McKenzie Lain combines her passions for growing plants and helping people.
In 1962, Harold and Lorna Watters expanded their landscaping company to include a plant nursery on Plaza Drive. As it grew, the garden center at one time included a pet store and flower shop. The couple’s four daughters all pitched in to help, a tradition that continues today. By 1983, the garden center needed room to grow, so Harold moved it to its current location on Iron Springs Road.
In 2002, Harold passed the business on to his youngest daughter, Lisa Watters Lain, and her husband, Ken Lain. Lisa remembers spending a lot of time at the center. “From very early on, as the youngest child, I was dragged in to work all the time!” she said with some humor, considering she is the child who made the garden center a career.
Lisa and Ken first met at Prescott’s First Baptist Church, where they sang in its traveling choir, Deliverance. They were both attending Yavapai College, then transferred to Arizona State University. That’s where they “clicked,” she said.
While Lisa had a lifetime of plant knowledge, Ken had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. During their ASU years, the couple earned extra money by starting a business, Expressions, crafting silk bouquets. The couple married after graduation and had their first child in 1988, eventually having four kids, including McKenzie, who is an identical twin.
The Lains spent time in Phoenix and then Northern California, where Ken worked in banking and then marketing. The couple began to miss home and returned to Prescott in 1992, when they became the second generation to join the Watters business.
For Ken, the gardening part was easy. The hard part was accounting and marketing, credit cards and insurance. “I grew up gardening with my grandparents. That was my connection point with them. I could dig holes and lift rocks! One grandmother had a huge farm with an acre garden. She would let me take the salt shaker to the garden and have whatever I wanted. I love my vegetables even today!”
Three of the couple’s children continued their education in Texas. Katelyn moved to Texas, where her friend lived, and stayed. James entered the military and is now a captain stationed in San Antonio. Meghan, McKenzie’s twin, moved to San Antonio to be closer to her siblings. She is now a store manager.
“Part of it is they came of age during the Great Recession,” said Ken. “Job opportunities were hard in Arizona, while Texas was booming. A lot of Prescott kids went to Texas.”
McKenzie traveled west after high school, earning a degree in psychology from Fresno Pacific University and a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling from Fuller Theological Seminary. But Prescott was in her blood, so she returned to work in the family business, turning her desire to help people into helping them cultivate a love for gardening.
“I love helping people find some peace at home through gardening. It’s a nice thing for them to do and enjoy,” she said. “I love Prescott. I enjoy working with family and I fell in love with the freedom and seasonality of it. Gardening never leaves you. The smells, the sounds, the flowers are always with you.”
Along with her parents, McKenzie says she continues to focus on the latest gardening trends and top quality, unique plants. She spearheaded the only rare and exotic tropical houseplant selection in Northern Arizona, searching for plants from the jungles of South America to southeast Asia. She continues to take on more of the business, such as managing the center’s employees. “I’m on the floor 24/7, and I get to know them as family. We respect people and their time, and when we have an opening, it’s not hard to fill,” she said.
“We can usually find folks who want to be here,” Ken said. “It’s therapeutic and it pays well. It’s a good place to be!”
McKenzie is passionate about seeing the garden center succeed into the next generation, and some day, she hopes to open a second location. She’s also active in Prescott Area Young Professionals and the Prescott Chamber of Commerce. This year, she is one of only three young gardening professionals nationwide nominated for the American Horticulture Association’s Green Profit/The Garden Center Group Young Retailer Award. The winner will be announced this month at the Cultivate ’24 Conference in Columbus, Ohio.
After more than 60 years in Prescott, the Lains are confident Watters Garden Center will be in good hands into its third generation. “Watters is not just a business, it’s a legacy,” said Ken. “We wanted to continue that with the second generation and now, the third, with McKenzie. If Watters went away, we would be missed. We want to fill that need in the community.” QCBN
By Heidi Dahms Foster, QCBN
Courtesy Photo: Ken and Lisa flank their daughter, McKenzie Lain, at the multi-generational family business.
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