Want a quarantine garden? These local Columbia stores have plant pickup and delivery
Business is blooming for Columbia’s garden centers, even in the midst of the coronavirus — or, actually, because of the coronavirus.
Garden centers and nurseries have been doing a more-than-brisk business in everything from a single potted flower for apartment dwellers yearning for a little green in their lives, to dump truck loads of compost for the serious gardeners taking on major projects during the down times.
Call them quarantine gardens.
“I’ve been in business 14 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.,” said Sal Sharpe, owner of Sal’s Ol’ Timey Feed & Seen off Monticello Road. “It’s crazy.”
People can still shop in person in most garden centers, with social distancing precautions. But most businesses have ramped up their pickups and deliveries.
At Southern Vistas garden center near Jim Hamilton-L.B. Owens Airport in Rosewood, co-owner Shirleen Schimmoeller said customers could shop in person or could place orders by phone or email, pay up front, then simply drive to the center and employees will load the plants and supplies into their vehicles.
Other centers interviewed are following the same methods.
At Woodley’s Garden Center off Two Notch Road in northeast Columbia, only one person per car at a time can enter the greenhouse. There is a limit of 10 customers at a time inside, said sales clerk Christiana Rivera.
She added that because of the volume of business, people should be patient when requesting deliveries.
“We’re a little booked up, but trying to fit in as many as we can,” she said.
There are many garden centers around Columbia and the Midlands. But if you want to keep your purchases local, here are some area favorites:
Gardeners Outpost
Columbia
(803) 252-0041
709 Woodrow St.
Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Woodley’s Garden Center (2 stores)
Email: retailtn@woodleygardencenter.com
Northeast Columbia
(803) 788-1487
1067 Woodleys Way
Irmo
(803) 407-0601
2840 Dreher Shoals Road
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday
Southern Vistas Landscape & Garden Center
Email: shirleen@southernvistasinc.com
Rosewood
(803) 256-0559
2825 Commerce DrIve
Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Sundays
Wingard’s Market
Email: office@wingardsmarket.com
Lexington
(803) 359-9091
1403 N. Lake Drive
Monday-Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Sunday
Sal’s Ol’ Timey Feed & Seed
North Columbia
(803) 786-6546
113 Hilltop Drive
Tuesday-Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday: 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Closed Mondays
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.