The History of The Garden Gates
Our Story, from the Ground Up!
The Garden Gates was founded in 2001 by Chad and Beth Harris. We laid our roots in the warm weather of Metairie Louisiana, just outside New Orleans. Our original location was on the historical Metairie Road corridor which flows through the city connecting the suburbs to the streetcar line of Canal Street.
Over the years we spent springs finding the new and fabulous plants for our local gardeners and growing our own annuals and perennials too!
The Easter Bunny always came to visit with thousands of eggs and we were always a stop for Santa to visit the kids.
The fall and winters were busy preparing for the Holidays. We delivered every Christmas tree with lights, or no lights, to our patrons.
One year we even made it snow in New Orleans, a magic trick by Mr. Harris!
During the rough rebuilding after Katrina and the various challenging events of our city, the community gathered at the old historical home to get solace and peace. We would often see customers meditating or reading in our gardens or conversing over the latest news with our beloved staff.
We always had birds in our birdbaths and garden cats to chase them. The kids would come for monthly gardening and craft classes.
The Garden Gates on Metairie Road is a beloved experience that we all carry in our hearts.
We wanted to share this with the world and the best way to do that was to create our e-commerce store. TheGardenGates.com was started in 2009, it was a slow start as the e-commerce industry for outdoor decor was still a fledgling itself. We have explored many brands and how they would translate from the store front to the internet and into your home. Some are tried and true and we are happy to be a part of setting the industry standard for high-quality products and service.
The Garden Gates has always worked to partner with creative, knowledgeable and dedicated individuals. From our writers to photographers and graphic designers that contributed to the original content of the website to the horticultural and landscape staff that have brought their expertise to our business, it has been wonderful seeing them continue to grow within their industry.
A Fresh Approach to the Tried and True:
TheGardenGates.com took a few moments to rethink their approach to the e-commerce industry and in 2021, under new ownership, Sara Draper-Clements is at the helm. Sara was the General Manager of The Garden Gates from 2004 to 2018. She took a small break to assist Mr Harris’s son start his new business. Missing the expressive creativity of outdoor design she is thrilled to come back to her first love.
Growing up most of her life under the Magnolias and Oaks of Baton Rouge, Sara graduated with her Bachelors in Landscape Architecture from LSU in 2003. Through her studies she was able to cultivate a love of national and global travel. She has worked in the green industry since 1995 and prior to her first job deadheading pansies, she would spend her weekends with her grandfather learning plants. You could always find her outside digging in the dirt. She now has her horticultural license and years of practice in the art of outdoor design.
When asked what her vision is for the new Garden Gates she said, “TheGardenGates.com is a customer service design center. My goal is to build complete outdoor collections for customers to choose from, offer free design services and shipping. As well as support wholesale designers with high-quality products. Our drive is to go above and beyond the normal online shopping experience. Basically the last 25 years in the landscape, home and garden and e-commerce has taught me one thing, customers are number one!”