Green Acres Nursery spreads holiday cheer

For the past two decades, national statistics indicate the nursery and landscaping industry is one of the fastest growing facets of the U.S. economy.

Baton Rouge native Dennis Bayhi, owner of Green Acres Nursery in Thibodaux, has reaped the benefits of this industry’s growth for 34 years.

“While I was in college at LSU, my brother, George, traveled to California,” Bayhi said about the initial start-up of the business. “While there, he noticed that a lot of indoor plant nurseries were thriving in that area. When he came home, he suggested that we go into business and open up a small nursery in Baton Rouge.”

The year was 1974. The two brothers embarked on a career caring for plants and creating landscapes. They opened the doors to the first Green Acres Nursery in Baton Rouge.

Two years later, with the profits from the first outlet, the Bayhi boys were able to open a second Baton Rouge site, emphasizing landscaping services, to expand their clientele.

“It was only natural that we started doing landscaping,” he said. “We grew up in the farming business with our father, Buck Bayhi, so it seemed like a perfect fit.”

The Bayhis enjoyed success in Baton Rouge for the next six years before heading south. In 1980, Green Acres Nursery relocated to Thibodaux and Dennis Bayhi became the sole owner.

“Twenty-eight years ago, some unfortunate things happened and I needed a facility to house the nursery. Some property became available in Thibodaux and I took advantage of it,” Bayhi said.

The Thibodaux store would be unlike the other two. It would retain the nursery and landscaping aspects, but Bayhi decided to add an element that would make his nursery stand out above the rest. During Christmas 1980, he began selling Christmas décor that included live trees and handmade wreaths and garlands.

“Back during those times, the only place to get a Christmas tree in Thibodaux was at the Winn-Dixie,” he said. “All they sold were those sticky Scottish pine trees that were only 6 to 8 feet tall.”

Bayhi’s selection of firs provided a softer texture and stood up to 14 feet tall. He also offered tree stands and home delivery – services that Green Acres continues to offer to this day.

“We needed something that would make people come to us and buy trees,” he said. “The people must like our service; we’ve continued to operate successfully for the past 28 years.”

Each year, the store’s offering of Christmas décor has flourished along with its clientele. Bayhi draws costumers from as far away as Morgan City and Vacherie.

Today, Green Acres sells only South Carolina Fraser Fir Christmas trees.

“We were getting our trees from Oregon. But when they came to us, they were three weeks old already,” he said. “They weren’t fresh and we didn’t like how they looked. So we opted to go with a company in South Carolina that could deliver the trees to us within 36 hours of them being chopped down.”

A shipment of about 500 trees arrives at Green Acres Nursery two weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Tree caretakers Clifton Gaines and Bayhi’s son, Dennis Michael Bayhi, bundle the trees out of the sunlight to ensure their freshness.

Once purchased, customers can take the tree as is or have it flocked. Bayhi said his tree shipment usually sells out about two weeks before Christmas.

This year’s hot ticket item, surprisingly, isn’t Bayhi’s trees, although they’ve already started moving off the lot. The most coveted Green Acres Nursery item isn’t a flower at all, but a nativity scene.

Bayhi chalks the demand for nativity scenes up to the rich Catholic culture.

It’s an exciting time of the year for Bayhi. Not because of the added business during Christmas, rather it’s the customers’ holiday cheer.

“The people are always in a good mood this time of year,” he said. “When they walk in, it’s like they are excited to see all the Christmas decorations up. We don’t have to do much because the merchandise sells itself.”

However, the store’s décor designer Connie Barbera’s imagination and creativity keep customers coming back.

“A lot of people know her as a designer and they can’t wait to see what she will put together,” he said. “Every season, she comes in with new ideas to woo the customers.”

But success comes with its share of challenges. Bayhi said Barbera works non-stop to get everything customers want done in a timely fashion, since many of the décor items are handmade.

“We work long hours because we have to decorate the store and personalize the trees, centerpieces and wreaths to our customers’ liking,” he said.

To ensure that the Christmas season has his undivided attention, Bayhi stops the landscaping business during November and December. The irony that Green Acres, initially a landscaping business, has become known as Thibodaux’s premiere Christmas décor shop is not lost on the business owner.

“It’s funny to know that people recognize us more for our Christmas trees than our landscaping and nursery business,” Bayhi said. “But each year we give them what they want.”