In full bloom
Baddour Garden Center’s shift to more fertile site pleases patrons
“I like plants,” said little Shands Gray Orrell, just a week shy of 3.
The Oxford tyke was perched on the cart her grandmom, Emmy Jarjoura, of Senatobia was wheeling through rows of colorful, leafy wares at the relocated Garden Center at The Baddour Center south of the Tate County seat’s downtown area.
“We’re going to plant some flowers on Good Friday,” Jarjoura, a teacher enjoying the day off, assured Shands. “We’re enjoying all the pretty flowers here.”
But what Jarjoura, a regular customer at the center, and others especially enjoyed was its new, more spacious location to the rear of the 120-acre Baddour campus near the greenhouses.
The center opened for business April 4, with an official grand opening on Good Friday, a time of preparation for rebirth and growth.
“It’s not all bunched up,” as people and earthy products were at the former location on U.S. 51 South, said Jarjoura. “I’m so excited. They do such a good job here.”
Baddour executive director Parke Pepper, Garden Center horticulturist Linette Walters and her staff of nine residents are glad to hear the endorsements.
Pepper said the move was decided to nurture productivity and safety for Baddour’s 150 residents across the pastoral campus.
“We needed to centralize our whole garden center operation,” said Pepper. “It just made sense to move the garden shop back here where the horticulture thumbprint is, and to get traffic away from the group home area where our residents walk or ride their bicycles or golf carts.”
Said Walters, a Batesville native who has been with Baddour for 10 years: “The best thing now, my customers won’t have to hear me say, ‘I’m growing it, but I haven’t brought it up yet’” from the greenhouse.
And the move rises from the Garden Center’s slogan, “Growing people and plants,” she and Pepper say.
“Instead of seeing only one or two residents assisting at the shop, our customer base will be able to mingle with all residents in horticulture,” said Pepper.
“And that contact is good for the residents,” said Walters. “It makes their day.”
A new driveway on the campus off Woolfolk Road leads into the Garden Center. From U.S. 51 South, turn west on Miracle Drive, which becomes Woolfolk, to access the new entrance. Pepper says signs should be up by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, plans are to remodel the former garden facility into a welcome center.
Faith-based Baddour, in its 36th year, is dedicated to providing a model residential community for adults with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities.
For more information, go online to baddour.org.