January 8, 2021 - In the small town of Tenaha, Texas, any news is big news. This year will prove particularly newsworthy for Tenaha’s own historic King’s Nursery as 4th generation owner and manager Dr. Andrew King returns home to take over the family business.
Andrew and his family return from College Station where he earned a PhD in Horticulture from Texas A&M University and where he served on the faculty in the Department of Horticultural Sciences for the past five years.
Why now? “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at A&M University and genuinely appreciate the many friends that we worked with there, but as we spent more time away from the nursery, the harder it pulled on us. This nursery is a legacy that has been handed down from the previous 3 generations, and I’m finding out that legacy is not something you can outrun!” King’s Nursery, begun by Andrew’s great-grandfather and continued by both his grandfather and father, has been in continuous operation since 1915.
For many in East Texas, it is an institution, as many of their customers are also 2nd and 3rd generation. “It’s a very surreal situation to be helping a customer knowing that 60-70 years ago my Grandy waited on their grandparents. But it makes me incredibly proud.”
During his father Aubrey’s tenure at the nursery, the selection of plant material exploded as he searched for the latest and greatest in the plant world. Andrew plans on continuing this tradition. He states “a trip to King’s should excite you because you know you’re going to find interesting and improved plants that you can’t find anywhere else. And even if you do not know a petunia from a pansy, I’ll be here to help.” King’s will also be offering an assortment of fruit trees during January and February, over 25 varieties of tomatoes this spring, all the other vegetables that you will need for your spring garden, annuals, perennials, tropicals, shrubs, trees, roses, and much more.
“One of the issues that most folks have while designing their landscape or even putting together a fruit or vegetable garden, is that they’re not well-versed in plant material and therefore they just stick with a few plants that they know and have had luck with” says Andrew. “At King’s, we respect that; but we want to provide the opportunity for our customers to come out of their horticultural comfort zone if they so choose. That is why we spend so much time finding and growing new plants. If you come in 2-3 times a year, we want to have something new for you to try each and every time.”
King’s Nursery has had a longstanding relationship with SFA Gardens, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association. For generations now, the goal of the nursery has been horticultural education and innovation. There is hardly an East Texas Master Gardener group or garden club that has not heard a lecture by one of the King’s.
For more information on King’s Nursery visit their website at kingsnurserytx.com or contact them at 936-248-3811 or at kings@kingsnurserytx.com. You can also follow them on Facebook at “King’s Nursery, LLC.” The nursery is located at 956 N George Bowers Dr. Tenaha, Texas 75974.
