For half a century, Walt and Joyce Rochowiak have been beautifying the community with their business Garden Fantasy Greenhouse in Belleville.

“It was my husband’s vision,” Joyce said. “He always wanted to have a greenhouse of his own.”


Kept growing

They started with a small one at their home on Tyler Road. Today rows of greenhouses fill about three acres on the property.

In the beginning, Walt’s mom and dad owned a 50-acre farm on Haggerty north of I-94. His father suggested he set up a greenhouse on the farm. The young couple ran a small store and a greenhouse from 1974 until 2014, when they moved the operation back to their home property.

Keeping the greenhouse business afloat for 50 years during a 59-year marriage came with a price.

At one point Walt had three jobs, working at Ford Motor Company, on the farm with his brother, Frank, and at the greenhouse. Walter returned in the evening from the afternoon shift and together they worked in the greenhouse planting and caring for their seedlings into the early hours of the morning.

Planting began at the end of January and transplanting was in March. Today they have five employees who help care for the 15,000-some hanging baskets and 2,000 geranium pots.

“I have customers who have been with us over 30 years,” Joyce said, adding that she also has many repeat clients seeking grave blankets and wreaths.

In December 2023 the Rochowiaks received a proclamation from State Rep. Reggie Miller to commemorate their business longevity and community work. Walt was a 20-year Van Buren Township trustee and Joyce served on the Downtown Development Authority.

“Walt and Joyce have been giving back to our community for years and I was proud to recognize their accomplishments and dedication,” Miller wrote on twitter (now X).


Fabric of community

Residents began to mark the seasons by what the Rochowiaks were selling – poinsettias at Christmastime, lilies in spring and mums in fall. Bedding and vegetable plants, hanging baskets, flowerpots and perennials are their biggest sellers.

But keeping up with gardening trends became a challenge.

“The color red is popular one year and pink the next,” Joyce said. “So you come up with different ideas, like combination pots and hanging baskets.”

The greenhouse operation was up and down based on the health of the economy, and what Joyce calls an apparent downturn in the younger generations’ garden interests.

One of the biggest changes was when their daughter and son-in-law, Colette and Brian McClinton, took over the florist portion, moved it to town and named it Garden Fantasy on Main. The Rochowiaks also have a son, Walter, an engineer who lives in California. The greenhouse operation will likely end when Joyce and Walter retire.

“But we’re still there,” Joyce said. “One of these days there will be no Garden Fantasy Greenhouse. My husband and I are getting up there in years now and I don’t know how much longer we will continue.”

Go to gardenfantasygreenhouse.com for more information.