Pete Michenfelder has loved gardening for many years. Now that he’s retired, he’s able to devote more time to his hobby turned business.
“It’s a business,” said Michenfelder, who owns Pete’s Plants, a plant nursery in Appling. “But I try to keep it fun.”
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Wandering about its grounds and greenhouses, one will find a wide array of delicately produced decorative flora. Among the plants are his favorites—plumerias, the same flowers used to make Hawaiian leis, and angel-winged begonias.
A frequent vendor at both the Evans Market and the Augusta Market on Riverwalk, Michenfelder often brings flowering plants such as his crepe myrtles and rose of Sharon, some of his most popular sellers, but he makes sure to maintain a variety.
“I always bring with me a mixture,” said Michenfelder. “I don’t bring the same plants with me every week. I bring sun-loving perennials; I bring some shrubs; I bring some indoor plants.”
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Michenfelder has recently started cultivating more indoor plants that are reputed to nurture a healthy environment, citing the book “Houseplants for a Healthy Home” by Jon VanZile. Some of these include spider plants, dumb canes, dragon trees and yuccas.
“Most of the plants in there that they highlight are plants that help take toxins and bad chemicals out of the air in your home,” he said. “So, that’s going to be a good market for me.”
Michenfelder took up gardening while in college. After working in news broadcasting at WJBF for 15 years and then sales and marketing for more than 20 years, he retired and turned to growing plants full time.
Shortly before his retirement, he found out from the county that his property was zoned in an agricultural residential district. He installed his first greenhouse in 2000; it was close to this time that he became a vendor at the burgeoning Augusta Market. He installed his second greenhouse in 2005 and acquired his business license in 2017.
Since starting his nursery, Michenfelder said he has found being an entrepreneurial hobbyist quite satisfying.
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“Small business is exciting, intriguing,” he said. “It’s nice to create a product that people want and enjoy. You know you look at different plants and you go, ‘Okay, what worked this year, what didn’t work, what’s wasting my time, what can I do better for the Augusta Market, what can I do better for the Evans Market?”
He began vending at the Evans Market in 2018, and with the exception of 2020 due to COVID-19, has done so ever since.
Michenfelder keeps things at the nursery simple, accepting only cash or personal checks and accepting visits by appointment only, although getting an appointment is easy and he does use social media for marketing. Through that marketing and the Evans Market he hopes to encourage more people closer to seek him out in Columbia County where he lives and works. Regardless, Michenfelder is set on savoring the flexibility, freedom and fun of making a post-retirement job of his hobby.
“I don’t have to make a certain amount of money,” said Michenfelder. “I want to, but I don’t have to. I’m in an ideal spot.”
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Pete’s Plants is at 5203 N. Tubman Rd. in Appling. To schedule a visit, text (706) 726-1905.
For more information about Pete’s Plants, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PetesPlantsTV or its website at www.petesplants.tv.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
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