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Jackson River Garden Center springs into bloom
By Margo Oxendine • Staff Writer
 | | Connie Morgan, Margaret Pittman and Norma Curtin, from left, are ready and happy to serve customers at Jackson River Garden Center in Covington. This month, they're surrounded by colorful pansies and snapdragons. |
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COVINGTON - Spring has sprung, as they say, and nowhere is this more evident than at Jackson River Garden Center in Covington.
Connie Morgan and her husband, Jerry, bought the place in 2002. They're helped by the knowledgable Norma Curtin and Connie's mother, Margaret Pittman.
Of course, Covington is in a different temperate zone than Bath and Highland. It's always a bit warmer down there, and flowers and shrubs spring into bloom much earlier than they do here. A drive through Covington any time of year will give you a good idea of what might be blooming here a few weeks or a month later. For instance, if you're longing to see Bradford pear trees adorned in white blossoms, or cheery trees, or pink dogwoods, take a drive through Covington.
So what can be safely planted right here, right now, when no one can stand to look at those dormant beds and forlorn outdoor pots a minute longer?
 | | One of the five greenhouses at Jackson River Garden Center is filled with young geraniums, as well as other flowers and vegetables. The center plants about 10,000 geraniums each year, as well as 30 varieties of petunias and 25 varieties of vegetables. It is open now through July 31, and also August 15 through November 1, and again in December, where poinsettias await to adorn for the holidays. (Recorder photos by Margo Oxendine) |
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Morgan and Curtin tell us, "Pansies, snapdragons, broccoli, Brussels' sprouts, onions, cauliflower and, of course, potatoes."
The outside display areas of Jackson River Garden Center are filled with bright, colorful pansies and snapdragons right this very minute. Or at least, they were filled last week. Avid gardeners better hurry, because once spring springs at JRGC, folks flock to the place and load their vehicles with the happy little manifestations of hope.
Once you've taken care of the here and now, what comes next? Petunias, for one thing.
"I guess we probably have 25 or 30 different varieties of petunias growing. We probably do 1,500 to 2,000 hanging baskets. We do 7,000 geraniums in one planting," Morgan explains, "so we probably do close to 10,000 geraniums."
This is evident when one strolls into the greenhouses. Geraniums, and what will become geraniums, are there in their pots, waiting to be adopted as soon as they grow a little more. They're pink, they're red, they're white, they're variegated, they're gay.
"Everything is grown here on site, except the ferns and the poinsettias," Morgan notes. One might be able to buy flats and containers of flowers at major discount stores, or other outlets; however, Morgan explains, "When it's grown right here, the plant doesn't get so stressed out. You're not putting it on a truck, driving it somewhere, and then taking it off the truck; here, you're just putting it into your car. And I do think we are competitive, price-wise."
While the Morgans, Pittman, and Curtin, may be working most of the year, the center is only open for specific seasons.
"We're here from March 15 through the end July; then we go from the 15th of August until the first of November; and then we open up for December, because we have a church group that sells Christmas trees, and of course the poinsettias - we sell those to several church groups, and also to the public."
During those season, Jackson River Garden Center is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Cash and checks, but not credit or debit cards, are happily accepted.
"This time of year, between the watering and the customers, we're so busy we just, well, we just hold on!" says Morgan.
Watering tens of thousands of plants could be a full-time job in itself.
"If one person did it, it could take six to eight hours, with fivefull greenhouses," says Morgan. "Our biggest watering problem here is, no hose is ever long enough!"
And then, there are the vegetables to contend with. "We also do three crops of vegetables," says Morgan. "We do about 25 varieties of vegetables. Today, we planted 512 of each variety."
A visitor who heard this commented, "If you work here, you must love getting dirty."
"Oh no," Curtin laughed. "We don't think of it as 'dirty.' This is a good dirt."
One true advantage of buying plants from Jackson River Garden Center is this: If you're a new gardener, these women can answer any question your mind might conjure.
"We love this," says an enthusiastic Morgan. "We do try to encourage people to plant correctly. Not that we know how to do that all the time," she adds, laughing. "I tell people, if you see it outside here, I'm holding my breath, and hoping that it's OK; that the time is right. Now pansies and snapdragons, they're no problem. But with frost, you never really know; you just kind of watch the weather."
Frost dates differ from Alleghany, to Bath, to Highland. Folks in northern Highland may wake up to frost a full month later than those in southern Alleghany.
"It's almost anybody's guess," says Morgan. "Bath is about two weeks behind Alleghany. They'll tell you May 10 is the frost date here, but we've had frost at the end of May. Every year is different, and every year is a challenge. I don't care what you grow, or how often you've grown it, every year you're dealing with something else. I like to think of what we do here as farming under plastic. We're plastic farmers!"
If you visit Jackson River and think you've taken care of all your purchases outside in the display areas, and picked out a few things from the greenhouses, think again. Once you step inside the retail area, plenty more purchasing options are presented.
If, for instance, you've a fan of those trendy rubbery clogs in fabulous pastel colors, you'll finda similar, but less expensive, variety here: Sloggers for men and women come with or without liners, and are the perfect shoes to wear when you're going to get wet and dirty in the garden. You can buy a gardening hat, and even a gardening apron.
If you live in an apartment, or someplace with no gardening options, you'll find the perfect solution here: An Earth Box. Curtin explains, "In this box, you can put a corn, a tomato, a bean, a cucumber, and a radish plant - you can grow your own little apartment garden. Then you have your stakes that go in behind it to support the plants, so you have your whole garden in one little box."
There are all kinds of good quality shears, clippers, pruners, trowels, spades and other tools. There's plenty of food for flowers and vegetables, and plenty of poison or repellent for those things that confound you: poison ivy, weeds, moles, voles, deer, raccoons, squirrels, even cats and dogs. You can finda variety of planters in many sizes, and lots of fun, decorative things, including those wonderful and attractive glass globes that soak up sun during the day, and then glow at night.
So, if you're ready to get glowing, and get growing, get on down to Jackson River Garden Center, 484 W. Riverview Street, in Covington. It's just off Durant Road, which runs past Food Lion and Wendy's, and just in front of Moody Homes, on the east side of the road.
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