Our History : Cultivating Cross Creek Nursery
1974 Gene and Diane McAulliffe renovate a gas station in Carytown and open Tropical Treehouse, a retail shop that sells tropical plants & flowers.
1977 Plant maintenance services offered at Tropical Treehouse
1981 Tropical Treehouse expands to several local branches around Richmond. Land purchased in Chesterfield for Interior Maintenance division.
1983 Retail nursery opens at Courthouse Road location.
1988 Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance divisions begin operations.
1996 Son Mark McAuliffe joins Cross Creek Garden Center full-time and begins work in the Exterior Maintenance division.
1997 Farm in Nottoway County, Virginia purchased to grow Balled and Burlapped trees for the retail nursery.
1998 Son Jason McAuliffe joins Cross Creek Garden Center full-time as a Landscape Designer.
2002 Landscape division expands into hardscapes including patios, fire places, water features, steps and fire pits.
2005 Son Andrew McAuliffe joins Cross Creek Garden Center full-time and begins work in the Exterior Maintenance division.
2006 Container trees and shrubs added to Nottoway Farm. Sons Mark, Jason and Andrew assume new roles: Mark, Vice President of Operations; Jason, General Manager of the Nursery; Andrew, Manager of Exterior Maintenance Division
2012 Six acres purchased along Courthouse Road to expand nursery to 14 acres. Tropical Treehouse and Cross Creek consolidate to one location
2013 Ten additional acres purchased along Courthouse Road to expand nursery to 24 acres. Readers of R Home Magazine vote Cross Creek “Landscaper of the Year”.
2015 Cross Creek was named a Family Favorite by the Readers of Style Weekly. Also named one of Richmond’s Best in the categories of Nursery and Landscaping in a poll by the Richmond Times Dispatch.
2019 Cross Creek was named one of Top 100 Independent Garden Centers in the country.
2020 Cross Creek once again earned distinction as one of Richmond’s Best by the Richmond Times Dispatch and was also voted a Reader’s Favorite in a poll by Richmond Magazine. We were also recognized as one of the Top 100 Independent Garden Centers for the second year in a row.
2021 We were named Best Landscaping Company and Best Florist or Garden Shop in Style Weekly’s Best of Richmond.
2022 In Fall of 2022, we will open our second retail nursery location in Hanover, Virginia near Short Pump Town Center. We’re excited to see what the future brings!
