Rhine’s History
Rhine Landscaping, located in western Howard County, is situated on the Rhine family farm. The farm has been owned by the Rhine family since 1923. Jay Rhine is the current owner of the farm as well as the founder and president of Rhine Landscaping. Jay took over farm operations at the age of 19, when his father, Jack, died of lung cancer.
In 1996, Jay started cutting grass and landscaping on the side to earn income to help subsidize the increasing costs of running a farm. Over the years, the landscape company grew as dairy operations on the farm diminished. By 2003, Rhine landscaping had grown to a company of more than 50 employees, while the farm had diminished to 350 working acres, 1/5 of what it had been just 7 years earlier.
Today, Jay continues to own and operate the family farm, which has been in the family for over 101 years. Originally a Holstein dairy farm, it has since transitioned into a horse boarding and training facility, now known as Tara Equestrian. Managed by Ashley Beheler, the farm is home to approximately 50 horses.
In 2000, Rhine Landscaping welcomed its first designer, later expanding the team with the addition of landscape architect Dan Murphy and other talented designers. Serving primarily in Howard, Carroll, Baltimore, Montgomery, and parts of Frederick County, Rhine Landscaping has built a reputation as one of the most respected names in the industry. With over 25 years of experience, the company remains committed to delivering exceptional products and outstanding service.
Rhine family; Jay, Preston, Jack, & Salena
On October 11, 2011, Jay Rhine, along with brother Matt and sister Megan ,took their mother, Susan, on a hot air balloon ride for her birthday. Friendship hot air balloon company did the flying (“It was fantastic!” – Jay) and took off from the Rhine family farm. In the process, we were able to take a few pictures of the farm and our facilities to share with you.
In this picture, you can see some of the 141-acre farm; Jay’s white farmhouse and outbuildings for the cattle and horses is in the center of the photo. In the foreground, you can see the Rhine Landscaping facility; to the left is the main shop/offices; the round top building is for topsoil manufacturing in the spring and round bale hay storage in the winter. The long building and the smaller barn were used until 2003 for milking Holstein cattle and are now used for general storage. On the farm, we currently house horses, longhorn Watusi cattle, and one bison named Cindy. All of the animals ran to the back of the farm when the balloon went up.
This building was constructed approximately 10 years ago to be home to Rhine Landscaping. The building to the right in the foreground was for the Holstein milking operation (built in 1974 by John Lee Rhine, Jr.). The Rhine’s milked cows on this farm from 1923-2003 (80 years). Jessie Rhine, John Lee Rhine, John Lee Rhine, Jr. (Jack) and John Lee Rhine, III (Jay). Jay Rhine milked for 9 years while starting and building up the landscape company. Jay milked approximately 140 Holsteins twice a day at 1am and 1pm. His great-grandfather started with 9 cows.
This cover-all cloth building was erected in 2008. In the spring we create screened topsoil and store it inside to keep it dry and weed free. In the winter it doubles as a round bale storage building to keep the rain and snow off the food for all of the cattle and horses. You can also see our paver and stone storage area as well as the plant holding area (black cloth suspended by telephone poles). It has an automatic water system that shades and regulates the water to plants until we install them at your home.
December 2015 Jay Rhine took the entire Woodford Farm operation and the Rhine headquarters solar. “Renewable energy is just a responsible thing to implement in today’s business world. To have the opportunity to make it happen and not make that into reality just seems lazy to me”. –Jay Rhine.
98KW solar system was installed on our farm. We installed Suniva panels, they are US based company. We installed a total of 300 panels between the two buildings. We contracted with Solar Energy World out of Elkridge in Howard County and were very please with the process from start to finish and would highly recommend them.
“It was important to me that we used a local business to do our install and that we chose a panel from a U.S. based business.” –Jay Rhine.
