MILLCREEK GARDENS
Garden Centers
By Aimee L. Cook | Photography by Rebecca Kay
FOR THE PAST 71 YEARS, MILLCREEK GARDENS HAS BEEN SO MUCH MORE THAN A NURSERY — it’s been a gathering place for neighbors, families, and passionate gardeners. Just as the seasons bring fresh blooms and new beginnings, so does the next chapter of this local garden spot.
Millcreek Gardens is built on a foundation of passion and connection. Seven decades ago, Vernon and Murriel Smith started this family business with a simple philosophy: a garden has the power to lift lives. Vernon, a landscape architect, would take Polaroid pictures of local homes and draw in trees and flowers to help people see the possibilities. He and Murriel created a space where everyone felt welcome, and that spirit is still alive today. Their daughter, LaRene Bautner, has nurtured those same values for over forty years, making sure every visitor feels like family.
Welcoming the Next Generation
Change is in the air as LaRene looks forward to a well-deserved retirement nine years from now. The next chapter is taking shape thanks to her daughter, Heidi Orme, and son, Chris Bautner. The two siblings share a true respect for family tradition as they also see ways to help the nursery thrive well into the future.
Gone are the days of old fax machines and handwritten orders. Heidi and Chris have brought the 3.75-acre Millcreek Gardens into the digital age, introducing an easy-to-use ordering system that saves time and keeps things running smoothly. “Change takes time,” they both agree, and you can feel their careful approach in everything they do. For them, it’s about finding the right balance between the comfort of old favorites and the excitement of new ideas.
“There is so much that goes into running a garden center — so many moving parts,” Heidi shared. “Just keeping the selection curated takes a lot of work. There is a lot of back work going on before a plant even gets here. Bringing us up to date with technology is how I support the business.”
Chris is responsible for grounds maintenance. Keeping the parking lot clear and clean, clearing out the clutter that naturally happens in a nursery, keeping the sprinklers running and managing deliveries.
“I have some very ambitious plans,” Chris joked, “I would like to have robots that can inventory everything. It would help people find things quickly.”
New Ideas, Lasting Care
Heidi and Chris have made some other meaningful updates in recent years.
Native Plant Section: To help the community create water-wise, wildlife-friendly gardens, Heidi has spent the past five years developing a special section for native plants. It’s full of options that suit Utah’s climate.
Improved Operations: Chris purchased a new trailer to haul away the garden’s trash to the dump, saving thousands in operating costs per year. That same trailer is also used for large customer deliveries.
Personal Touches: Even as the nursery grows, people come first. Regulars know there’s always someone ready to answer a question, and some loyal customers have even been surprised with a free plant. It’s these small acts of kindness that set Millcreek Gardens apart.
Maintaining the overall vision of their grandparents is easy, Heidi says. The vision was to beautify people’s yards, and that vision remains today. Heidi has noticed that people are spending more time outside and they want to connect more with the earth. She states that being in the gardening business is very rewarding.
According to Heidi, the thought of selling the business or the land simply isn’t an option. She hopes to have Millcreek Gardens be a refuge, a gathering place where people go to enjoy the outdoors. Heidi hopes to have a coffee shop on the grounds someday, so people can enjoy the greenery and the beauty of the garden center.
“In our minds, this is a special place, and I can’t imagine it being anything besides Millcreek Gardens,” Heidi says. “My mom wants the business to be what WE want it to be; we are the future. She does what she can to support us and our vision. We are all so grateful to the community for supporting our family business.”
Looking ahead, the team at Millcreek Gardens is excited to expand its sustainability practices, including implementing soil recycling and composting programs. They currently have a green recycling bin on the property for pots. They plan to host more classes to educate people of all ages about what they can do in their gardens.
“We are looking at ways that we can better serve the community and have initiatives like reducing and reusing,” Heidi said. “No one recycles black nursery pots; we are looking at ways to solve that problem. We already reuse a lot of them. But it is about starting small and focusing on what we can do now.”