In 1960, Raymond Thompson began growing azaleas in the backyard of his Rocky Mount, NC home in a make-shift greenhouse he had built. Little did he know at the time of the business that would grow out of this small plastic-covered wooden structure.

Because he still had a full-time job, Raymond got his wife, Tommie, to water and care for the plants during the day while he would take care of them in the evenings. Soon Raymond's children became involved and Saturdays became a prime sale day for their backyard nursery.

Nearing retirement age, Raymond eventually made growing and selling plants his primary job. As the business grew, Thompson began to branch out by doing small landscape jobs as well as some grounds maintenance.

In 1984 Raymond's son-in-law, Ward Terrill, joined the company. Though he had worked part-time in the past, Ward's addition enabled Thompson to expand its operations to include irrigation and larger commercial landscaping projects.

Thompson got a real jumpstart in 1988 when we landed a large irrigation and landscaping project at a mall in Virginia. It was during this time that Tim Winstead, a CPA and also Raymond's son-in-law, was hired to help run the company.

Today, we still hold fast Raymond’s vision. Visions come and go, but those good hard-working ones tend to stay around for a while. And that’s the only kind that can grow a backyard plant stand into the full-service, professional lawn and landscape company Thompson is known as today.