As some of Charlotte’s traditional nurseries closed up shop and the largest ones moved to the outskirts of town, luxury landscape designer and Charlotte native Hugh Crump noticed a void.
He had to travel to Atlanta looking for pots, containers and interesting gardening effects for a client who also sent a professional shopper as far as Texas and California to find them.
“Charlotte loves gardens,” Crump says. “But we just don’t have all the resources that you would expect. I complained about it enough times, and my wife said, ‘You can do something better if you want to.’”
In April, he opened Gardens on Green at 123 Green Street. It’s a high-end gardening center that not only sells Bergs pottery designed in Denmark and made in Italy, bistro tables and chairs from the French company Fermob, or handmade Italian terracotta from Tuscan imports, but an entire experience.
The retail space features a series of 10 vignettes, displaying pots, plants and furniture. One is set up like a Charleston garden, another has an elaborate cast stone round dining table.
“Instead of seeing a big lot full of pots and plants, we've got it set where people can envision that being in their own backyard,” Crump says. “They can use their imagination to say, ‘Hey, that could go right outside our French doors coming off our dining room onto the terrace.’ We want people to leave inspired.”
Crump knows the power of visualization. He started in landscaping, mowing lawns as a teenager to make extra cash. One small project led to another, “planting azaleas for Mrs. Jones,” as Crump describes. That led to a gig each winter helping the full-time gardener for Rick and Dee Ray, owners of Raycom Sports and the last single-family tenant of the Duke Mansion. When they decided to renovate and restore the historic home and convert it into an inn and conference center, they asked the construction company to hire Crump for the landscaping.
Crump planted the oak trees that still surround the fountain in the front.
“I tell my kids I planted those trees,” he says, laughing. “They say, ‘How old are you?’”
As president of his own company, Greenline Design, Crump went on to do landscape design for NFL and NBA players, racecar drivers and bank CEOs. Lately, he’s focused on Gardens on Green, which has become a hotspot for local homeowners, design professionals, event planners and stylists.
More than just a retail space, Gardens on Green has become a destination. Crump said they were approached about hosting private events in their gardens and picturesque greenhouse space.
“I jokingly say ‘It’s for show, not for grow,’ but it’s super attractive,” Crump says.
Starting in September, they’ll begin hosting events open to the public, as well as a series of gardening workshops.