What started out as a hobby quickly grew into something unexpected for Ed & Ruth Adams. In 1952 a 100 square foot greenhouse was built to house orchids. Ed and Ruth's passion for orchids turned into a business when they began to grow cut flower orchids, and flowering potted crops for grocery stores and floral shops. They continued to wholesale these products until the original facility had expanded to 5,600 square feet.

In 1973, DeWitt and Carolyn Moss (Ed and Ruth's daughter) returned to Jerome from Idaho Falls to lend their knowledge to the growing business. They began construction on another 10,000 square foot greenhouse for producing bedding plants to wholesale to existing and new customers. The King's store in Twin Falls was one of the first bedding plant customers. The business's customer base grew each year as the facility continued to provide great service and to sell consistently good quality product. Carolyn and DeWitt soon expanded by specializing in new, extensive selections of annuals, perennials, containers and hanging baskets. Also, in 1975, a new retail area was created for walk-in customers.

DeWitt and Carolyn's son, Kevin and his wife, Dana, returned in 1983 to assist with the spring season, and to help in the construction of yet another greenhouse expansion project.  This is now our current retail range.

Kevin was instrumental in forming the seedling department and began selling seedlings to other growers through brokerage firms in the industry.  These were the early years of the 'plug' seedling method.

In 1996, Kevin and Dana purchased Moss Greenhouses, Inc. from DeWitt and Carolyn.  Under their direction, Moss Greenhouses continues to look to the future.  Currently operating under 281,000 square feet of covered greenhouses, in addition to three acres of outside growing areas, Moss's facilities contain the latest in automated technology. We annually produce 180,000 flats, 350,000 containers and 37,000 hanging baskets. We sell to over 150 wholesale customers, mostly independent garden centers and grocery stores, within a 500 mile radius of Jerome. Our retail store is open March through September and serves walk-in customers throughout the Magic Valley.

Behind The Scenes

Moss Greenhouses Inc. is celebrating its 58^th year in business. On October 31, 2006 we became an ESOP, or Employee Owned Company. Employee input and involvement have always been encouraged and valued here and by partnering with our employees we expect this company to grow even stronger.

Propagation crew

Moss Greenhouses is a successful, innovative and progressive bedding plant producer and wholesale distributor of 1200 different varieties of annuals, and perennials, of which we have 60 to 70 different varieties each of petunias and pansies, and hanging baskets. Our product is marketed throughout the Intermountain West Region and is the largest facility of its kind in Idaho. Our business is dedicated to selecting and producing premium plants, currently grown in 281,000 square feet of covered greenhouses with an additional three acres of outside growing areas. Our facilities cover 9 1/2 acres. The greenhouses operate with the latest in modern, automated technology, annually producing 150,000 annual and perennial flats along with 250,000 one and three gallon containers.  Our signature hanging basket production is currently 35,000 baskets and growing!  In addition to supplying our sought after plants to the wholesale market, we maintain an onsite retail and custom planting center that generates approximately 23% of our current sales. We pride ourselves in long term active memberships in INLA, OFA, PPA and local chambers of commerce.

Moss Greenhouses is located in Jerome, Idaho.  Jerome is part of the Magic Valley, an eight county area located in the south central part of the state.  Nearby Twin Falls is the largest community with a population approaching 40,000.  The Jerome/Twin Falls area is approximately 2 hours from Boise, Idaho, 3 hours from Salt Lake City, Utah and an hour from the northern Idaho/Nevada border.  Idaho is known for its many recreational activities including hiking, rafting, caving, hunting, fishing, and rock climbing.  Skiing is less than two hours away at the world-renown Sun Valley Resort.  The Twin Falls-Jerome area is a mostly agriculturally based community surrounded by the wide-open spaces.

Magic Valley information / Twin Falls information