The Midwest Companies put its first roots in the ground on a 5-acre plot in 1969.

More than 50 years later, the company has grown to 700 acres of nursery facilities in St. Charles and Virgil, Illinois, as well as Glenn, Michigan. The company grows and distributes plants to landscape architects and other professionals through Midwest Groundcovers. More recently, the company expanded to add Midwest Trading Horticultural Supplies, which makes and sells soil to other nurseries and horticulture operations.

The two companies are under the umbrella The Midwest Companies, a family-owned business founded by Peter Orum and his wife, Irma. Today, the company is run by Peter’s daughter, Christa Orum-Keller, and her husband, Craig. The Midwest Companies is ranked 39th among small employers on the Ch

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