Littleton Plant Farm Welcomes New Owners

 Amongst the smell of potting soil and bright colors of mums and pansies, Littleton Plant Farm, formerly known as Lassiter’s Plant Farm, welcomes new management with the arrival of Cassidy and Blake Simonowich.

 In July of 2022, the Simonowich family brought Lassiter’s Plant Farm and renamed it Littleton Plant Farm. The Simonowiches have lived in Littleton for years, across the highway from Lassiter’s, and knew the Lassiters for several years.

  “Jerry Lassiter and I became friends through landscaping and this nursery,” Blake said. 

 Blake works in landscaping while Cassidy works as a teacher. Blake, who has a degree in horticulture from Pitt Community College, stated that he and Cassidy had been talking about owning a nursery for a while. 

  “In the Spring of 2020, we had a baby and were stuck at home due to COVID,” Cassidy explained. “We started talking about a nursery in general.”

By pure coincidence, the Lassiters were looking to sell their plant farm, and the Simonowich family believes that was their biggest blessing.

  “I love what Jerry and Lynn have over there,” Cassidy said. “He asked how do you go to someone who hasn’t expressed interest, so we didn’t act on it.”

 However, Cassidy explains, when the couple went to the nursery a few months later, the Lassiters came up to them and asked – when the Lassiters were ready – would they be interested in buying.

“They mentioned selling, and two years later we closed on it,” Blake said. “And I want to be able to offer the same quality product as they did.”

  “It was like the perfect example of something that wasn’t planned but worked out perfectly like it was meant to be,” Cassidy said. “So we want to give them a big shout-out for giving us this opportunity and for being the amazing people they are.”

But the blessings don’t end with just acquiring the nursery that has been in Littleton for decades. Blake and Cassidy agree that they are blessed to also have Lynn and Jerry Lassiter’s over 30 years of experience with running the business. 

  “We’d be lost without their help and without their knowledge,’ Blake said. “Jerry’s been doing this for 50 plus years and their knowledge on this is amazing. Going to school for it is one thing, but having experience is a whole different ball game.”

  “We’re extremely thankful to be able to buy a place and have access to his knowledge,” Cassidy said in agreement. “If we had gone somewhere else and tried to do something like this, we wouldn’t have that benefit and that’s what’s going to make it work.”

The Simonowiches are planning to keep the operation of the nursery and plant farm the same as the Lassiters. With only a few small changes being added and planned for the future, they hope to keep things virtually the same.

“I don’t want to change a thing, just facelift it a little bit,” Blake said. “Facelift it and advertise.”

The nursery has a new Facebook page that is updated often with the different plants for sale, as well as gratitude to the community for its support. The nursery also plans to, someday, offer more plants and landscaping materials. The old greenhouse will be recovered this winter. Trees, shrubs, gravel, and mulch is also in the talks about being offered. 

 “This is a passion of ours,” Blake said. “It’s a big blessing—very thankful for it.”

The nursery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The main greenhouse will still operate the same as it always has. The Simonowiches are currently selling mums, pansies, kale and other fall leafy vegetables, as well as pumpkins.