FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Flower-Powered Business Has Endured

Nurseryman Gary Hayakawa has been cultivating his family business for 40 years, and his diligence has paid off.

His Three Star Nursery Inc., on a 10-acre parcel on Newhope Street since 1978, is the last wholesale nursery in this city, which only a few decades ago was an agricultural hub.

Hayakawa, 50, has worked in the business since he was a child, recruited during summers and school vacations to pull weeds, water plants and mix soil.

“It was expected of you. At the time, you didn’t really question it,” he said.

Today, he is owner and president of Three Star, which has 80,000 square feet of greenhouse space and employs 40. The company grows vegetables and annual and perennial bedding plants to sell to independent garden centers, landscapers, maintenance contractors and other businesses.

His father, Kazumasa, who died last year at 91, started the business in 1946 in Torrance with two partners. In the mid-1970s, their land was purchased to build a regional park, and the elder Hayakawa moved the business to Fountain Valley.

Hayakawa estimates that he works 60 hours a week despite a back injury that limits his movement. He describes his work as a labor of love: “Just being able to plant the seed and watch it grow” is enormously gratifying, he said.

His enthusiasm has led him to serve on the board of the Orange County Fair since 1992. He is also an 18-year member and past president of the California Assn. of Nurserymen’s Orange County chapter and a past president of the Nursery Growers Assn. of California.

Hayakawa is involved with the fair board because he wants to make sure, amid “urban encroachment on agricultural areas,” that future generations will learn about Orange County’s farming roots.

He supports the fair’s Centennial Farm, a year-round operation that gives students an opportunity to observe crops and animals. More than 30,000 local students tour the farm annually.

“We need to keep the agricultural history alive in the eyes of our children so they know where food comes from--that it’s not from the store,” Hayakawa said. “All the members of the fair board want them to remember that agriculture is a part of California.”