WELCOME to Evergreen H&G Showplace
Evergreen H&G Showplace is the largest and most complete garden center/landscape company in Tennessee. Our main location is located in the city limits of Kingsport at 1413 Riverport Road and our gardens cover approximately 5.5 acres. Our other locations are located in Colonial Heights, a suburb of Kingsport, and Bristol, Virginia.
Evergreen H&G Showplace carries a complete line of products, services, and ideas to serve the needs of our customers. We have 19 greenhouses that are used for sales and growing, and a nursery section for evergreens, deciduous shrubs, roses, trees, and other ornamentals.
We have a staff of approximately 35 full-time employees and 50 part-time seasonal employees who are dedicated to making Evergreen H&G Showplace the best company of its kind. Our reputation and continued customer satisfaction is a direct result of our hard work. All salespersons, managers, landscapers, growers, and maintenance personnel are expected to work together to maintain our tradition of being the best.
The Evergreen H&G Showplace History
Auke & Sarah Valk came to the United States in 1950 after the German armies had ravished their motherland, Holland, during World War II. Kingsport businessman C. P. Edwards selected Auke and Sarah, along with two other Dutch families, to share in his dream for success in the Model City.
The first four years were very trying; but, after hard work and dedication to family, honesty and God, they constructed a small retail garden center called Ridgefield’s Garden Center in downtown Kingsport, as well as growing greenhouses in Ridgefields. Another store was built in the early 60′s in Johnson City, but when Mr. Edward’s empire began to fade in the mid-60′s, the second location was abandoned. In 1966, because of the Valks’ hard work, Mr. Edwards sold the garden center and greenhouses to them and Evergreen Garden Center & Landscaping Co., Inc. was founded.
In 1967, the Valk family constructed their new location on Industry Drive. Tremendous retail growth followed and in 1973 construction began on the present location on Riverport Road. In October 1975, Evergreen opened the doors to the most modern garden center in the region. Aggressive purchasing included greenhouse plants, shrubs and trees, foliage plants, hard goods lines and a complete landscape service. Again, Evergreen experienced phenomenal sales and internal growth. By this time, Auke, Sarah, and their four sons were involved in the day-to-day operations.
In the 1983, Evergreen purchased land in Johnson City and another creative location was opened. Today the two younger brothers, Tony and Michael, operate that facility as a separate company – Evergreen of Johnson City.
In 1989, Evergreen purchased a small garden center in Colonial Heights to service the area due to increased competition and consumer demand. This location has grown from a small roadside location to the Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Assn. choice as ‘Garden Center of the Year’ in 1994. In March, 2004 we completed construction of our current location in Colonial Heights at 1876 Moreland Drive.
In 1990, Evergreen moved many of the greenhouse production responsibilities to another site located near the parent location on 1401 Riverport Road. Computerized heat/vent controls and computerized irrigation are examples of state-of-the-art technology used at this facility. Today, over 95% of the plant materials grown at this facility are used to supply our own retail locations.
In 1994, Evergreen H&G Showplace joined a group of 500 premier garden centers from across the nation with TruServ/H&G Showplace. Participation in this group has provided us with a broad range of new products and consistent store displays.
In 1995 Evergreen H&G Showplace helped form a group of garden centers from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, known as the TAG group. This association allows its members to share management ideas and purchasing opportunities, as well as lowering product costs.
In 1996, Evergreen H&G Showplace was again selected among its peers as the Tennessee Nursery & Landscape Association ‘Garden Center of the Year’. Along with the numerous landscape awards for our creative installation, Evergreen H&G Showplace garnered the Business Journal’s ‘Tri City Business Award’ in 1997.
In 1999, Evergreen H&G Showplace opened our first successful garden center in Virginia. We are located off Exit 7 on Interstate 81. This exit has great potential in Virginia as many of the large restaurants and mass merchants are located at this exit.
In 2004, we celebrated our first 50 years in business, bringing the finest garden products and services to an ever-expanding market area.
In 2007, we began a new association with ‘The Garden Center Group’. We are excited about this new opportunity, which will allow us to learn new ideas and techniques from other independent garden centers across the country, as well as sharing and comparing marketing and financial data.