At Bill Tribou’s funeral in 2010, one of the speakers said that you could see a little bit of PlumLine Nursery anywhere you go in Plum.

Driving around nearby neighborhoods like Holiday Park or Summerville Estates — which were growing right alongside the nursery and landscaping business Tribou founded in 1974 on the Plum-Murrysville border — it’s easy to see.

There are certain design elements in front and side yards and combinations of plants that are instantly recognizable to customers as they wander the gravel and stone paths that lead to row after row of trees, shrubs and flowers at PlumLine.

The nursery is marking its 50th anniversary this year.

Tribou, who worked for Plum entrepreneur Larry Mills in the ’70s, began PlumLine with about a dozen rhododendrons lined up in his yard, said his wife, Karen. Over the years, the business slowly grew.

“The time clock was in the kitchen,” said his son, Micah. “Guys would come punch in when I was getting ready for school.”

There was far less traffic on Logans Ferry Road back then, Karen Tribou said, and as Bill added landscaping to his offerings, PlumLine was well-positioned as the east suburbs continued to grow around it.

“Bill was sort of on the cusp of landscaping changing,” Karen Tribou said. “People used to just plant a row of yews in front of their house and that was it. But they were doing more design work and using unique plants, which Bill loved.”

Karen Tribou said her children can drive around the area and pick out trees their father planted.

“They can even remember the peoples’ names,” she said with a laugh.

Today PlumLine occupies about 40 acres on the Allegheny-Westmoreland county line. Micah Tribou said meeting the demands of the modern business world is his biggest challenge.

“Nowadays, if you miss the boat on some new technology or way of doing business, you can be a dinosaur in five years,” he said. “If you’re not a big box store, it’s a challenge.”

Outside, garden center co-manager Frank Gribbin was moving a burlap-wrapped pine tree onto an irrigation line, using heavy machinery instead of lifting it in the sweltering heat. He said he’s worked to modernize the center’s business reach in recent years through advertising and social media — sometimes dragging the family kicking and screaming along the way.

“They’re so humble,” he said. “But they deserve a lot of credit for being here 50 years and building this place into something special.”

On a hot, humid Friday afternoon, the public walking garden that doubles as Karen Tribou’s front yard is surprisingly cool. Shaded by trees that customers can purchase just a few hundred feet away with a memorial pond to Bill that’s bordered by beautiful shrubbery and flowers, the family looked back on a half-century of adding a touch of nature to yards all over the east suburbs.

PlumLine has come a long way since the days when its main form of advertising was Bill’s mother going to the local beauty shop and talking up her son’s new landscaping business, Karen Tribou said.

“We offer people a really neat experience and a lot of unique inventory you don’t get at a box store,” she said.

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