Mike and Kerry Saunier are not new to Heather Gardens. This will be Mike’s sixth season as the operating manager of the property, so when he and his wife Kerry purchased the West Tisbury property on June 19, they knew they were on familiar turf.

Mike, originally from St. Louis, first traveled to the Vineyard in 1993 after reading an ad for Thimble Farm in a newspaper. He decided to give farm work a try for the summer. One experimental summer turned into six great years at Thimble Farm. “I fell in love with the Island, the people, and the pace of life,” he said.

In 1999, Mr. Saunier moved to the Boston area to work for a greenhouse supply company. While in Boston, he met his wife. He continued work at the supply company, and it was there that he met Tom Richardson and Terri Cook, now the previous owners of Heather Gardens. (The original owners were Kevin and Roberta Hearn.)

Mr. Richardson and Ms. Cook offered Mr. Saunier a managerial position, along with a share of the business, with the idea that he would eventually buy the gardens. And the Sauniers moved to the Vineyard.

Tucked into about three acres off State Road in West Tisbury, Heather Gardens includes eight greenhouses and plenty of outdoor space for browsing among the gorgeous array of annuals and perennials. It is a place known for its friendly atmosphere, and the Sauniers have kept that tradition alive — always welcoming, and ready and willing to answer any customer’s gardening questions. Their experience on the Vineyard has provided them with a familiarity with the plants that grow well on the Island.

Since purchasing the property, they have cleared the front entrance, hoping to make the place more inviting. “We also have a hand-carved sign in the works,” said Mr. Saunier. “We want to be even more visible and welcoming to our customers.”

They have installed roll-up walls on the sides of each greenhouse in order to become more energy-efficient. This allows for the passive cooling of the structures, lessening the need for electric cooling systems in each greenhouse.

Along with the physical changes they have made to Heather Gardens, the Sauniers are also maintaining a partnership with Morning Glory Farm, which currently sells a selection of perennials and annuals from the nursery. The two places have similar do-it-yourself philosophies, so the partnership is a natural. In the future, the Sauniers say they will explore more ways to save energy and use less propane gas. A wind turbine for the nursery is in the early planning stages.

Asked about the constraints of owning a plant nursery on the Vineyard, Mr. Saunier could only cite the benefits, which he said include the absence of large chains here such as Home Depot. The reduced pool of large gardening centers on the Island allows for smaller businesses to flourish, he said. And he praised Island residents for the support they give the local nurseries.

“The advantage to growing your own plants is that they’ll already be acclimated to the climate you want them to thrive in,” Mr. Saunier said. The staff at Heather Gardens grows 85 to 90 per cent of their plants themselves; the rest come from wholesale nurseries in southeastern Massachusetts.

The Sauniers have incorporated their family into daily life at the nursery. Their two boys, Eli, age four, and Jonah, age two, can be seen running around the property at almost any point in the day. This is Kerry’s first year back in the nursery, since she took a leave of absence from work to spend time with her kids. The nursery’s three-acre plot of land also includes the Sauniers’ charming house and yard.

They said one of the most gratifying aspects of owning the nursery is the process of taking a seed, planting it and watching it grow. But even more rewarding than raising plants is raising their family on the Island. “We really bought a lifestyle,” Mrs. Saunier said. “It’s been so great for the kids to grow up around all the plants and people. They’re living in a beautiful place filled with beautiful people. Nothing tops this for us.”

— Blair Stelle

Heather Gardens is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.