BOISE — On the cusp of Boise and Garden City, the FarWest Garden Center is celebrating 50 years of planting with the local community.
Patrons walk through FarWest Garden Center as the business celebrates its 50th year in Boise, Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Brian Myrick / Idaho Press
President Dennis Fix has been at FarWest since he was a student at Boise State University. He worked his way up from a water boy to owner — a title he recently gave up.
As of last year, FarWest is now an employee-owned business. In this format, workers in a company have a financial stake in the business.
For Fix and his wife, Maya Fix, this relieved the issue of finding a successor. Without family to pass it on to, switching to employee ownership made more sense than selling to an unknown entity.
“You don’t know if the culture might change,” Dennis Fix said.
Dennis Fix, president of FarWest Garden Center in Boise, discusses the company’s 50-year history in the community, Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Brian Myrick / Idaho Press
FarWest spans over seven acres off of State Street, with Boise’s hills visible at the northern edge of the large property. Ellie, a 13-year-old Lab, wanders the grounds during the day. What used to be a quiet part of town that sits outside of city limits now bustles with traffic, like much of Boise.
The garden center’s original owners, Charlie and Mary Hartman, started the business out of their home. The business has since grown from a handful of employees to 90, according to Fix. What began as a summer job watering plants led to Fix joining full time and eventually taking on the business.
FarWest is a full-service garden center that also provides landscaping services, garden maintenance and educates customers.
Buyer and tree expert Rick Cate emphasized that, unlike previous nurseries he has worked at, FarWest values setting up customers for success.
Plants are moved from a greenhouse out to the retail areas as FarWest Garden Center celebrates its 50th year in Boise, Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Brian Myrick / Idaho Press
“This place is pretty incredible,” he said. “It’s one of the best garden centers I’ve ever worked in.”
Cate has been at FarWest for 14 years and credited much of the longevity to Fix’s leadership. He left his previous job at another garden center to come work for Fix.
“He was honest and gave a lot back to charities, and I wanted to work for somebody like that,” Cate said. “I called him up, literally in the parking lot at the other nursery, and he said, ‘Come in for an interview.’”
Among its community connections, the garden center participates in educational programs, fundraisers and a horticulture scholarship program for the College of Western Idaho, according to the FarWest website.
A customer pulls his selections along through FarWest Garden Center, Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Brian Myrick / Idaho Press
Cate isn’t the only longtime employee at the center. There are a handful of FarWest veterans who have committed themselves to the garden center, including an employee that has been there for over 30 years. Even after 50 years, Cate said the center is only growing.
“It’s just a lot of respect for Dennis and Maya as the owners,” Cate said about the Fixes.
Bonnie Belcher has been a buyer, among many other roles at FarWest for 23 years. She said she continues to learn something new every day.
Belcher worked in the corporate world for 20 years before going back to school for another degree. During her studies, she first had a business internship at FarWest, which ultimately drew her away from her previous work.
“I did an internship here and jumped ship,” Belcher said. “Needed a change, wanted to change.”
Fix said that smaller plant nurseries and landscaping companies that focus on a specialty are more of the norm nowadays. However, at FarWest, the team tackles everything from A to Z.
A variety of grasses grow in a greenhouse at FarWest Garden Center, Thursday, March 26, 2026.
Brian Myrick / Idaho Press
“The diversity of plants in this nursery is something that I have not seen in any garden center in the Pacific Northwest,” Cate said. “I’ve toured a lot in Seattle and (the) Portland area. Nobody can touch what we do here.”
The majority of the property — five acres to be exact — serves as the outdoor garden center for customers to peruse plants. A range of painted pillars signify the type of plants sat at each table, and sunlight trickles in through gaps in the canopy’s wooden slats.
On one side of the garden center are hundreds of Japanese maple trees that Fix referred to as Cate’s specialty.
In addition to the nursery’s diversity is the team’s dedication to teaching. They often advise customers on the best plants for their homes and problem solve with them.
“Customers appreciate that,” Belcher said. “They keep coming back for that.”
The center’s deep community ties are also apparent as hosts of one of the largest fundraising events for the Treasure Valley Habitat for Humanity. This year’s Evening in the Garden will be the event’s 20th anniversary, scheduled for June 12.
“We just think that — you don’t grow if you don’t give back — and if you give back, the community gives back,” Fix said. “One of our three (pillars), is the business, the community and the team. So if you’re taking care of all three of those, they’ll take care of each other.”
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