New nursery to open soon at corner of Richmond Highway and Fort Hunt Road

Greenstreet Gardens is opening a nursery at the corner of Route 1 and Fort Hunt Road.

A local garden center is opening a new nursery on the vacant lot at the corner of Richmond Highway and Fort Hunt Road in the next couple weeks.

Greenstreet Gardens, which has two locations in the City of Alexandria in addition to its farm in Maryland, signed a lease on the property earlier this year and has been preparing the lot for operations, owner Ray Greenstreet confirmed. The unusually cold weather in early April pushed back the expected opening date, but Greenstreet hopes to be up and running very soon.

“It is still in development” Greenstreet said. “It’ll be a couple weeks to get the property set up and get it ready.”

A new fence has been erected around the property, and asphalt has been put down on a large part of the land. Greenstreet said there will be no permanent structures on the land at this point, but does expect to end up using most of the large lot for the nursery.

It’s been a long time since anything stood at that location, and over time the corner lot has become infamous as a dumping ground. Greenstreet said five dumpsters full of trash were hauled away from the property, including from the creek that runs behind it.

“We’re going to try and improve the neighborhood there on the corner,” Greenstreet said. “It’s a great spot.”

Greenstreet has been involved in the gardening and growing business since he was a teenager, and co-owns the business with his wife, Stacy. The majority of the plants and flowers sold at Greenstreet Gardens are from the family’s 65-acre farm in Lothian, Maryland, and all of the business’s offerings are locally sourced, Greenstreet said.

The Greenstreet Gardens in the Del Ray section of Alexandria will be closing when its lease expires in the end of June, but their original location on Braddock Road will remain, according to Greenstreet.

Greenstreet said the new Richmond Highway location will focus on delivering the same level of expertise and customer service that the business’s other locations have been known for.

“We try to give our customers the tools and knowledge to be a successful gardeners,” Greenstreet said.