Organic nursery in Silver Lake has a growing clientele

Jimmy Williams planted his first seeds when he was 4 years old. Fifty-three years later, he's still playing in the dirt.

It might be difficult to find someone with a heritage more deeply connected to growing things than Williams.

His stretches back to a great-grandmother who, as a slave about to be shipped to a new owner in South Carolina, decided that the one thing she couldn't do without was the handful of tomato seeds she hid in a skirt pocket. It goes back further, to the west coast of Africa somewhere near modern-day Sierra Leone, where Williams' ancestors possessed a talent for growing rice better than anyone else.

Now, the transplant from New York's Long Island is in Los Angeles catering to recession-weary residents who find savings and solace in planting their own gardens. Williams' business -- Hayground Organic Gardening and Garden Design -- grows the seedlings, teaches clients how to nurture them and even maintains the gardens if the customer wishes.

"It just fascinates me, how a seed can germinate and grow into something you can eat," Williams, 57, said. "It just gives me a sense of renewal."

Lately, he is hardly the only one who finds it fascinating. Despite the punishing economic downturn, Williams said his business appeared to be headed for its best year ever.

Williams and his 23-year-old son and partner, Logan, have moved the nursery from a garage rooftop in Hancock Park to a much more spacious lot in Silver Lake. In the last year, his staff has grown from eight mostly part-timers to about 13. And at local farmers markets where he reaches many of his customers, there is barely a pause in business.

Among the crowd on a recent morning in Santa Monica were restaurant owners, professional chefs and culinary arts students searching for just the right ingredients. Some customers arrive like giddy apprentices returning with evidence of their first good work.

"I put one of their blueberry bushes into the ground and suddenly I had tons of blueberries, big fat tasty blueberries better than I can buy in a store," said Kim Uchida, 49, who teaches seventh-grade science. Of the Williams duo, she added, "They're not just knowledgeable. They're entertaining. They always have a good story to tell."

Maybe the best of those stories is of how Hayground Organic Gardening and Garden Design was almost the small business that never was. But Williams is also a lucky guy. He's got enough charm to have persuaded friends at various crucial stages to throw in with him and help move the business forward.