount of days to live on this earth, and I want to leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren. The investments I’m making today are for them.“

For the third-generation grower, whose extended family has dominated the U.S. greenhouse industry for decades, this isn’t about succession plans. It’s about a legacy that translates to opportunities.

“My wife and I want to leave our children profitable, functioning businesses that they can find professional success with, and hopefully raise their families in — just like I was offered and how I was raised. I was raised in a greenhouse, working alongside my dad. I raised my children similarly, and I want my children’s children to also be raised that way. So what I’m doing and the rationale behind my investments is generational,” he adds.

Growing something that lasts

Tidal Creek’s boundary-breaking expansion from bedding plants into nursery stock may signal a shift in the industry as consolidation continues and growers’ mindsets evolve. But Van Wingerden says he’s simply trying to set his children up for the future and give them an opportunity to contribute.

“We’ve been very blessed as a family, but with the blessings, my wife and I talk all the time about how do we ground our kids? How do we make sure that we raise our children — with all the blessings that life gives you — to still have the character traits of hard work and diligence and perseverance. How do we raise responsible, hardworking young adults?”

The goal is and always has been bringing them into the family businesses, giving them responsibility, and letting them discover and experience what the industry holds.

“It’s hard to describe it to people who aren’t in the industry, but it’s extremely satisfying to grow a plant and then sell it to someone, because our products make people happy. When you, as a profession, make people happy, it’s very satisfying,” he adds.

As Tidal Creek’s nursery division started shipping its first plants this fall, Van Wingerden asked his son-in-law and daughter if they were excited to ship. After growing the plants for five months and seeing them ship to happy customers, they were excited and happy themselves.

“They had a sense of pride and not just work, but hard work, and satisfaction and a sense of worth. Giving them that professional sense of pride and purpose and instilling this responsibility and hard work into them is very fulfilling as a father,” he says.

“That is really the takeaway for me. Bringing my children into the business and teaching them the professional satisfaction that comes with growing a successful crop and bringing it to market. It’s hard to describe to people who aren’t in the industry, but everyone in the industry knows what I’m talking about.”

That kind of satisfaction — and love for family — isn’t dependent on bedding plants or nursery stock.

Jolene Hansen is a freelance writer specializing in horticulture and related industries. Reach her at jolene@jolenehansen.com