User talk:OliverSorge/hirt

Hirt’s Gardens is a retail greenhouse located in Granger Township, Medina County, Ohio that offers unusual and hard-to-find seeds, seedlings, and mature plants ranging from traditional vegetables to rare perennials to exotic houseplants.

History
Hirt's Gardens has operated continuously since 1915 and is one of the oldest retail greenhouses in Ohio. Its regional significance has been established in two ways. First, it was highlighted in the book Images of America: Strongsville written by Bruce M. Courey. Second, Hirt's Gardens is listed as a resource on Ohio State University's Horticulture and Crop Science Resource page. Started by Sam and Anna Hirt, its early focus was on horseradish and vegetables, which Sam Hirt sold in Cleveland. It is believed that Sam intended to pass the business directly to his eldest son, Paul Hirt, but Paul Hirt died tragically in 1918 when the merchant marine ship he was on, the Otranto, sunk off the coast of England. So Sam Hirt passed the business to some of his other sons, most notably Lawrence Hirt, Art Hirt, and Hobart Hirt. Lawrence and Art started Hirt’s Wholesale, which supplied florists supplies, vegetable seedlings, and houseplants to the retail business run by Hobart and his wife, Onalee (nee Baker). The retail business was initially called Strongsville Greenhouse and was located at 13867 Pearl Rd, Strongsville, Ohio.

The three children of Hobart and Onalee Hirt were Marie, Clare, and Alan. All worked at the greenhouse in the 1960s and 1970s, and the business was passed on to Clare and Alan in the mid-1970s, who were joined by a third business partner, Paul King, whom they had met at Ohio State University. By then, the greenhouses were known as Hirt’s Greenhouse and Flowers. For awhile, they operated small florists’ outlets at two popular northeast Ohio malls, Great Northern Mall and Beachwood Place. Alan Hirt (along with his wife at the time, Karen Hirt) found great success appearing on local news and radio shows, where they answered common gardening questions. By the late 1990s, the successful business included a floral shop and 14 greenhouses wall-to-wall at the intersections of Pearl Road and Royalton Road, one of the busiest corners in Strongsville.

Clare Hirt took over the floral part of the business, which is now called Hirt’s Flowers, and is located just down the road from the original business at 14407 Pearl Rd. Hirt’s Flowers will send floral arrangement orders anywhere in the world through their Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) service. Alan Hirt and his son, Matthew Hirt, took over the horticulture part of the business, now called Hirt’s Gardens. It is now located at 4943 Ridge Rd. The original greenhouses were demolished in 2005.

Popular Plants
While Hirt's Gardens sells thousands of common plants, they specialize in harder-to-find plants. Here is a list of their most popular unusual plants.

Carnivorous Plants
Of the approximately 630 species of carnivorous plants known to exist, Hirt’s Gardens sells about thirty. Carnivorous plants are one of the most popular plants sold at Hirt’s Gardens.

Passionflowers
Hirt’s Gardens offers both seeds and mature plants of Passiflora in several varieties, including the Scarlet passionflower, the Sweet Granadilla, the Sweet Calabash, and the Blue passionflower, as well as an edible variety. Matthew Hirt believes that customers prize the plant for both its religious associations and the striking beauty of the blossoms.

Sensitive Plants
Hirt’s Gardens offers both seeds and mature plants of Mimosa pudica.Sensitive plants cultivated by Hirt’s Gardens were featured in the season 5 premier of CSI: New York. Owner Alan Hirt was contacted by the show’s producers because, they explained, his was the closest greenhouse to New York City that sold sensitive plants in quantity, and they needed the plants for the show’s final, cliffhanger scene involving the murderer.

Olive Trees
Hirt’s Gardens sells olive tree seeds through their web site. They also sell seedling olive trees of the species Olea europaea through Amazon.com.

Heirloom Vegetables
Hirt’s Gardens sells a variety of heirloom vegetables as seeds (sold year-round) or young plants (sold during spring).

Organic Seeds
Hirt’s Gardens sells organic seeds year-round. Organic seeds have not undergone irradiation. Some people who buy organic seeds argue that they are safer because the seeds have not been exposed to radiation.

Hybrid Seeds
Hirt’s Gardens sells hybrid seed year-round.

Heirloom tomatoes
Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular in recent years. Hirt’s Gardens offers more than sixty varieties of heirloom tomato seeds that produce fruits in sizes ranging from grape to globe.