NCNLA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Five Minutes with Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse
Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse King, NC President Judy Mitchell In business 41 years NCNLA member 27 years Number of employees 9 full time and others seasonally in spring Services Wholesale and retail plant nursery, local delivery, landscaping consultations, instructional workshops Favorite NCNLA benefits Green & Growin’
How did you get into the business?
As a child, my husband, Jim, turned his sandpile into a rooting bed. He started rooting and growing azaleas. His father built him a small greenhouse and he started rooting houseplants and African violets. After getting married, Jim and I would take plants to sell at the N.C. State Fairgrounds flea market on the weekends. After both of us graduated North Carolina State University (NC State), we moved to King, N.C., with Jim’s job with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture (NCDA). We started rooting and growing azaleas in the backyard as a sideline. We would sell them to anyone stopping by and peddle them to hardware stores, feed and seed stores and produce markets. It grew from there. We moved to our present location in 1993. We built our first greenhouse in 1996. We bought additional land just down the road and moved our growing area for trees and shrubs there, leaving our present location for retail and wholesale of plants that are ready for sale.
What’s a typical day like for you and your staff?
There is no typical day. That is what I like about this business. Every day is different. Jobs change with the season. Everyone does what needs to be done, whether it is potting plants or selling. We grow trees, 8 | NURSERY & LANDSCAPE NOTES | FALL 2020
(Top) The new greenhouse was erected in early 2019. Pictured here is the spring 2020 crop of bedding plants and hanging baskets. (Above) The agritourism sign was erected in 2003 after a two-year process with the N.C. Department of Transportation.
