The Garden Revival

I have enjoyed being close to the Earth for as long as I can remember. I'll bet that old septic tank had a layer of Red Mountain dirt in it three feet thick from the baths I had to take under Granny's orders back in old Number 11 camp. I remember the seemingly huge, bigger than any other tree in the world, hackberry that canopied my dirt playground in our backyard at the foot of the mountain in Ishkooda. I'd spend hours making dirt roads for my toy cars to travel on with the remaining part of a garden hoe's head.

The neighbors up the street had, what we called, snowball bushes. Little did I know back then that they were only French hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) and not the real snowball bushes known as Viburnums. All I remember about those bushes back then is that they were blue and bees loved them and that was pretty scary for a six year old boy!

We had rose bushes and dahlias, touch-me-nots and zinnias. I remember crocus and jonquils in the late winter and marigolds in the spring. But my favorite flowers of all were the four-o'clocks! They shouted to the whole neighborhood, "It's SUMMERTIME!"

35 years later...

I bought an old house back in 1997. It used to be a church. I always thought the old place was neat how it sat there on the hill, overlooking the main artery from Vincent to Brent. Across the highway from the old house, in behind the woods, was a Norfolk Southern rail line. I sure loved to hear that train whistle blow. It reminded me of the days in the camp when we'd hear the trains running from tipple to tipple around the mountain's shoulder or the distant trains traveling through Powderly on their way to New Orleans. Maybe the old Southern Crescent was headed back to DC from the Crescent City, I don't know. What I did know was that the former church had a higher purpose and it was up to me to find it!

In December of 1997 I found myself between employment situations. I took this opportunity to search for a higher and nobler purpose for myself. It was time for me to start looking for the situation that I loved rather than the money trying to buy happiness. I needed to take a position where I could do mindless work for a reasonable salary, thus allowing me to monkey-move my hands and think while doing. I found a position with a wholesale nursery and another with a retail nursery. What a deal it was?! I worked for Twin Lakes Nursery on Monday through Friday and for Burchfield's Garden Center on Saturday and Sunday. I studied under one of the greats in the industry. Mark Burchfield knew his version of how to make money in the nursery business. He taught me some of the simple tricks of the trade that increased his profit margin by so much, I'd be afraid to tell you! Mark doesn't have people skills for the retail end of the business, but when asked, he is always willing to share his knowledge and skill. Mark and I became good friends.

I learned how to custom mix fertilizers, adjust potting soils to my watering habits, how to water properly and how to pot plants; thousands and thousands of plants! I was made manager of the wholesale nursery the first week on the job. The spring rush was on the way and there were a lot of plants to get ready to, as Mark used to say, take to work. I sat on a potting stool and potted and studied nearly every plant at the nursery. While I sat and potted, I thought out and planned my future as a nurseryman. In March of 1998, I established the name for my nursery, "The Garden Revival."

I planned for nine months, then built my nursery; a retail establishment that carried more than just plants. The Garden Revival stocked some of the nicest garden gift merchandise in Alabama.

I decided to open the doors in the middle of the week in order to test the waters, so to speak. I opened the doors for business at 10:30 AM Central Time on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, 1999. So please join me in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Garden Revival!