Pixies Gardens, Conyers

When recession forced their pizzeria to close in 2008, Mrinali Goswami and her husband, Bala Dommeti, raised some funds by selling the plants they recreationally grew in their backyard on Craigslist. With an unexpected surge in popularity, the duo soon found themselves on the radar of zoning officials, who informed them they couldn’t legally sell plants in a residential area. Fortunately, they were able to use the sales they already made online to purchase a three acre nursery and, according to the Rockdale Citizen, house more than 5,000 plants. What was once a part-time gardening hobby now blossomed into a full-time gig.

Pixies Gardens cultivates all sorts of plants, from pear trees and dogwoods to corkscrew willows and more than 10 varieties of hydrangeas, and Mrinali grows many of the fruit trees and ornamental shrubs herself. Because they don't use a greenhouse, their hardy plants undergo few, if any, transplanting shocks when they leave the nursery.