Grow Like a Rock Star: Joe and Anna from Glick’s Greenhouse
At Glick’s Greenhouse in Oley, Pennsylvania, generations of memories bloom alongside the plants. Families who once walked the poinsettia show as children now return with kids of their own. Customers stop the Glicks at the grocery store to talk about hanging baskets that lasted all summer. Teenagers who grew up visiting the greenhouse come back years later looking for their first job.
For more than 50 years, Glick’s Greenhouse has grown into far more than a retail operation. It has become part of the rhythm of the community itself, built through seasons of hard work, creativity, hospitality, and a family that never stopped dreaming bigger.
Today, Joe Glick and his daughter Anna are carrying that legacy forward together, blending long-standing traditions with new ideas while keeping the same personal connection that first made the greenhouse stand out decades ago.
Building the Stage
The roots of Glick’s Greenhouse trace back to Anna’s great uncle, Dave Glick, who launched the operation in 1973 at just 18 years old with help from his parents and access to the family farm property.
“He had just turned 18 and decided that what he wanted to do when he was done with school was to have a greenhouse and start growing,” Anna explained.
The greenhouse began modestly, operating almost like a roadside stand before steadily expanding over the years. Old chicken coop houses from neighboring farms became part of the original structures, helping shape the business into what it is today. Joe officially joined the business full-time after graduating high school in 1997, and expansion quickly became necessary.
“He knew at the time, in order to have us both work here, we needed to expand,” Joe said about working alongside his uncle. “So, we did. We just kept growing the greenhouse and had a blast working together.”
More than two decades later, another generation stepped into the spotlight. Anna graduated high school in 2018 and joined the greenhouse full-time, although she jokes that her first role in the business came much earlier.
“My first day on the job, I was about six months old, and they used me as a baby Jesus in a live nativity,” she said with a laugh.
Growing up inside the greenhouse shaped the way she sees both the business and the lifestyle that comes with it. Like many family greenhouse operations, work and life have always blended together.
“One of the first things to do as a toddler is having your dad watering, and wanting to help,” Anna said. “So, you pick up a fake hose, and you start watering too.”
That early exposure built a strong appreciation for the work behind the scenes. “It’s almost like farm work where it’s 24/7,” Anna explained. “It’s just a part of life that you're always keeping in mind and working on.”
A Family Band Behind the Scenes
Today, Glick’s Greenhouse includes 15 greenhouses spread across a three-acre property, with approximately 18,000 square feet of covered retail space. During the busy spring season, the team grows from around 10 year-round employees to roughly 45 seasonal staff members. Despite that growth, the operation still carries the feel of a close-knit family business.
“We've had a lot of generational team members,” Anna said. “I think it says that we're doing a good job here if their older brother or their older sister was working here, and now, they're a teenager trying to find a fun job, and they want to be here too.”
Joe has seen that pattern repeat itself many times over the years. “Sometimes you'll have the mom working, and then you'll have the kids come with her, and they just love it,” he said. “And then their siblings want to join.”
More Than a Garden Center
Over the years, Glick’s Greenhouse has evolved into something much larger than a retail greenhouse. It has become a destination built around experiences, community connection, and creating an atmosphere that keeps people coming back year after year.
“It was not always his intention,” Anna said of her great uncle Dave’s original vision. “He just really liked the plant aspect. He liked growing. He liked the joy that that could bring to other people's homes.”
In recent years, however, the family has intentionally focused on building experiences around the greenhouse itself. “We've tried to be more intentional about making it a destination and do what we can to make people's experience here just as valuable as the product they're taking home,” Anna explained.
That vision accelerated during the COVID years, when customers were searching for places to spend time outdoors and find moments of joy and connection. “It was a really good jumpstart for us as far as trying to make this experience something that people enjoy and look forward to,” Anna said.
Today, visitors encounter outdoor seating areas, workshops, seasonal events, water features, and even pop-up cafés designed to encourage people to slow down and enjoy the greenhouse experience. One of the greenhouse’s most recognizable features is a water wheel originally installed years ago by Joe’s grandfather and uncle. During a major reconstruction project in 2021, the family ensured it stayed part of the property, since customers had formed such a strong connection to it.
