Jim and Steve Hershfeld grew up in Baltimore and both worked in the family business, Bob Graham Florist, with their father Bud Hershfeld. In 1973, after graduating high school, Jim started making terrariums. He soon started a business of his own called, ‘Terrariums Made to Order’.  While Jim was growing terrariums to order, Steve worked in landscape design. After the long hours he put in doing landscape, Steve decided he wanted to work for himself and joined forces with his brother, Jim.

They started transporting foliage plants from Florida to Maryland, and selling them wholesale. Soon thereafter, the Hershfeld brothers built a greenhouse in their parents’ yard on Hillcrest Avenue in Parkton, Maryland, as a holding facility for these plants. In 1976, they bought a 30-acre farm in Millers, MD where they built 13,000 square feet of polyhouses. By 1983, they wanted to continue growing their company to compete with other high-tech, mechanized greenhouses in the industry, so they ordered a 25,000 square foot glass house from V & V Noordland. They started growing bedding plants, perennials, and holiday crops for local independent garden centers. In the mid 80's, a local perennial grower, Richard Simon was disappointed with the lack of herb sales and asked Steve if he would like to buy his inventory.

Steve accepted his inquiry and purchased the herb pots. He started to propagate them to sell as plugs and sales quickly took off.  In 2008, Hillcrest Nursery Cell pack herb program acquired USDA organic certification.   Over the years, Hillcrest has updated and expanded their greenhouses to over five acres under glass with their newest house, a Westbrook open-air design, built in 2016. Today, Hillcrest Nursery, Inc., continues to grow and ship organic cell pack herbs nationwide, and is a large supplier to many local businesses. They master growing and selling annuals, perennials, seasonal plants, vegetables, succulents, and herbs.