For all of your Mother’s Day needs visit one of Union County nurseries. Today I had the pleasure of visiting with Allen Beeler at the Little Valley Nursery. He took me on a tour of his greenhouse, showing his hanging baskets and potted plants getting ready for Mother’s Day. This is one of his busiest times of the year. His best seller is the Black Mamba petunia, and the Mother’s Day favorite is the classic petunia, with red being the favorite.
Little Valley Nursery and Landscape is a nursery, small farm and lawn care business in Union County at 1704 Little Valley Road, specializing in greenhouse production of ornamental annuals, perennials, tropicals, succulents and vegetables starts. He also sells seasonal products at local farmers markets.
The greenhouse is open April 15 through the end of July and reopens Sept through October. The hours are Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday noon to 2 p.m.; and weekdays after 4 p.m. or by appointment.
Allen said he first became interested in horticulture at a young age while watching his grandmother Demaris Beeler work her garden, He has always loved flowers and watching things grow.
After graduating from Horace Maynard High School, he attended The University of Tennessee in 1982 and was studying horticulture. After a while he got cold feet and was afraid that there was not enough market for this field, so he switched his school to Lincoln Memorial University and got a degree in education.
Allen worked at the YMCA before and after collage for 22 years, and was a program director until 1996 when he started his own business specializing in mowing, later adding greenhouses and doing landscaping.
Little Valley Nursery now has 300 hanging baskets, 300 potted mixed containers, hundreds of flats, patented plug trays, seedlings and non-patented cuttings.
Allen does succulent classes at The Winery at Seven Springs Farm, 1474 Highway 61 E Maynardville. The next class is May 12 at 6 p.m. and the cost is $35 per person. You get a container of 5-7 plants, and the container is made of different designs. You can register by calling 865-745-2902.
Allen suggests people visit other Union County nurseries as well, such as his friends Dale and Debbie Corum at Tater Valley Nursery and Brian White’s Nursery on Raccoon Valley.
Allen stated that Union County has some of the best growers in the area.
You call follow Allen Beeler on Facebook or you may reach him by phone by calling 865-258-9926.