After growing up on a farm near Twin Valley, MN, Melvin Bergeson went to the University of Minnesota for a winter of schooling in the late 1920s. He planned to be a small engine mechanic, but to fill his schedule, he took a horticulture class from a Mr. Daniels. Daniels's love for horticulture inspired Melvin to change his career plans.

After working several years for a nursery in South Dakota (which later became Gurney’s), Melvin started selling vegetables off of his family’s home farm in Twin Valley. When he married Olga Johnson of Fertile, they settled on her parents’ farm at the nursery’s present location, where Melvin started the nursery in 1937.

The nursery grew quickly. By 1940, it employed as many as forty people. Melvin insisted that all employees be fed homemade meals, which included fresh bread, cake, pie, and meat and potatoes. At some point, he started feeding all customers homemade donuts, a tradition which has continued to the present.

Bergeson Nursery specialized in raising and planting windbreak trees for the first decade of its existence. Later, Melvin designed and landscaped hundreds of homes in the area, some well over one hundred miles away.

Melvin was a widely-known horticulturist. He introduced the Red Splendor Flowering Crab in 1948, a tree which remains a standard to the present day. He also introduced the Bergeson Ash, which was eventually patented, as well as several other new varieties.

In the mid-1950s, Olga Bergeson began to raise vegetable plants for sale. The greenhouse portion of the business has continued to expand throughout the years as enthusiasm for flower gardening has grown.

In 1971, Melvin and Olga sold the nursery to their son Paul and his wife Glenda. Paul and Glenda worked hard to make the nursery more efficient, something which had never concerned Melvin. At that time, the wholesale portion business was taken over by Paul’s sister and brother-in-law, Ede and Orville Lee, who expanded their nursery north of Fertile dramatically over the years. It is now run by their son, Gary Lee.

Paul and Glenda streamlined Bergeson Nursery by adding state-of-the art greenhouses and a cold storage facility. Paul’s knack for building labor saving devices and Glenda’s business skills combined to give the nursery its present shape.

In 1997, Paul and Glenda sold the business to their son Eric. They remain active in the business. Glenda manages the greenhouses, and Paul, amongst many other things, is responsible for Bergeson Gardens, a six-acre display gardens which has become something of a tourist attraction for people of northwestern Minnesota.

In recent years, Paul and Glenda's youngest son Joe has also become involved with every aspect of the business. His particular area of expertise is perennials, but he also shares responsibility for raising trees and designing the gardens.

Over the decades, neighbors and friends by the dozen have worked at Bergeson Nursery. The success of the nursery has been dependent upon excellent employees, some who work year-round, others who return spring after spring to help during the busy season.

Bergeson Nursery remains committed to providing hardy plants of a high quality to gardeners in this difficult climate.