A Kansas City garden business with a 50-year legacy will close
After a Wednesday afternoon interview, Sherry Mistretta texted two sepia-toned pictures to The Star.
In one, Sherry had her hair pulled back and stood behind a roadside stand lined with several rows of blooming plants. In the other, she subbed out with her late husband, Pete Mistretta, whose face was partially obscured by the shady overhang.
“Blue Ridge Gardens. 1975,” she captioned the photos.
It started as a fruit stand called Pete’s Market, only selling flowers on Mother’s Day. But the couple quickly pivoted to live plants, partly for logistical reasons, but also because Sherry loves to garden. Today, the setup off Blue Ridge Boulevard has morphed into a sizable nursery and gardening center at 10300 View High Drive, tucked between Little Blue River and 470.
The end of June will mark the end of Heartland Nursery and Garden Center’s legacy.
The nursery will close, and Sherry and her son, Sam, will say goodbye to the business they’ve known for more than 50 years.
Sherry took her children with her to work at the nursery every day, and continued to work there after her husband died. About a year ago, Sherry stepped away from the business and moved states. At 76, she can’t keep up with the hard work of running a gardening center.
“I’ve been on a roller coaster since last July,” Sherry told The Star over the phone. “My whole life is there. … It was everything.”
She reminisced on the nursery’s early days with her husband: working in an old building without a bathroom, writing a weekly newsletter for customers and handing it out at the counter — “a blog before there were blogs.”
The customers, of course, are a highlight. She’s been to funerals and broken bread with shoppers who’ve frequented her store. After Pete’s death in 2006, she worked long hours to pay back debt on the greenhouse and land. She was able to make good on her loan two years early.
Her affinity for plants helped motivate her to stay in the business, too.
“I’m sitting here in Florida, looking at a gardening center right now because I love plants so much,” Sherry said.
The shop is offering sales on specified items and will continue to do so as its closing date approaches. Sherry assures readers that it’s good stuff.
“We don’t sell junk,” she said. “It takes special people to do a good job, and we did a good job all those years.”