Marrazzo’s Manor Lane Florist/Marrazzo’s Power Equipment
After running the family’s “destination” business in and around Yardley for close to 75 years, second-generation owner Mike Marrazzo Sr. relocated to a new destination: Falls Township.
The Marrazzo family kicked off 2021 in a new location for their landscaping, garden center, and power equipment business in side-by-side storefronts in the Shoppes at Makefield Village in Falls Township.
“Before we were just a destination location,” Marrazzo said of Marrazzo’s Manor Lane Florist and Marrazzo’s Power Equipment’s previous locations. “Here they can get bagels, they can get pizza, they can get Chinese food.”
Customers can also pick up fresh flowers and gardening supplies and get their lawnmowers, chainsaws and tractors repaired by the company’s in-house mechanics. The power equipment retail store sells Stihl outdoor power tools.
The relocation helped the family downsize a bit in response to the pandemic. While landscaping and planting purchases have grown astronomically the last year, Marrazzo said that projects stemming from weddings and funerals have dropped considerably.
“Our business has been safe,” he said. “We work outside. People are home and they’re fixing up their house.”
Since 1979, the Yardley native has been running the business his father, Dan, started in 1947. His wife of 33 years, Nancy, helps with landscaping and billing. Their son, Chris, oversees the landscaping division, while Mike Jr., of Falls Township, runs the power equipment dealership and repair shop.
Much has changed since Dan Marrazzo starting growing vegetable plants and cut flowers at his family home on 1 Manor Lane in Morrisville.
“It all started in a little greenhouse,” Mike Marrazzo Sr. said. “He loved to grow.”
By the 1980s, landscaping services were added to complement the nursery division. Like his sons, Mike Marrazzo Sr. grew up in the business.
“I’ve never done anything other than what we’re doing now,” he said, adding that he began accompanying his dad at 10 years old. “I would go to work with my dad and help him, probably be in his way more than anything. It was just the way we were brought up.”
Marrazzo’s grows its own annuals, perennials and organic tomatoes and peppers in the one-acre greenhouse in Morrisville that Dan Marrazzo originally used for growing. In 2020, the business sold four times as many tomatoes as in 2019, a dramatic increase that the elder Marrazzo attributes to more people being home and wanting to create their own gardens or teaching kids how to grow tomatoes.
Vegetables and herbs are available generally beginning in March and April, with flowers and hanging plants following through May and June. Summer months are focused on maintenance and insect control, while fall months the garden shop features kale, cabbage, mums and holiday wreaths and artificial Christmas trees.
In addition to plants and flowers, the landscaping division accounts for a large portion of the business. The company works on mainly residential properties within a 15-mile radius of lower Bucks County. Services include landscape design, landscape overhaul, mulch installation, spring and fall cleanups, monthly maintenance, grass cutting, leaf cleanups, shrub and hedge trimming, plant, shrub and tree installation, outdoor lighting installation, as well as hardscaping services.
For homeowners considering a landscaping project, Marrazzo suggests planning early and devising a budget. It’s a good rule of thumb to create a five-year plan, accounting for any future plantings, home additions and positioning of a deck or patio. The company’s landscaping crew can also create a computerized design to help illustrate a project plan or show several different alternatives.
This expertise and attention to detail helps the three-generation business stay competitive with big box stores. The family strives to provide top-notch customer service and convenience. The business offers curbside pickup and makes home deliveries of mulch, topsoil and stone for customers looking to undertake their own landscaping project.
“People still come here that want the extra information when it comes to buying a plant and where to put it and what kind of conditions,” he said.
To learn more
Marrazzo’s Manor Lane Florist is located at 101 Makefield Road in the Shoppes at Makefield Village. Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information call 215-295-6662 or visit https://www.marrazzosmanorlane.com/. Marrazzo’s Power Equipment Inc. is located at 99 Makefield Road in the Shoppes at Makefield Village. Hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information call 215-428-1229 or visit https://marrazzosmanorlane.stihldealer.net/.