By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — It’s not that common for neighborhood businesses — especially the Mom-and-Pop variety — to stay in business for 100 years. But Gilbertie’s Herbs and Garden Center has, and the family-owned business has a 100-year-old lemon tree to prove it.

“My grandfather planted this lemon tree,” Salvatore (Sal) Gilbertie said inside a greenhouse that dates from the 1930s, where that lemon tree now grows. The tree brushes up against the glass roof, with several large, but still green, lemons hanging from its branches. “Please do not pick the lemons off our 100 year-old lemon tree,” reads a sign on the tree.

This Saturday, the Gilbertie family is hosting a big 100th year celebration on the lawn of their farmhouse and garden store, 7 Sylvan Lane, to mark the special anniversary for their business. 

The event is a way to give back to their customers and the people of Westport, said Carrie Gilbertie, general manager of the business. The party will include a free concert by Mystic Bowie, artisans and crafts people showing their wares, food, a raffle for Westport nonprofits and more. She has been planning the party for more than a year, she said.

Sal Gilbertie, 83, the family patriarch, has a historic perspective on the flower and herb business.

His grandfather came to the U.S. from Italy in 1901 and began working in the cut flower business in Fillow greenhouses in Norwalk. “There was no air freight then,” he said. “If you were selling cut flowers in New York City, you had to have greenhouses nearby.”

Sal’s father bought the Westport property in 1919 to set up the family’s own greenhouses, and began selling the kinds of cut flowers that Fillow’s didn’t sell. 

Instead of trying to compete with the well-established Norwalk business, he said Gilbertie’s was successful by selling a different product. And later, when Gilbertie’s made connections with a Dutch flower farmer to sell tulips, daffodils and irises, which were new to many area gardeners at the time, their Westport garden business became even more popular.

From them on, Gilbertie’s has grown to meet the changing tastes of their customers, Sal Gilbertie said. “The only [businesses] that survive are the ones who adapt.”

When people began traveling to Europe after World War II, Gilbertie’s Westport customers came back from their travels wanting the same herbs that chefs used in Europe. Gilberties’ herb business took root and is now about 40 percent of their wholesale business, he said.

Their thriving herb business evolved once again more recently and Gilbertie’s now sells micro-greens, which are greens and herbs cut and used within seven to 14 days after they are planted — a favorite of Westport chefs. These include mustard, different kinds of lettuces, coriander and other herbs. Because of the quick turn-around time, micro herbs “are high in nutrition and high in flavor,” Gilbertie said.

Despite its success, Gilbertie’s remains a family business. “All my children help out,” said Sal Gilbertie. He and his wife, Marie, have four children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Other family members who work there are Carrie Gilbertie, a daughter-in-law, and Peter Vodola, a son-in-law.

Carrie spent 25 years as a merchandiser for Macy’s, traveling the country to the retailer’s stores. She stopped traveling and began working at her in-laws’ business when she had her first child. Now her goal is to help as many people as possible “understand the importance of our environment. That’s what we’re all about,” she said.

“People want beauty, they want nature. It’s a feel-good industry. [Nature] is an anchor of our society.”

Sal Gilbertie agrees. “When you fall in love with the soil, nothing can go wrong,” he said.

The Gilbertie family has strong ties to the Westport community, as well as to their customers and staff, and for that, they are grateful.

“We are so blessed,” Sal Gilbertie said.

Carrie said she hopes that many Wesporters will come to their 100-year celebration which is the family’s way of giving back to the community. 

“Let’s have a fun family day,” she said.

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“A Party for a Century” celebrating Gilbertie’s Herbs and Garden Center’s 100 years of business in Westport will take place Saturday, June 4, noon to 5 p.m., on the great lawn of the Gilbertie farmhouse, 7 Sylvan Lane. 

The event will feature a concert by Mystic Bowie, artisans and crafters, and food trucks.

Admission is free. Parking for the event will be on site (limited), and along Riverside Avenue.

For more information, call 203 227-4175.

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Gretchen Webster is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.