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By A. J. Goldsmith

Exquisite floral treats will await visitors to the Lake Bluff Farmer’s Market every Friday morning from 7 a.m. to noon beginning June 8 and running through October. As usual, flowers and plants will be offered for sale by Lake Bluff resident Kathryn Leider whose husband Mark is president and general manager of the family owned Leider Greenhouses and Garden Center in Buffalo Grove.

Mark, with his sisters Mary Barss, who manages the Garden Center, and Meg, are the fourth generation of Leiders actively operating this major wholesale and retail plant business located at 1625 Leider Lane just south of Aptakisic Road. Leider Lane is just one stoplight west of Barclay Road and is not available on GPS.

Mark Leider at work in Leider greenhouses

The 18 acres of greenhouses have been in Buffalo Grove since 1963 when the family recognized the area’s rapid population growth. For the past 14 years, the Leider Garden Center has been open to the public from mid April to Halloween; the wholesale business operates the year around.

In addition to the state-of-technological-art greenhouses in Buffalo Grove, Leiders Greenhouses operates specialized farms in Galesburg, Ill., (impatiens) and in Florida (tropical plants and grasses).

“We have 300 plus acres in Galesburg. Last year we built greenhouses that will allow us to expand out growing capabilities to meet our customers’ needs,” says Mary.

They also import cuttings from Central and South America, peat moss from Canada and obtain certain varieties from specialized growers in the United States.

The company has 60 full-time employees and 20 seasonal employees.

Great grandfather 20-year-old Michael Leider came to Chicago in the 1890s from Luxembourg where the family farmed.

“Traditionally, the oldest son got the farm and the next one got $100 and a boat passage to America,” says Mark Leider.

Each generation has made the greenhouses state-of-the-art

Mary believes that there must have been friends or relatives in Chicago because Michael married a Chicago girl also from Luxembourg. He started growing and supplying fresh vegetables to the North Side then moved to Evanston where he transitioned into potted flowers and plants. His son, Michael Martin, joined the company in 1930 and Michael Martin’s sons, Jim and Gerry came aboard in the early 1960s. They grew the business into retail and commercial and improved operations by automating the greenhouses.

Today, Mark has one daughter who graduated from college this year and two daughters and a son who are undergraduates. Will there be a fifth generation of Leiders in the business?

Many of Leider's plants start as cuttings right on the premises

As markets changed, the family redirected its business away from their 30 retail locations and rental of tropical plants, concentrating on producing potted plants.

During a walk through the facilities, Mary explained that different plant species need specific care that is provided by computer systems that control watering, light, shading and temperature. Computers also control inventory, billing and order entry.

As I walked alongside Mary through the greenhouses, I was surrounded by beauty; it was a thrilling experience.

The greenhouses are alive with color and texture

We overheard two customers we passed during our tour admiring the vast variety of products, not only flowering plants, but vegetable and condiment plants as well.

At one point Mark joined us and pointed out a production line of a dozen workers preparing large pots of flower arrangements for delivery to area Costco stores. Mark said that currently Leider delivers 1500-2000 such plants to Costco every day.

“We have to make sure that every plant looks right when it goes out the door,” says Mark. “Our customers expect quality. We want them to have good experiences from all of our products.”

As I was leaving the Leider Garden Center, Mary said:

“We sell color. We don’t carry garden furniture. We prefer to emphasize selling our customers really great flowers at great prices.”