As I interview the various tenants of the Pepper Place area, I’m beginning to see a trend. Every single person who owns a business here is extremely passionate about what they do. This trend was further  confirmed this week as I spoke with Charlie Thigpen, garden enthusiast and owner of the Garden Gallery – a retail garden boutique specializing in unique garden items.

Before our interview I had never visited the Garden Gallery but after we talked (for well over an hour) I know for sure I’ll be returning. Charlie and his wife Cindy (as well as their Labrador Chaz) opened the Garden Galley back in December of 2009 and since then have begun to turn their little slice of Pepper Place into a garden of Eden for all to enjoy. See below:

Charlie says that gardening, to him, is all about creating a wonderful environment. His gardening style is unconventional and “very anti cookie-cutter”. This is quite obvious if you take a look around at his shop. You’ll see hundreds of flowers and veggies all growing together in a way that just works. Take a look at the above picture and you’ll understand what I mean when I say that Charlie specializes in container gardening. He loves to utilize various containers to give his garden designs some flare. These containers range in size from your normal potted plant, to enormous one-ton planters that can darn near hold a whole garden.

You could literally spend hours walking around Charlie’s garden looking at the various natural creations. However, if you want the tools to do it yourself, you’ll need to go inside. Once inside his store you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed with all the cool stuff around you. I think I entertained myself for well over ten minutes by tricking a venus fly trap ($6.50) into biting my pen (cruel, I know)! I also got a hands on demonstration of these really cool decorative porch items called Fire Pots ($17-$95) which are one of the shop’s best selling items. You’ll find planters, hanging baskets, seeds & cuttings, and really just about anything garden related you could possibly dream of.

In conclusion, you’ve got to go down and visit the Charlie’s Garden Gallery at Pepper Place. All the pictures in the world couldn’t accurately show you how beautiful the garden there really is. Nor could this article begin to delve into the enormous amount of unique garden items Charlie has in stock. Pepper Place is so much more than a Farmers Market. The Garden Gallery is one of those shops that makes the Pepper Place area an amazing place to visit regardless of whether it is Saturday morning or Wednesday evening (or any other time).

-AS

Thanks so much for showing me around Charlie & Cindy, I throughly enjoyed the tour and great conversation! Oh, and yes, this is the Charlie Thigpen that wrote for Southern Living for 29 years – I told you he knew his stuff.

P.S. Don’t let Charlie talk you in to trying the Ghost Peppers, I almost fell for it.

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Tags: Charlie Thigpen, Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery, Garden Gallery, Places