Our Story

It all began back in 1996, with a small lawn maintenance company called Total Lawn Care. Mark and Karen Packard got married and lived in a small house in Ashburnham, Massachusetts (MA). They ran a landscape maintenance company out of their home. The neighbors were very tolerant of the equipment in the driveway and would even let Mark borrow their sons for extra labor from time to time. After a couple of years, Karen moved out of the office and into the field doing planting jobs and delivering materials to the crew. By the year 2000, Total Lawn Care was offering installation of plants, walkways, walls, and water features. Mark and Karen outgrew their home based business and needed a place to expand, so they packed up the 2 kids, sold the house, and moved into the Sterling Greenery. For 4 years Karen and Mark lived at the Greenery with 2 kids, and slowly rebuilt what was once a great garden center. After their family outgrew the living space at the greenery, Mark and Karen bought a house in Sterling just minutes from the garden center.

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After helping Mark grow the business, Karen decided to follow her dream of being a real estate agent and quickly fell in love with her new career. She loves helping people sell and buy houses and has become the number one agent in Sterling. Now after 20 years, Karen and Mark still live in Sterling. Mark runs the garden center with the "Green Team" and Karen is the owner/broker of Karen Packard Real Estate Inc. specializing in residential real estate in the Wachusett area. Her office is just across the street from the Greenery. You can see her listings here.

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Now 20 years later, their 2 kids, Kali and Kyle, work with Mark at the garden center and have become integral part of the operations. Kali is in charge of scheduling and Kyle is in charge of the shipping department.

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Sterling Greenery's Paxton and Sterling, MA, locations are open 8am to 6pm every day, and offer a 3-year guarantee on all trees and shrubs. We offer delivery service, installation of plants, ponds, and patios, and a unique design service called "Plant Nerds Mobile Design." Sterling Greenery has grown to be one of the top distributors of Aquascape pond supplies and Nicolock pavers and offers top quality plant material. Come check us out for all your outdoor gardening and landscape design project needs. It will be worth the trip!