A long-held desire to naturally grow plants and vegetables has, naturally, led a Riverview man to a rewarding second career.
Darrell Rogers runs a nursery where he grows his plants and vegetables by organic standards, without chemicals.
GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Darrell Rogers weeds his plants at his new nursery on Pine Glen Road in Riverview. Darrell, a long time real estate agent, has always wanted to run a nursery and now is finally doing it.
"I can't say that I am organic because I'm not certified, but I can say that I grow by organic standards. I saw that there is a need for that." Rogers says he grew up on a farm and has wanted to grow things since he was a kid. He was a real estate agent for 20 years before he opened his nursery, Carrington Gardens, in May of 2006 and the 58-year-old entrepreneur has never looked back. He has a 70-foot greenhouse for flowering plants and a half an acre for veggies on his Riverview property and another acre in a field in Hillsborough.
Rogers says the decision to grow by organic standards was the only option for him. The poisons in chemicals are just too hard on peoples' bodies and he wouldn't feel good about selling them to people.
"There's a need. It's a community service," he says.
"I got interested, not because of my own health issues, but I know a lot of people who need these types of foods. They need to know they are getting the right things."
Carrington Gardens carries annual and perennial plants and harvests thousands of vegetables including, carrots, lettuce, beans, tomatoes and, the most popular, pickled beets.
"People are really interested in the pickling beets because the ones in the grocery stores are usually shriveled and mildewy. These are beautiful."
The plants, hanging baskets, are available at Carrington Gardens for $16.50.
They are grown without the use of chemicals so their pot can be used for planting the next year.
Chemically grown plants are poisoned and that poison coats the pot so anything that is planted after the original plant dies won't grow.
The price of the vegetables vary by year.
"It's too early to tell how much the vegetables are going to be. But everybody tells me I'm underpriced, don't forget, I'm new, so I have to promote my product."
Rogers decided to open his business on a whim after retiring from a 20-year stint in real estate. He wasn't sure if it would work out, but he knew he had to do it.
"I always said I wanted to, and then one day I just decided, that's it, I'm going to do it."
According to Rogers, the response to his nursery has been great and he says he is always selling out. He also holds workshops twice a year for people who want to design their own plant presentation or for people who have a great container they just can't seem to fill.
"They're called 'Fun Workshops,' and the morning ones people come here and I provide them with everything they need to make a hanging basket," says Rogers. "In the afternoon ones people bring pots or heirlooms, or any container they want to fill and we try out different things to put in it."
Registration for the workshops is $30 for the morning ones where everything is provided and $15 for the afternoon ones.
Carrington Gardens is located at 882 Pine Glen Rd. and is open seven days a week. Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m. until 5 p.m. Rogers has a small staff right now, but says he is always looking for more people.
Despite the small number of people who know about the nursery, Rogers says he is very successful and has a lot of regular customers.
"I couldn't ask for better people. I'm planting seeds for next year and maintaining what I have. It's amazing."
For more information about Carrington Gardens Nursery, visit www.carringtongardens.com
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