03/22/2025
After almost 75 years at its location on Pompton Avenue, the Cedar Grove Garden Center will be closing its doors this spring. Opened in June of 1951 by Theodore F. Cox, the Garden Center has been a fixture in Cedar Grove and a mainstay to local gardeners and landscapers. The Garden Center provided quality nursery stock and expert landscape design services to homes and businesses all over the county. The business was family owned and operated, always providing quality nursery material and knowledgeable service to their customers.
The Garden Center was the product of five generations of the Cox family in the nursery business. The Cox family horticultural tradition began when James Thomas Cox came to the US in 1869 from England, and worked for 40 years as gardener at the Ryle estate in Paterson. His son Philip H. Cox established a nursery at 39 Alexander Avenue in Montclair, which he ran between 1923 and 1947. His son Theodore Francis continued the family nursery business just down the street at 56 Alexander Avenue. Theodore Francis bought the land in Cedar Grove in 1929 and farmed it until his son Theodore Frederick opened the Garden Center in 1951. When Theodore Frederick died in 2010 his son, Theodore F. Cox Jr., assumed management. He ran the business, with his father and on his own, for a total of 50 years.
Speaking for the four generations that have come before, Theodore F. Cox Jr would like to express his tremendous gratitude to all the loyal customers, employees and friends that have supported the Cedar Grove Garden Center for the last 75 years, and the Cox landscaping businesses for over a century. Ted Jr. is now retiring, and looking forward to spending more time with his family.