“It was one of the icons of the greenhouse that we wanted to keep,” Joe said.
Now updated with fish and additional landscaping, it remains one of the first places children run toward when they arrive.
The Holiday Headliner
The poinsettia show began in 1979 as a simple open house built around Dave Glick’s love of poinsettias and the atmosphere created by a greenhouse full of bright red plants during the winter season.
“It felt very Christmassy, cheery, especially that time of year when you don't get to see a lot of color,” Anna said.
What started with roughly 400 visitors during the first year has now grown into an event that attracts approximately 17,000 people annually. Over time, the family introduced themed displays, artistic installations, refreshments, and walk-through experiences designed to make the event feel immersive and memorable.
“We're not doing it to make money at the door,” Anna said. “We're doing it for the experience, for everybody that comes through.”
The event has also become deeply intergenerational. Families who once attended as children are now bringing their own kids through the greenhouse each holiday season.
For Anna, the event also offers an opportunity to explore the more artistic side of the business. “It’s been fun because I can go from watering plants and growing things all spring long into summer, and then suddenly I get to do something totally different,” she said. “Either building displays or drying flowers to make artistic arrangements.”
Keeping the Crowd Coming Back
That sense of connection is one of the biggest reasons Glick’s Greenhouse has built such a loyal customer base over the years.
“When you say Glick, people know who you are,” Anna said. “You’re representing something bigger than yourself most of the time.”
Joe and Anna both describe the business as deeply relationship-driven, built around conversations, trust, and helping customers succeed at home. “It’s always easier to go back to somebody if you know them,” Anna said. “If you feel like, ‘Oh, I can go there, and I can ask them a question, they'll be friendly and helpful and ready to answer.’”
Joe says some of their favorite moments happen during the slower early spring weeks, when customers return eager to talk about how their plants performed the previous season.
“They tried this new plant, and they just absolutely loved it, and they want to do it again,” he said.
Sometimes those conversations happen far outside the greenhouse itself. “We could be at the local grocery store, and somebody will come up and be like, ‘Oh, we wanted to let you know my hanging basket lasted all summer long,’” Anna said. “It’s very, very personal and we try and keep it that way.”
Staying in Rhythm
Behind the customer experience, the operation still relies heavily on hands-on growing practices and daily observation.
“We're pretty old school still,” Anna said. “We don't have a ton of automated systems or anything. It's a lot of us just walking around in each greenhouse every day, checking on things.”
That same attention to consistency helped shape their long-term relationship with PRO-MIX® BK growing media. Joe remembers using PRO-MIX® years ago for poinsettia production, before eventually transitioning additional crops into it over time.
“We found we loved it,” he said. “It was a blessing. It was a good change that we did.”
As Glick’s Greenhouse expanded its use of PRO-MIX® growing media, the family also began offering the retail products directly to customers so they could grow with the same mix used throughout the greenhouse. “We kind of just referred to it like, ‘Oh, it's Glick's mix,’ because that's what we use here,” Anna said. “It's the same thing that we're growing in.”
For the Glick family, consistency is not only about crop quality inside the greenhouse. It is about giving customers confidence once those plants leave the bench. “It kind of helps us because we know we're trying to grow the best plant possible here,” Anna explained, “but the peace of mind knowing that they can take it home and plant it and it continues to grow as good as it possibly can.”
Looking Ahead
As the next generation helps guide the business forward, creativity continues to play a major role in the greenhouse’s evolution.
“Don't be scared to dream big,” Anna said.
Joe agrees. Some of the greenhouse’s most successful ideas started as experiments that nobody knew would work. “We would sometimes just dream up things and be creative and not know if they'd be a flop or not,” he said. “Nobody else was trying it.”
For Joe and Anna, the future is less about dramatically changing the business and more about continuing to build on the strong foundation already in place: family, creativity, customer connection, and a willingness to keep trying new ideas.
At Glick’s Greenhouse, the next act is already underway. And after more than 50 years, the crowd keeps coming back for another show.
To learn more about Glick’s Greenhouse, visit their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about Glick’s Greenhouse, visit their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
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