The Life in Business: Paradise Plants Home and Garden Center

Lesley Hill, owner of Paradise Plants Home and Garden Center, has worked hard over the past 30 years in business to keep up with the changes in the marketplace. Today, more than selling just tropical plants, the Hilo-based retailer has expanded to offer the homeowner a more comprehensive selection of products for home and garden.

“With the big-box stores coming in, it forced us to diversify into more home goods and gifts as well as the plants,” says Hill. “We try to offer a unique collection of quality, all-wood furniture—we call it ‘Furniture for Life’—as well as home décor accessories, including great ceramic pots of all sizes. We offer a large selection of healthy plants with good advice from experienced nursery staff and everything you need to care for them.” Also included in the store’s selection are one of-a-kind gift items from around the world. Paradise Plants also ships orchids to the Mainland.

The business has moved locations three times since its first location in a redwood greenhouse next to Davies Home Improvement Center on Kilauea Avenue, moving next to the old Orchids of Hawai‘i location on Hinano Street (now Big Island Candies) and then to its current location on Hwy. 11, Kanoelehua Ave.

Leslie has an A.S. Degree in Agriculture from UH Hilo Community College and has lived on the island for 41 years. She and her partner also farm 150 acres of diversified crops in Wailea.

Find Paradise Plants and Garden Center at 40 Wiwo‘ole Street. It’s the bright yellow building by the car dealers, facing Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo.

Paradise Plants Home and Garden Center
808.935.4043
info@paradiseplantshilo.com
Paradiseplantshilo.com