OUR STORY
Four Generations of Service
The Kinder family emigrated to Bristol, Rhode Island from England in the mid-19th Century. Originally a mill worker, in 1890 Samuel Kinder, Sr. was advised by his doctor to switch to lawn care because of his health. Over the next few decades Samuel was able to expand his mowing business to estate maintenance and landscape gardening, as well as open a retail flower shop and bank of greenhouses on Hope Street in downtown Bristol. In the 1920's, Samuel's sons Joseph and Ralph took over the family business. Ralph managed the flower shop, while Joe developed the landscaping branch of the company. In the 1930's, the brothers purchased the old DeWolf dairy farm on Poppasquash. Over the next few decades, Joe expanded his landscaping services throughout southern New England.
The Hope Street flower shop, 1920's
In 1986, Joe Kinder's son Sam took over the business. With a degree in horticulture from the University of Rhode Island, Sam dreamed of turning the family land on Poppasquash into a nursery. Sam developed a 16-acre nursery with a large variety of shade and ornamental trees, including numerous large specimen and hard-to-find cultivars. For over 30 years, he continued his father and grandfather's dedication to commercial, municipal and residential landscape construction and tree service, adding landscape design, arborculture and tree health to the business's offerings. Sam was recognized for his service to local communities by the East Bay Association for the Arts, Narragansett Electric Company, and Blithewold Mansion. Sam served on the board of Linden Place, and was Tree Warden for the town of Bristol for many years.
Today, Sam's daughter Elizabeth Kinder manages the nursery and landscaping service. Elizabeth is a licensed arborist by the state of Rhode Island.
On behalf of our whole family, we thank you for many years of collaboration and look forward to serving Rhode Island and beyond in the years to come.