Allison Johnson shares her flowers with the community

Katie Hightower

When Allison Johnson moved to Scottsboro with her family last year, she did not have any friends in the area. She found herself buying flowers at the store to brighten her home. The flowers brought her a lot of joy.

One day last spring, she decided to try growing her own. “From the first bloom, I was hooked,” she said.

Johnson grew mostly zinnias and dahlias but she has some sunflowers planted as well. 

“Before I knew it, I had so many flowers and I thought to myself, ‘What am I going to do with all these flowers?’” Johnson said.

Johnson knew the answer as soon as she asked herself that question. She would share them with people to brighten their days. Johnson approached her husband, Clay, with her idea to build a flower stand. He went right to work building it for her. 

“He’s the muscles behind the operation. He’s so supportive,” she said.

Johnson’s husband placed the flower stand next to the road. The Garden on Garner has a tin roof with a wooden stand where Johnson periodically places vases of flowers for people to come by and pick up. The stand has a donation box but Johnson hasn’t asked for any donations. 

“The flowers are free. We accept donations but leaving glass jars, vases, just anything to put flowers in is fine,” she said.

Johnson took a lot of steps to keep the flowers in good condition for others to enjoy them. While they grew, Johnson placed silk sacks over the blooms to keep bugs off of them. She even thought of a way to keep the flowers perky while on the stand. 

“We put solar-powered lights on the stand because in the summer, the sun wilts the flowers. So instead of putting them out during the day, I’ll put them out in the evenings,” she said.

Last year, the stand did not receive much attention but Johnson said this year, more people come by to pick up flowers. The last time she put out several vases of flowers, all the flowers were gone in 30 minutes. Johnson now has a Facebook page dedicated to the stand and she posted when she put out flowers. The Facebook page, The Garden on Garner, has over 206 followers. 

“I just want to make a difference in someone’s day,” Johnson said. “I just think they’re so pretty and wanted others to appreciate them like I do.”