Meet the Owners

John and Vanessa Johnston have always kept their eyes focused on the next big business venture. In 1990 they purchased a company specializing in exterior hotel maintenance and convention plant rentals and named it Ingleside Horticultural Enterprises (IHE.) They took IHE to an abandoned gas station in Alexandria, Virginia. By 1996 they had turned that gas station into a flourishing garden center—the landscape and convention business also flourished.

One aspect of the convention business was providing plants and flowers for political events. IHE was a very small company but landed the coveted job of providing plants and flowers for every inauguration since Ronald Reagan and through Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

In 1996 IHE set its goals on acquiring a large garden center—we were successful and renamed our business: Holly Woods and Vines “a whimsical oasis of horticultural delights.”

HWV thrived and grew for the next 25 years. In 2015, looking toward retirement, we purchased a farm for our vision of growing nursery stock for e-commerce. At the end of 2021 we sold the garden center and moved full time to Florida, where we focus on plants suitable for growing in this region like cold hardy palms, camellias and grated Japanese Maples.

In 2023 we expanded our business to include DLA Ranch. It is our passion to raise beef and lamb that is managed in a way that guarantees it’s wholesomeness. As we continue to grow our herds and strengthen our management strategies, we are looking forward to providing locally sourced, mindfully managed lamb and beef to our family, our friends and our neighbors far and wide.