The Mustard Seed was a God-prompted idea that took root in Mark and Kay Halla’s backyard and basement before expanding in 2006 onto 27 acres of beautiful farmland off Hwy 212 in Dahlgren Township. It was quite literally a dream come true for Mark. In 2012, he had the opportunity to buy Halla Nursery, where Mark worked as a kid pulling weeds, from his Dad. They moved Mustard Seed operations to Great Plains Boulevard and, seven successful years later, Mark said, “I knew God was steering me to something else but I didn’t know what.”  He and Kay made the hard decision to put The Mustard Seed on the market in 2019. The broker had a list of 200 potential buyers but there was a name not on the list: the owner of another garden center just down the hill. Mark recalls, “I was driving by Brookside Garden Center and just felt like they needed to be on the list of potential buyers.” Chris Hagen, owner of Brookside Garden Center and Hagen Lawn & Landscape, says it was perfect timing and a dream come true of his own. 

Chris smiles as he thinks back to his motivated 13-year-old self riding his lawnmower down the street, stuffing mailboxes with flyers looking for lawn service customers. His lawnmowing expanded into a landscaping business and, by the time he was 17, he was a frequent Halla customer. “I’d buy my customer’s plants there and I’d look around and think ‘It’d be so cool if I could have this someday.”  Chris graduated from Bethel University in Business and Human Resources, got married to his high school sweetheart Molly, had two beautiful children and grew his business. His ‘someday’ came on November 2019 as he added The Mustard Seed Garden Center to his Hagen Lawn and Landscaping business. Mark Halla says, “It’s a hand-in-glove good fit.”

Chris grins, “I’m like a kid in a candy store. Not only do we have an award-winning landscape design and services team to add to the Hagen Landscape team but a garden center with so many possibilities. I’ve got a lot of vision for this place. I want to make it a destination for people, the best possible experience here at the garden center. I love challenges.” He recalls one of those challenges, a landscape job in 2017 that was accessible only by boat. Undaunted and having grown up on Lake Minnetonka, he flew to an Indiana boatbuilder and designed his first barge. Now 50% of his business involves challenging lakeside landscaping using his barge. “The more challenging the job the more fun it is!” Chris emphasizes, “I want to build onto the Godly values that Mark has established as a solid foundation for this company. I may not be as outspoken in my faith as he was, but I live by the same biblical values. The Mustard Seed mission and vision will continue. We will keep building a well-rooted and respected company connecting people to God’s creations. It will be our daily mission to keep trying to enhance lives and lifestyles by developing positive relationships and experiences integrating unique ideas, plants and landscape services.“

The name comes straight from the Bible. The parables of the Mustard Seed can be found in Matthew 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; and Luke 13:18. 19 where Jesus describes His kingdom as starting very tiny and growing very large. In Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6, Jesus explains that with just a tiny amount of faith in Him, nothing is impossible. 

Mark Halla named the company from a place of deep gratitude for what God did with a mustard seed of faith. The landscaping and garden center business is not for the faint of heart. It’s God’s business, lent to us for a short time. We want to use that time well with excellence because we serve an excellent God. We hope that everyone experiences the love of Christ at The Mustard Seed.

Mission: "To enhance lives and lifestyles by developing positive relationships and experiences integrating unique ideas, plants and landscape services."

Vision: "To build a well-rooted and respected company connecting people to God's creations."

We are guided by the following principles and core values:

• Strong Christian values and principles will guide our company, including the following areas:

  • Business ethics, especially integrity and fairness

  • Dealings with our associates, business partners and customers

• We will be professional and proactively involved and supportive to achieve a positive impact with everyone and in everything we deal with including our industry and our community. We will provide the training needed, the learning experiences required, the educational opportunities, and the leadership to make a difference.

• We will continually aspire to excellence, especially in the areas of business practices, dealings with our customers and business partners, in the standards we set for ourselves and others, and in the way we work with and develop our associates.

• We will work towards success in all areas and strive to maintain balance between material goals and personal successes, growth and satisfaction. We recognize that our financial successes must be achieved in tandem with the development and nurturing of positive relationships with our associates, our vendors and our customers.

• We will focus on providing positive experiences for our customers, not just on individual transactions. We recognize that we must provide these positive experiences not just in the store and with the services we provide, but longer term in our consumers' homes, businesses and lives.

• We will be good stewards of the resources we are given from the environment, our community and our society. We will share and volunteer our time, efforts and finances to make a positive difference in these areas.

• We will work to develop positive relationships based on respect, trust, honesty and loyalty with our associates, our business partners, our customers, and our community. We will celebrate our successes and learning opportunities together, with the knowledge that none of us can individually achieve what the synergy and power of a team effort can.