Canterbury Farms Wholesale Nursery, Inc., Hudson

When Peter Santangelo became president and owner of his parents' nursery business at age 17, he carried on his parents' horticultural expertise and the Santangelo entrepreneurial spirit to make his business a success. He traveled all over Florida to cull his botanical inventory, and over the years he expanded the nursery and even started doing his own farming.

A winner of the 2011 and 2012 Best of Suncoast silver award, Canterbury Farms employs botany buffs who tend to 43 acres of Florida-friendly woodland plants that include palms, shrubs, and tropical herbage. The lush, green landscape is punctuated by colorful exotic plants as well as by Amigo, a cartoonish fiberglass statue that once perched on the roof of Peter’s parents' nursery decades ago. Pensive green thumbs may solicit shrub-related style from Canterbury Farms experts by bringing in photos of their outdoor or indoor spaces, and free estimates are also available for landscaping projects.