BELLVILLE, Ohio — When two Bellville brothers came into business mowing lawns as young boys, they didn’t expect to someday own a landscaping and gardening center enterprise, let alone Christmas trees for the holidays.
Liberty Lawncare and Gardens on state Route 13, just south of the village limits, opened up their doors for business during the holiday season two years ago to sell Fraser fir trees and poinsettias.
The trees, according to owner Isaac Freeman range from $30 to $65 and sizes go from a couple feet to 10. The trees are bought from Carpenters Christmas Trees in Knox County, said Freeman.
“The Frasers have thicker needles and stiffer branches. So we mainly have them right now,” Freeman said.
The poinsettias, which range from plain, red to “Jingle Bells” varieties are available for $5 to $20.
Freeman said he decided to keep the business open through the holidays to add one more season to their gardening collection. The storefront also has ornaments, wreaths and holiday trinkets for sale.
“We usually shut down right after fall, usually right around Halloween. So we decided to open back up last year to try the Christmas trees and poinsettias and stuff and it went really well. It helps keep a few more employees busy for another month or so,” said Freeman.
Owner Isaac Freeman shares ownership with his brother Seth. Isaac Freeman said their first customer was the 2.5 acre North Liberty Cemetery. He was 9-years-old and his brother was 11.
“We went to a garage sale, bought two $10 push mowers and started growing since then,” said Isaac Freeman. “It took us eight hours to mow and just about three hours to trim it all.”
“By the time my brother and I both had our licenses (to drive) we were both running our own crew, and just traveling a lot father around. We had about 35 accounts by then and started landscaping and stuff,” said Isaac Freeman.
Isaac Freeman said now the business has 30 employees and they operate a gardening center. Gardening came into the picture when the brothers got married; their wives upkeep that part of the business.
“When we bought this place she (Chelsea) said, ‘I want to start a garden center here,’ and I said, ‘You know that end of it, I don’t know that end of it,’ so that’s kind of her vision,” he said.
He still mows the cemetery, but now it only takes his crew an hour-and-a-half.
Liberty Lawncare and Gardens is open Monday through Friday from 12 to 6 p.m. Saturdays, they open up from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. They are located on 5822 State Route 13 in Bellville.
