Penn Hills flower shop marking 85 years of business

Sometimes you just want to go where everybody knows your name.

Frankstown Gardens in Penn Hills is one such place.

Generations of local families have passed through the doors of the 85-year-old business.

And there’s no end in sight for Vincent Tumminello, 58, its third-generation owner.

His grandparents opened the flower shop in 1939 and passed it on to his father when he came out of the Army in the 1970s. Even before his father took over, the shop served as a home away from home for Tumminello and his sister, Julie Tumminello, 62.

“I started working here when I was 16,” he said. “I’ve had a few years here.”

Tumminello said he began the transition to ownership in 2000. He said there was never any doubt in his mind that Frankstown Gardens was his future.

“This was all I ever thought of,” he said.

During his teen years, Tumminello made sure to prepare himself for his future at the flower shop and greenhouse. He took horticulture classes in high school and learned to care for plants in the school’s greenhouse, how to properly cut grass and about the different kinds of plants and flowers.

“(My teacher) pretty much inspired me, helped me,” Tumminello said. “He would always say, ‘Your dad has that place. That’s what you’re going to do,’ and I knew then that this was what I was going to do.”

Working at the shop hasn’t been all sunshine for the past 42 years. In 1985, the shop was destroyed by fire. “It was literally leveled,” Tumminello said. “It burned to the ground.”

The Tumminello family didn’t let adversity keep them away from their passion. They reopened the shop in 1986 in the same spot as the original building.

Despite the ups and downs of the business, Tumminello said he loves the memories of working with his dad. They bonded over hours of gardening and plant care.

“We did everything,” he said. “Just spent days and days together.”

To keep up with changing times and the ever-evolving flower market, Tumminello and his sister stay up to date and open-minded about new hybrid plants hitting the market. They also have remained consistent with their niche services.

“We do different pots and stuff that they just can’t find,” Tumminello said. “People bring their pots to us and every year we repot them — and it saves them from having to buy new containers each year.”

Julie Tumminello serves as the in-house flower arrangement specialist. When she was younger, she said, she wanted to go to school to be an interior designer, but her father wanted her to work in the shop. Looking back, she said, she wouldn’t change a thing. Her natural eye for design comes in handy while creating unique flower arrangements. She has done wedding flowers for many local couples and often is asked, years later, to do the wedding flowers of their children.

“I really want to retire one of these days,” she said. “I would miss it too much. I don’t think I could ever truly stop.”