I was the 7-year old kid that was always outside and started seeds for my own backyard garden – even though no one in my family grew plants, or really even gardened. My dad gave me a backyard corner out of sight, so if it went to hell the neighbors wouldn’t get mad. But really it turned out pretty well, I would collect any seed I could find (who could forget the year I found 1000+ silver maple seeds and planted them all – and then 2000 came up – a bigger junk tree could probably not be found!) This hobby became a career without me expecting it. Even now when I drive around I look for seeds, and I try to identify trees at 40 mph. Opening my own store was the culmination of my professional life – hobby to working for others to working for myself. I hope you enjoy the store and our different services we offer, and love being outside working with beautiful things as much as I do.

I discovered HG when I first moved to Columbia with my husband and our 2 dogs. We were just driving around South Columbia and I noticed what looked like a greenhouse that we stopped to check out. The rest is, as they say, history – I’ve been here 2 years, and I have worked my way up to operations manager. My background before this includes a stint as manager at a rural Missouri garden center for 6 years. As operations manager I take care of the day to day functioning of the store, making sure the daily tasks are getting completed. I really enjoy engaging with the public and helping people pick out the perfect plant – trees, shrubs, or something from one of the greenhouses. When not at HG, I enjoy traveling, hiking, fishing and reading.

Carly graduated fro Mizzou with a degree in Plant Science with an emphasis in Plant Science and Design.  Carly has worked for her father in the lawn mowing business since she was big enought to wield a weed eater.  She really enjoys being outside and taking a part in the complete transformation of outdoor spaces.

She's an integral part of the whole landscape process from consulatations, designs, installation, and even mulching and clean-ups.  Carly will be on site from start to finish.

Her special skills include picking up breakfast sandwiches, being Lynx's (our store cat) chair, and blunt force sarcasm.  She's proficient in AutoCAD, Sketchup-3D designs, Lumion, and digging holes faster than Jermyn.

Jermyn graduated from MU with a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife.  He started mowing lawns before being able to drive, and worked that into a passion of hardscapes and landscaping.  A while back he was approaced about joining the HG team to oversee the landscape division.  Recently, he's fallen in love with landscape lighting and how it can give you a completely new landscape at all hours.

Everyday he gets to put his creativity and precision to good use building peoples outdoor dream spaces. He's very picky so he will get the job done right every time, even if that means ripping up the last 200 sqft of flagstone just to lay it again.  Jermyn's real passion is deer hunting with his son Owen, his #1 fan.

I am graduating from Mizzou with degrees in Psychology, Health Science, and Plant Science in December 2025. My mother, Helmi, used to 'strongly encourage' that I come work at the greenhouse ever since I was eleven. While I absoutley hated it back then, I have found a passion for the outdoors and plants much later in my college career (que the extra degrees). I used to run my own rare plant business between 2020-2023, buying and trading unique plants from all over the world. After becoming one of the biggest sellers of rare plants in the Midwest, I migrated to ordering and managing the houseplant and rare plant section of Helmis. I love being able to help people pick out the perfect plant for their landscape, greenhouse, or home! When I am not at Helmis or studying I enjoy baking, hiking, fishing, swimming, and video games.