Payne’s Christmas Tree Holiday Market

What a beautiful first weekend of Fall it was last week. The perfect day to visit a good friend, Andy Payne, owner of Payne Christmas Trees & Holiday Market. They are located right off of US 1 on Levering Road in Eldridge.

The first thing I saw as I pulled into their parking lot was all the pumpkins they had laid out for you to choose the perfect one. There were plenty of pansies (my favorite), mixed Fall containers, corn stalks, firewood, and did I mention PUMPKINS!!! There were also some great backdrops for your family photos.

Walking into their market, I fell in love with all the signs and fall decorations, BUT THEN walking toward the back of the building ~ CHRISTMAS!!!

I met Andy in the 1980s when my husband and I had our wholesale nursery, Hillside Nursery. I was delivering a load of plants to Garland’s Greenhouse on Ingleside Ave in Catonsville, MD, and Andy was in their parking lot where he rented space to store his trucks and equipment for his landscaping company. He walked over to find out who I was and if he could purchase from us. That conversation led to many years of business between the two of us. While his company grew, so did ours. Payne Landscaping moved their location a few more times till he ended up where he is today.

Years passed, and we closed Hillside Nursery, and I returned to work at my family’s garden center, Behnke Nurseries. I remember telling the Christmas tree buyer at Behnke’s about Andy’s wreaths and fresh cut Christmas trees when they were looking for some specific sizes (VERY LARGE) for a customer. That was the beginning of a great relationship between Behnke’s and Payne’s Christmas Trees, where we started purchasing most of our cut trees and wreaths for the season. Their quality was and still is the best anywhere around.

I hope you can stop by this Fall and then go back for your Christmas Tree and check out their Fall and Christmas Shop. Tell them that Stephanie from Beyond Behnke’s said Hello!