A third-generation plant nursery says that declines in the real estate sector are partly to blame for its struggles as it seeks to avoid a receivership following major loan defaults.
Arbor Valley Nursery, which is headquartered at a Brighton farm, has 42,000 trees in the ground on its 338 acres along the Front Range. It was founded by Roy Edmundson in 1979.
Revenue fell sharply last year, from $33.8 million in 2024 to $14.4 million in 2025, according to Matt Edmundson, CEO of Arbor Valley Nursery and the founder’s grandson.
“The decrease from 2024 to 2025 is attributed, at least in part, to the decline in the Colorado housing market which has been impacted by high interest rates and market uncertainty,” the CEO explained in an affidavit accompanying his company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
AVN has closed unprofitable retail locations in New Mexico and Wyoming and anticipates closing another, according to Edmundson. He did not answer an interview request.
The company has 418,000 trees and other plants in stock, which its CEO values at $11.6 million, in addition to those in the ground. It says it has 19 employees.
But an ill-fated investment out West has hurt it. In 2018, Edmundson bought a 50% stake in a wholesale nursery business in Oregon. Five years later, he learned of potential fraud, including fictitious transactions by his business partner there, according to his Jan. 6 affidavit.
The lender for that Oregon company, American AgCredit, is the same lender AVN uses, so the appointment of a receiver for the Oregon company triggered a default of $11.8 million in loans by AVN. In October, American AgCredit wanted a receiver for AVN too.
That matter is pending before a federal court. But after a judge signaled Dec. 19 that a receiver should be appointed, Arbor Valley Nursery filed for bankruptcy protection to avoid that.
The company’s attorney is Brian Fletcher of Onsager Fletcher Johnson Palmer in Denver.
Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.
Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
