“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.” Spoken by Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet-Act II, Scene II.
To meet Evan Galbraith for the newspaper interview turns out to be more of an experience than just that.
One comes away with the wheels spinning, feeling who you’ve just met goes far beyond just another small business operator. This story, you feel, is much more layered and complex, like you’ve just met a small force of nature. After you leave, you can still picture her going about her rigorous routine of preparing some 40,000 plants for her two greenhouses.
A computer program, that she wrote herself, reminds her daily about what tasks need to be done that particular day; in my case, I was at her place Feb. 20. The computer had already reminded her that it was time to plant the red peppers. I need one of those programs for my daily life.
After I left, I couldn't help but wonder: what is she doing now? On the day I was there, it was cold, overcast and extremely windy. Yet one of Eva’s greenhouses is heated and was quite comfortable. I sat on a bale of peat soil to do the interview, a 60-pound cube packed tightly in plastic, of which there were dozens stacked around. Our interview, so to speak, was done in the heart of the battlefield-an empty greenhouse that will soon literally explode with life and color-all at the hands of Eva Galbraith and her two seasonal helpers.
This is no doubt a labor of love; I still picture the dozens of empty hanging baskets spread out over the black plastic racks. Eva was preparing to start building the baskets in accordance with her own special “recipes,” each basket naked with a colorful paper tag.
And oh, by the way, the professional-looking tags are designed and printed by her.
She has a background in marketing and her computer skills come in handy. Besides the hanging baskets, she has a myriad of other projects in motion (I will return to the hanging baskets as there are specific functions and ecological reasons for each recipe).
She has misting tents going already in February, nurturing the cuttings she has received from warmer climates such as Nigeria or Kenya. The computerized timers know exactly how much moisture the cuttings require to thrive. The heated tents provide just the right amount of heat. I held a flower that in eight days had turned into a tiny plant; I felt like I was holding a baby.
Soon Eva’s Sweet Briar Corner Market would be a flurry of activity. But before we go any further, you have to hear the story of how it all began.
The Beginning
Eva Galbraith hails from Rolla, MO and graduated from high school in Cuba, MO, in the late 1970s. A job near Roseville, Illinois at Raymond Huston’s “Farrow to Finish” hog operation brought her to Warren County, and she worked for them from 1979-1984.
Eva’s next career took her to Western Illinois University, where she worked for many years in marketing for Sodexo. The business degree she earned, no doubt, has come in handy with her current endeavor.
So one wonders, how did Eva Galbraith go from a marketing director at WIU’s food service operations to the owner of a nineacre, highly successful greenhouse/nursery property? Was it a lifelong dream? An idea in the back of her mind for all of those years that she drove each morning to work at WIU? The answer is no. Eva had never, ever entertained those thoughts of owning and running a greenhouse. She did like flowers, she knew that. But as far as botanical knowhow, she knew zero.
Here’s How it Happened
One day, Eva and her husband drove over to Blandinsville to pick up some flowers at the greenhouse there. The Galbraiths had purchased land south of Roseville and were planning on building a new home there.
They made their selections and listened as the greenhouse owner talked about the fact that he and his wife were selling the greenhouse business.
As the Galbraiths were driving home, they had only gone a short way, Eva casually mentioned to her husband something to the effect, “Wouldn’t it be fun to run a greenhouse”?
Her husband, without hesitation, said “Well, do you want to go back”?
The Galbraiths headed back to Blandinsville, with checkbook in hand, when on the spot they purchased two 30 foot by 96 foot greenhouses. What did Eva and her husband know about running this new business?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The structures were disassembled and moved to their property at 598 40th Avenue in Roseville. In layman’s terms that address is much easier to describe as: The intersection of highway 67 (Chicago-Kansas City Expressway 110) and Raritan Blacktop. The picturesque business sits up on a hill as one turns off the four-lane and heads west to Raritan, Illinois. You can’t miss it.
Eva retired from WIU in 2014, and it was 2015 when they entered into the greenhouse business. She hit the ground running, reading everything she could possibly read about plants and growing them. She and her husband worked as a team, willing to travel to learn and buy products and make connections.
A Name for the Business
Eva Galbraith loves to read, and she particularly loves to read William Shakespeare. When it came time to name their new business, she wanted something deeper with meaning. William Shakespeare loved roses. He mentions roses over 70 times in his works, more than any other flower.
It is believed Shakespeare’s favorite rose was the “Sweet Briar,” named as such because of its strongly apple scented leaves, and this favorite English native has been recorded in literature from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Rosa eglaneria, or “Eglasteria,” has been common in cottage gardens on both sides of the Atlantic because it is not only hardy but always fragrant, whether or not it is in bloom. The rambling shrub is large, thorny and vigorous with dark green, slightly rough foliage. Spring flowers are pink with five petals and have a good rose fragrance of their own. Rain, wind and sun all seem to bring out the perfume of the plant. If supported as a climber, it could reach 10-15 feet. The name for the Galbraith’s new business was born: Sweet Briar Corner Market.
Sweet Briar Corner Market Sweet Briar is different from most local greenhouses and box stores.
Eva grows her plants from cuttings, whereas most of the others buy the plants already started. This is more work for Eva, but allows her to have lower prices. She receives “boot boxes” with overnight tracking from such tropical countries as Kenya, she is also a big customer and fan of Ball Seed Company in West Chicago, the world’s largest.
These cuttings she receives require very specialized care. For example, some unrooted cuttings require misting for five seconds every 15 minutes for three days. Then the mist levels increase. One can see how it would be much less laborious for businesses to buy plants already started.
Another thing that sets Sweet Briar apart are Eva’s specializations. She grows and sells over 60 varieties of tomatoes, and 25 different kinds of peppers. She also offers herb, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants-items many box stores don’t stock.
To say Sweet Briar Corner Market is a labor intensive small business is an understatement. Many nine-acre greenhouse operations would have a regular work force. Eva has two, very capable, seasonal workers.
Her keen organizational skills no doubt save her money and allow her to hire less outside help.
In the year 2020, Eva lost her entrepreneurial teammate, her husband, to cancer. She does not dwell on this, but it no doubt was a setback. Besides the hard work, there are sometimes other downsides to the business.
Galbraith states that shipping is becoming less and less reliable, and many of her shipments are very time sensitive (as well as temperature sensitive). The latest upheaval with tariffs is affecting the plant business.
Storms can sometimes blow through Sweet Briar, causing damage to the greenhouses which ends up costing a lot of money.
But overall, one can easily see that Eva Galbraith is in her happy peaceful place.
She is self-taught – no fancy degrees in horticulture or botany – but it just goes to show everyone, including young students and adults, that you don’t need degrees sometimes when you are willing to do the research and footwork to learn a trade.
In Conclusion
As a writer for the Community News Brief, I focus mostly on history and human interest stories. One of my goals, when I interview a small business owner, is to try to turn my article into not only an informational piece, but to give them some free advertising.
Sweet Briar Corner Market, 598 40th Ave., Roseville, IL, opens on April 1, seven days/week. You can reach out to Sweet Briar by phone at 309-337-0594, Facebook @Sweet Briar Corner Market or by email @ [email protected]. She accepts credit cards, cash or checks.
Sweet Briar Corner Market also sells mums in the fall and Christmas wreaths and blankets in the winter. She also has trees: bareroot, fruit, etc.
