John Hazelwood has been providing horticulture to St. Clair County since the early 70s, since then he has learned to have a lot of love for his passion that gets him out into the fresh air and sun. Throughout his time he has helped people learn how to take care of plants and landscaping.

“A House is worth 10-15% more if you have well a landscaped property,” said the owner of Hazelwood’s Nursery-Greenhouses.

Hazelwood, who draws up landscaping plans, knows how different plants can really make an impact on someone’s property. To make it easier, he tries to work hard in matching the right plants with the right people.

A lot of people want low maintenance, there’s no such thing as no maintenance, but there are plants that could satisfy just about any lifestyle.

Hazelwood said a lot of plants now have been bred to be more compact and not so hard to deal with. He tries to give customers a good idea of what size plants will grow to and how much or type of care they will need.

“A lot of people have yard people that take care of their property, but we have a lot of people here that come in and do the work themselves because they like it or can’t afford a yard man,” said Hazelwood.

He said the type of environment the plant is being place into is everything in the first steps of the decision-making process. For example, some plants may require direct sunlight, but people with a lot of trees are unable to provide the proper environment for these.

According to Hazelwood, crape myrtles are not the best for this kind of environment, but azaleas and camellias will grow well in the shade. He said they might come out as he described “a little leggy and thin, but will still bloom.”

It’s important to know what plants do well where, which is something Hazelwood and his staff try to help customers with.

“When they buy plants, we usually ask them where they’re planning to put them and what they’re going to do with them. If it’s a good plan, we will say okay. If it’s not going to work, we try to substitute something that will but similar to what they picked up,” said Hazelwood.

Another thing to consider is how often the gardener wants to have to worry about their plant.

Annuals plants only last one season, but perennials could last many seasons, even two or three years, maybe more. He said shrubs and trees are the choice for long durability because most can last up to 20 years or more

Perennials can last much longer, but the drawback is they only bloom for a short period of time, while annuals will usually bloom all summer long. Due to this, annuals have to be replanted and grown fresh each year.

“Some people really like that, but a lot of people don’t want to do it all again. They like to plant it one time and be able to forget about it.”

Hazelwood was a horticulture teacher at the vocational center in Ashville. He went to Auburn and became an agribusiness teacher. He was raised on a farm where they had trees and cows

“I became the horticulture teacher by the way no one else wanted it, so I said I wanted to try it. When I started, I had to crash course in learn what was going on. After a few years I became pretty proficient at all.”

There were not nurseries in St. Clair County besides the vocational school in Ashville. After running business there and maintaining a customer base, he began his own singular greenhouse. He quickly became overwhelmed with business and had to build more greenhouses after.

He said a large part of his job is taking care of customers in the community and helping keep plants healthy until someone is ready to buy them.

Hazelwood’s Nursery-Greenhouses is located at 925 23rd St N in Pell City.