About us
Rooted in Asheville since 2009
We’re a family-owned garden center, café and landscape crew: growers, bakers, designers and builders who love these mountains.
Our story
One truck, one wheelbarrow, one very patient spouse
Owen and Lucia Brooks started Fernbrook in 2009, mowing lawns on weekends while Owen finished his horticulture degree at A-B Tech. The mowing turned into planting, the planting turned into patios, and the weekends turned into a full-time crew.
In 2016 we opened a nursery in our yard on Laurel Avenue, and in 2023 we turned the old greenhouse into a café. We’ve stayed small on purpose: the people who grow the plants are the ones who help you choose them, and Owen still walks every new landscaping project himself.
- 32People on our team
- 60%Native plants in our designs
- 0Subcontractors. We do it all.
The people you’ll meet
From the café counter to the stone crew, most of us have been here for years.
Owen Brooks
Co-owner & designer
Horticulture grad, stone nerd and the person who walks every new property.
B.S. Horticulture, NC State · NC Licensed Landscape Contractor
More about Owen Brooks
Lucia Brooks
Co-owner & operations
Keeps schedules, quotes and crews running on time, and chooses our plant palettes.
ISA Certified Arborist
More about Lucia Brooks
Rosa Alvarez
Café manager & head baker
Starts the scones at 6 every morning and knows every regular’s order.
ServSafe Food Protection Manager
Dev Patel
Garden center manager
Grew up in his grandmother’s nursery and still can’t walk past a fern without checking its roots.
NC Certified Plant Professional
Marcus Reed
Hardscape crew lead
Eleven years laying stone. If it’s level and draining, Marcus built it.
ICPI Certified Concrete Paver Installer
Jonah Ellis
Garden care lead
Runs our maintenance crews and knows every client’s yard by name.
NC Pesticide Applicator License
What we believe
- 1
Right plant, right place
We design for your actual sun, soil and deer, not a catalog photo.
- 2
Build it once
Proper bases and drainage cost a little more up front and save a lot later.
- 3
Leave it better
We compost green waste, reuse stone and choose native plants whenever we can.
In our clients’ words
- ★★★★★
“Best breakfast spot in town, and I always leave with a plant I didn’t plan to buy. The lavender honey latte is worth the drive.”
Jen L.Café regularReview on Google - ★★★★★
“They turned a muddy slope behind our house into terraced beds and a patio we use every single evening. Crew was on time every day and left the site spotless.”
Dana R.Patio & terraced beds, North AshevilleReview on Google - ★★★★★
“Dev spent twenty minutes helping me pick ferns for a shady corner, then wrote down how to plant them. Every one of them made it through August.”
Carlos M.Garden center, WeavervilleReview on Google - ★★★★★
“We held my mom’s 70th birthday in the greenhouse. Rosa’s team handled everything, and people still ask about the food.”
Beth S.Birthday dinner for 45Review on Google - ★★★★★
“Honest quote, honest advice. They talked us out of a plant that wouldn’t survive our shade and saved us money in the process.”
Marcus T.Planting, WeavervilleReview on Google - ★★★★★
“The soup and half sandwich is my Tuesday lunch. Friendly, quick even at noon, and my dog gets a biscuit on the patio.”
Nora P.Café regularReview on Yelp
We’d love to see your yard
Free consultations across Buncombe County.