Dayton Nursery

The forerunner of Dayton Nurseries, Nortondale Nursery was started in 1956 by Del Dayton by planting Norway Spruce Christmas trees on his property in Norton and harvesting and selling Scotch Pine Christmas trees at the site which is now Wolf Creek Winery. Del and his brother-in-law Gene expanded the cut Christmas tree business to include a nursery and landscape business in the late 1950s.   Because of time  constraints due to performing his work from his main employer, Barberton Laundry, Del did not do much with the business until his son, Tom, became interested in 1972 in which the planting began again.

In May of 1973, Tom and Del started selling Azaleas along with other nursery stock combines with selling produce in summer that they grew except for the sweet corn that came from Seiberling farms in Norton.

Tom graduated from the Agricultural-Technical Institute with an associates degree in Horticulture with studies continuing in greenhouse management, landscape design and plant propagation through his mentor, John Rovestein, who earned his degree and knowledge in Boskoop, Holland.

As the business grew, the original site just south of Norton center was land locked and not conducive for growth.  In 1990, Tom purchased 75 acres north of I-76 in Norton of which he still retains about 33 acres on which site the nursery and garden center today.  Tom’s vision of a grower type garden center is still going with our ever expanding palette plants to meet customers needs and desires. The nursery was opened that year on the 40-acre site at 3459 Cleveland-Massillon Rd. in Norton, Ohio.  That’s right, 40 acres.

We are a full service garden center specializing in Rhododendrons and Azaleas and offering a huge variety of trees, shrubs and roses.  There are also over 800 varieties of perennials offered as well as our 17,000 ft greenhouse that is lush with flowers.  Along with vast selection, we offer education and attentive customer service.