Bonnie Plants in Union Springs

If you've shopped for garden plants at a big box store and no doubt many other places, you have probably encountered Bonnie Plants. In the spring their little black, green and yellow plastic pots offer up all sorts of herbs and veggies at our local Home Depot, WalMart, etc. We've certainly purchased who knows how many dozens over the years to put tomatoes, straight neck squash, cucumbers, various peppers, and such in Dianne's garden. 

I recently noticed something about the little pots I had always missed before. Right there on the side it says, "Headquarters/Union Springs, AL". Hmmm....And "Since 1918". Hmmm....

Actually, the company, the largest plant and vegetable grower for home gardens in the U.S., relocated its headquarters to Opelika in early 2022. One reason given was the close proximity to Auburn University, with which Bonnie Plants has worked for decades. 

A couple named Bonnie and Livingston Paulk moved to Union Springs in 1917 and the following year began to sell cabbage sprouts in town. Within a few years the couple and their hired help were offering onions, strawberries, eggplants, peppers, potatoes and more for sale. The company erected its first greenhouse in 1936 and the growth never stopped. Bonnie Plants now sells in all 50 states and Canada and has 70 growing stations around the country.

A video created to celebrate the firm's 100th anniversary can be seen here.

I wonder how many individual plants the company has sold....

Bonnie Springs facility in Union Springs

Source: Jessie Shook's article "Bonnie Plants continues to expand" in the Union Springs Herald 2 Sept 2020. The article notes that the company's sales were approaching $400 million. 

The ribbon cutting held in January 2022 for the new Bonnie headquarters in Opelika

Source: PR Newswire 

A Quick Visit to Union Springs, Alabama

One of the towns brother Richard and I visited on our recent tour through east central Alabama was Union Springs in Bullock County. The town dates from the early 1830's. We were passing through quickly, so I only took a few photos. They are below with some comments. 

The Bullock County Courthouse has some very striking architecture. The building was constructed in 1871 and 1872; information about it and many other historic structures in Union Springs can be found here. 

Downtown Union Springs is a lovely place with lots of history, but was very quiet on the July Saturday afternoon when we visited. 

Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the Carnegie Library in Union Springs, but found one on the Deep Fried Kudzu site in a post with others from around town. The site is linked below. 

Back in the early 1980's I worked on a master's degree in library science in Tuscaloosa. For one of my classes I wrote a paper on the development of this Carnegie Library. In the late 19th and early twentieth century industrialist Andrew Carnegie gave away much of his fortune to many communities to build public libraries if the towns and cities would agree to fund operating expenses. About a dozen were built in Alabama. Over 2500 were built in the United States and various other countries.

Both a summary and the full report I wrote on this library are available online. 

Carnegie Library in Union Springs
Source: Deep Fried Kudzu