GROWING
THE FAMILY BUSINESS Alumni Henry and Jeff Huntington Breed Success with Pleasant View Gardens
Henry Huntington ’80, president and CEO of Pleasant View Gardens in Loudon, New Hampshire, has a small painting in his office depicting Rippe Brothers Market Gardens, the rural farmstand his parents, Jonathan ’50 and Eleanor (Rippe), and multiple generations of Eleanor’s family owned and operated in Westport, Connecticut, in the 1960s and early 1970s. It’s a colorful reminder of the Huntington family’s long past in the gardening business. The headquarters of Pleasant View Gardens is a complex of greenhouses and low-slung buildings situated on a hill. The company is a Wildcat success
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story: it was established in 1976 and has been operated by three generations of the Huntington family, most of them UNH alumni. The farm grows annuals, perennials and shrubs and is one of the top U.S. suppliers of young plants to greenhouse growers, garden centers and landscapers. It’s also a founding partner of Proven Winners, an international consumer plant brand. Pleasant View operates greenhouses and outdoor growing space covering 30 acres in Loudon and nearby Pembroke and is a partner in other related businesses, including Ticoplant, an offshore garden stock facility in Costa Rica, and WinGen LLC, breeders of unique ornamental plants. Together,