Watauga County Farmers' Market

Lindy Johnson, J.Jackson and Allen Snyder all live in Trade, Tennessee and share a booth at Watauga County Farmers' Market. J. and Lindy have been vendors at the market for seven years, and Allen has been coming here for six years. Lindy and J. own Tennessee Rose Nursery and Allen owns Shady Acres Nursery. Both nurseries grow shrubs suitable for the Blue Ridge Mountain area.

Lindy and J. specialize in native azaleas, hardy Hydrangeas grown from seed, and blueberry bushes. They also supply Shiitake mushroom logs.

Azaleas are members of the Rhododenderon family; they are grouped together because of their flower structure. There are around four hundred decidious native azaleas and derivatives growing at Tennessee Rose Nursery. Some are becomming rare in the wild due to the pressures of development. The lovely and fragrant R. arborescens is already on the endangered plants list. Lindy and J. select the best wild forms as seed sources, then raise the best plants from the seedlings. These shrubs and trees are not bothered by disease, have a long bloom period, and are often fragrant. They range in color from white, pink, orange and red. All are very hardy in full sun to part shade. Some will not perform as well in the deep South, but some will do well as far north as zone 3.

A favorite evergreen Rhododendron is the Littleleaf Rhodendron. The foliage has a pleasant woodsy scent and there are clear pink blooms in early May. Later in the month look for Kalmia which is also known as mountain laurel, and oak leaf Hydrangea which grows naturally from North Carolina to Alabama.

E-mail Tennessee Rose.

Allen Snyder grows many popular types of flowering shrubs. Early in the season he has dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties of Wigelia blooming in shades of pink and red. These are Canadian selections and very hardy. Later he has ninebark with attractive dark leaves, butterfly bushes, and varieties of Clethra including 'Hummingbird" and '16 Candles". He also grows evergreen shrubs such as boxwoods and false cypress ranging in size from low growing varieties to ten foot specimans.

Allen also has a collection of wall and desk clocks he has made with walnut and cherry. Allen leaves the wood unfinished as most people prefer the natural look of the wood.