Ponder’s Nursery brings local landscaping to life

BY KADIE TAYLOR

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

VALLEY — Ponder’s Nursery plants beauty across the community through landscaping, plants and trees, and has done so for three generations.

“I’m actually third generation, my grandfather came here in 1927,” said Ponder’s Nursery Owner Frank Ponder.

Ponder said there was a need for a landscaper in the area and his grandfather was recommended for the job. Through that experience his grandfather was inspired to start Ponder’s.

“My grandfather had finished up down in Auburn after World War I in landscape design and horticulture,” he said. “They recommended my granddaddy, and that’s how we wound up here in 1927.”

Ponder said his family’s business has stayed in the same location since 1960 and has grown to meet the needs of the community over time.

“We’ve been at this location since 1960,” he said. “From about 1950 to 1960 we had been up there where the interstate bridge is, but the interstate got us then. We moved here in 1960 and then before that, we were actually over in Harris County and that’s when everything was grown in the field and that sort of stuff. So, it’s evolved.”

At the Ponder’s Nursery, Ponder said customers can find a variety of plants and trees during different seasons.

“We carry a lot of shrubs of all kinds,” he said. “We carry a lot of gardenias and trollius. We sell a lot of camellias and a lot of trees. We have a lot of different varieties of oaks, maples and Japanese maples, and a lot of varieties of plant material. We also sell a lot of perennials.”

With fall approaching, Ponder said customers can find a variety of fall foliage as well as other landscaping and gardening necessities at Ponder’s Nursery.

“In fall, we have mums, pansies and violas and get in a lot of snapdragons and stuff like that,” he said. “We sell a lot of mulch hay, we sell a lot of pine straw and we sell a lot of pine bark. We sell topsoil, a lot of concrete pots; we have plastic pots and a lot of pottery. Valley Grow is our own brand of potting soil. We’ve analyzed the mix and had it dialed in.”

Ponder said he is thankful for the customers who have supported Ponder’s across generations.

“We’ve been blessed,” he said. “I mean, really, really, really, my wife and I talk about it often, how blessed we are to have the customers that we do, so many of our customers are repeat customers. I’m old enough now that I’ve actually done a lot of work for customers’ grandparents and their parents, and now for them to come in here. We’re just blessed with our customers.”

Through many years of working with and in the community, Ponder said he believes it is important to provide quality products and participate in local commerce.

“I’ve always seen these statistics about how if you spend locally, it stays locally and rolls over in the community,” he said. “We look after our stuff. We are always trying to keep a really good quality product. When we plant the best we can, the customers like that, naturally. And we try to keep the prices low and very competitive.”

For more information on nursery and landscaping services, visit Ponder’s Nursery, Inc. on Facebook.

“I enjoy watching the plants bloom, and the different seasons are always great,” he said. “In spring, you watch things bloom, then you get into the fall, it cools off and the leaves fall. I just enjoy the business.”