SmartyPlants Nursery + Cafe, a two-acre property off Dixie Highway in Lake Worth, is now operating under new ownership. Ryan and Ed — identified by the business's Instagram as the new owners — acquired the site and, per that same post, made the deliberate choice to preserve the land rather than allow it to be developed into something else.
The property functions as three things at once: a working garden center with two acres of nursery stock and green space to move through, a coffee shop under the name Cafe-Tico serving Costa Rican coffee, and a flexible venue for community programming. The operator's Instagram lists pop-up yoga, workshops, and private celebrations among the recurring uses. A resident chicken named GaLinda — also per the Instagram — has become an informal draw for younger visitors who can look for her on the grounds.
The Cafe-Tico name and its Costa Rican sourcing point to some intentionality on the coffee side; this is a specific origin choice, not a commodity program. Combined with the events calendar, it reads less like a garden center that added an espresso machine and more like an operator building an all-day destination with multiple reasons to return.
What the available materials don't clarify is the timeline: the Instagram post doesn't specify when the ownership transfer occurred, whether the business paused between operators, or what programming looked like before Ryan and Ed took over. No opening or relaunch date is given.
Two acres of contiguous green space off Dixie Highway is a significant footprint to keep in active horticultural use. That the new owners framed preservation as the central decision — rather than the cafe concept or the plant selection — suggests the land itself is the story they want told. The programming calendar, the private event availability, and the Cafe-Tico component all support a model where the ground stays planted and the revenue comes from the people who come to be in it.
The operator's Instagram remains the primary public channel for hours, event schedules, and updates on the ownership transition.
