Why I Moved My Business to Nampa, ID (and You Can, Too!)

Find out how one businesswoman has found success after relocating to Nampa.

By Lindsey Hyde on February 1, 2023

Franz Witte Landscape Contracting

Found in the Treasure Valley about 20 miles west of Boise, Nampa is a beautiful city known for its collection of wineries. While these venues rank high on its list of attractions, the area is also chock-full of excellent restaurants, breweries, museums, parks, walking paths and golf courses.

Plus, Nampa is home to a thriving business climate, perfect for major corporations, small businesses and everything in between.

Seneca Hull is president of Franz Witte Landscape Contracting Inc., a landscape, maintenance and garden center company started by her father in 1971 in Boise. She worked for the business growing up, and then took it over in 2007. In 2021, she and her business made the move to Nampa.

What has kept you in the Treasure Valley?
I love it because there are just so many outdoor activities and the four seasons. Within an hour, you can be in the mountains, around a lake or hiking or biking. It’s just a great place, great weather and a good place to call home.

How have you grown the company since taking over?
The company originally was really just landscape – residential design-build – and so the nursery really grew out of needing the cool plants that my dad wanted to use, and so we started carrying more and more things and opened the nursery to the public. We also started a maintenance department. It was probably a $2 million company around that time, and since then, we’ve grown it to about $18 million.

Why did you and your team relocate the company to Nampa?
We built a facility where we can have a true destination garden center. (In Boise), we really were just a nursery. The majority of what we carried and sold was plant material, and so here, we’ve been able to expand and have a big gift shop. We have a big greenhouse that allows us to carry plants throughout the entire year … before, we closed during the winter. It’s almost 10,000 square feet of indoor (space), and we essentially had no indoor space in the other one, but the property we’re on, compared to the other one, is almost exactly the same size.

Why is the Treasure Valley a good place to launch and grow a business?
Business is very important, especially to the city of Nampa. They want to see places where their people can have good jobs, and Idaho is a wonderful place to live. Our population is increasing crazy fast. Nampa’s been wonderful to work with. They’ve really been excited about what we’re doing. We’ve got great support. Our customer count in the garden center has doubled since we moved.