The Payne family has been in the nursery business for since 1952. We have always taken pride in offering the best merchandise and the quality of service to help our customers enjoy growing everything from large trees to delicate orchids.

In April, 1944, Sherman and Emille Payne — the parents of Payne’s Nurseries’ present owner, Lynn Payne — opened their first full service nursery and flower shop. They were living in Shelby, Michigan at the time, and they named their new business Shelby Greenhouse. Seven years later, the Paynes moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. After a brief partnership with the now-defunct Santa Fe Nursery Company on Camino Alire, the Paynes leased a nursery on Delgado Street. A few years later, they decided to build their own facility. In the summer of 1954 they began construction of their new nursery on Cerrillos Road, which opened in spring of 1955, at the present location of Jackalope Pottery. The Paynes operated the nursery until 1965, when they sold the business and retired.

The Paynes’ retirement was short lived! In 1968, to keep active, Sherman and Emille opened the present Payne’s Nursery — now known informally as “Payne’s Nursery South” — at 715 St. Michael’s Drive. It sold both green goods and hard goods to retail customers, and included a florist’s shop, too. In 1973, their son Lynn purchased the business. Sherman and Emille continued to work at Payne’s until 1975, when they retired once again.

Lynn Payne ran the St. Michael’s Drive store until February, 1986, when he acquired the property and inventory of Santa Fe Nursery Company, the business at 304 Camino Alire at which his parents had worked when they had first come to Santa Fe 35 years before. This second nursery — now known informally as “Payne’s Nursery North” —  served as a source of retail goods as well as wholesale goods for local building and landscape contractors.

In November of that year, disaster struck: the Payne’s Nursery on St. Michael’s Drive was destroyed by fire, then rebuilt incorporating a fresh design with expanded retail sales areas and office space. In 1989, Lynn and his wife Judy set up a design and installation landscape company called LandMasters, which for some years shared the St. Michael’s facility, then relocated to five acres near the junction of Agua Fria Street and Airport Road. Eventually the Paynes renamed this location Payne’s Organic Soil Yard (POSY for short), and it operates to this day Monday through Friday, providing Santa Fe area retail customers with one of the largest selections of bulk organic soil amendments and mulches available in Northern New Mexico.

Through its many changes and expansions, Payne's Nurseries & Greenhouses, Inc. remains a local New Mexico family-owned-and-operated company. In an age of conglomerates and "big box" stores we continue to strive to fulfill our mission: to be a full-service nursery providing our customers with the best quality products at the best possible prices.

As we celebrate our 60th anniversary in 2012, we express our gratitude to the customers who have made our success possible. We hope to serve you for many years to come.