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What began as a small business of growing flowers in 1957 by local Avon couple, Philip and Ada Mensch, has grown and expanded in ways that surely they never would have expected. Ada and Philip started a small flower growing greenhouse during a time well before today’s norm of having flowers shipped from different world-wide locations, in order to provide the community with flowers for all of their special occasions. After their son, Lyle, returned from college in 1961, he joined the family business. Eventually, Lyle completely took over the family business, growing it into the business it is today. Lyle Mensch’s Wholesale Greenhouse offers more plants, including vegetables and flowers than anyone could ever imagine. The passion for plants is evident in all that the Mensch’s do. The greenhouse today has over 20 greenhouses that produce starter plants and flowers that are sent to different businesses all over the Midwest including South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Montana. Customers enjoy coming to Greenhouses and being able to walk amongst the plants when they do their shopping for their businesses. The Greenhouse is a bulk plant company, they do not actually sell to individuals on site. Their products are carried locally though at Mensch’s Retail Greenhouse & Flower Shop. Not only does the business grow its own starters, but Mensch’s wholesale greenhouse also does all of its own shipping and delivering. In 2021, a shipping facility was built in order to be easier for the business's shipping department. The new facility allows for the plants to be better organized/lined up for more efficient order picking. Mensch’s has its own delivery truck that is designed to hold plants, hangers, etc. in order for the safe transport of products to the different businesses around the Midwest. Korey joined the family business in 1999. Korey grew up learning and helping in the greenhouses; it became a part of him. From a very young age, he would help mix the soil and fill trays. It is the foundation that his grandparents and father laid for Korey that make Korey the business owner and operator that he is today. Quality is Korey’s number one priority and is something that he is not willing to sacrifice. He knows that by using top quality products he will be able to grow top quality clean bedding plants for his customers. Korey takes care of and nurtures the plants by researching plant diseases, making sure the plants are in the most optimal growing controlled climate and uses preventative sprays to help the plants thrive and remain disease free. The time and care that he puts into the plants has helped make it a rarity for crop failure. Korey is so meticulous when it comes to his plants that even inspectors know when a plant is one of Korey’s. Korey has come to find that “the desire for our product is immense, limited only by available help,” meaning that they produce as many plants as possible depending on how many seasonal employees they can get. Even though this is a slow time of the year for greenhouses, Mensch’s has already begun working on seeding. He has six regular employees that he employs throughout the year, most of which are retirees that just want to stay busy and enjoy the greenhouse and plant atmosphere. Almost all of the seeding is done by hand. Even though the greenhouse does have an automatic seeding machine, Korey prefers the handson seeding because it provides better quality control of the products. When asked how many plants are typically planted in a season, Korey answered with “millions.” In tomatoes alone last year the team grew 100,000 starters and in peppers over 50,000. As explained by Korey, each variety of seed is patented by one person and when the one person passes away the variety ceases to exist. This means that each season, there will be new hybrids and varieties of different flowers, plants and herbs available at Mensch’s. When asked if there would be any new or exciting products offered by Mensch’s, Korey said there will not be anything necessarily new, but there will be some exciting and beautiful new flower colors. Korey is proud to be a business owner/operator in his hometown community of Avon. He enjoys being a part of an atmosphere where everyone knows everyone and his employees have become a part of his family. Mensch’s loves being able to offer job opportunities to locals both youth and adults. Not only are they helping the business but seasonal employees learn a lot about plants and the proper way to take care of them. Lyle Mensch’s Wholesale Greenhouse also sponsors a yearly scholarship in memory of Korey’s classmate, Dan Sternhagen who had muscular dystropy. When Dan was in high school, he participated in a large variety of activities. This scholarship looks to honor his memory by giving a scholarship to a student that is very active in school. The customers of Mensch's play a big part in every season when it comes to what can possibly be grown in the greenhouses. Korey is very open and receptive of customer input and seasonal plant requests.