About Us

Whitfill Nursery is a family-owned and operated plant and tree farm that has been helping Arizonans with their garden and landscape needs for over 60 years.

Respected for our locally-grown line of plants and our extensive knowledge about landscaping in the desert Southwest, the legacy started in 1946 is maintained and nurtured by owner Brian Blake, his family, and many of the other Whitfill family members.

The story of Whitfill Nursery is more than a tale of hard work and determination. It is a tradition of dedication to our customers that is more than six decades strong and runs in the veins of the Whitfill family and staff.

The heritage of Whitfill Nursery is derived from founder Leslie E. Whitfill and his wife Floris' ability to take what they had and build on it. Heading west from Lubbock, Texas in their Model-T Ford, the Whitfills created a homestead in Phoenix, Arizona in 1928. Whitfill Nursery began as a citrus tree business that grew from a parcel of land they purchased on Glendale Avenue in 1943, only a short distance from what would become Whitfill's longest standing nursery location. Les Whitfill, who had embarked on a career as a chef that lasted 30 years, developed the citrus tree business as a side enterprise.

Mr. Whitfill's nurturing spirit led Whitfill Nursery to a full-time business that he leased out in the 1950s. With the dedication of children, grandchildren and later their spouses, Whitfill Nursery was truly a family business. In 1973, Mr. Whitfill and his grandson, the current owner Brian Blake, resumed full control of the business. That partnership blossomed to include multiple locations. In 1979, Mr. Whitfill turned the plant nursery business over to his grandson, who continues the grower tradition.

As a chef at the prestigious Arizona Club, the owner of the Valley's original grower-direct nursery, a boardmember for the Food Services Executive Association Inc., and the president of the International Geneva Association, Leslie E. Whitfill nourished the land and its people for many decades. Despite his passing in 1996 at the age of 87, Les Whitfill's mark on the Valley persists in the tradition that is still carried out by his children and his grandchildren for many years to come.

Visit the Whitfill Nursery location near you or contact us and benefit from the family legacy that has developed flourishing landscapes in the Valley for over 60 years. For the best in garden landscapes, think Whitfill Nursery where “We still do the digging!”