Color Star to Take Over Ellison’s

Chris Beytes

PJ Ellison Kalil announced that her family’s business, Ellison’s Greenhouse in Brenham, Texas, will be taken over by Color Star Growers of nearby Giddings, Texas. PJ says Color Star has been leasing space from Ellison’s for several years, so when PJ decided to get out of the business it was a natural fit for Color Star to take over the space in a long-term lease arrangement.

Because the business will be strictly wholesale, Ellison’s retail, tourism and post office will close January 1. The lease deal will allow Color Star to expand on the site if needed. The lease also allows Ellison’s employees to stay with Color Star.

However, PJ will be moving on. To what, she doesn’t say. But she wrote in an email, “As many of you know when I came back in 1993 I believed God was calling me. I still do. I also knew when it was time to move forward and Ellison’s as a greenhouse operation had served its purpose I would know that as well. God has used Ellison’s so well. Mom, Dad and I are so grateful to be part of such a great industry and been able to have made a positive impact. I, personally and professionally, am so grateful to have been part of the greenhouses and this amazing industry.”

I’ve got fond memories of visits to Ellison’s Greenhouses that begin with my very first trip for GrowerTalks. It was December 1993, and I was traveling with Vic Ball to see poinsettias. That’s when he and I first met PJ, daughter of Jim and Ellen Ellison. She had just joined the family business that year. PJ eventually took over day-to-day operation when her folks retired, putting it on the map with such events as her annual Poinsettia Celebration. PJ and her folks have long been active on a state and national level, too, including Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Ellison International Chair in Floriculture at Texas A&M University. She’s also active in the College of Agriculture Development Council (COADC ). GT