In 1889 in Interlachen, Florida, Harry George Hastings (1869-1962) established H. G. Hastings and Company, a mail-order business specializing in garden and field seeds as well as nursery stock. The business aided both farmers and home gardeners. By the mid-1890s, the company began producing a monthly newspaper instructing farmers on the best methods of plant cultivation, which would eventually evolve into The Southern Ruralist. In 1899, the company moved to Atlanta, a more centralized distribution point for its mail-order operation. In 1919, the company purchased 1500 acres of land near Lovejoy, Georgia in Clayton County to be used as its seed and nursery stock plantation. In 1942, Donald M. Hastings (1901-1991) succeeded his father as president of the operation.

Although H. G. Hastings and Company originally focused on its mail-order business, the company shifted its attention to the wholesale and retail nursery business, opening one of the first garden centers in the South in 1955. Expanding beyond the customary sale of seeds and plants, this new establishment also offered all manner of garden supplies, including tools and pots. The company continued under the leadership of Donald Hastings’ son, Donald M. Hastings Jr. (1929-2013), until the family business was sold to an outside party in 1976.