By Zoe Seiler, contributor

Avondale Estates, GA — New businesses are coming to Avondale and several have opened since the beginning of the year, like Andersson Gardens. 

Marjorie Andersson and her husband opened Andersson Gardens in March with a goal to support local gardeners in the area and meet their needs. Andersson has received a positive response from the community since opening. 

“We’ve sold more than I would have expected,” Andersson said about the first week of business. “The community is just so happy to have a nursery in Avondale because a lot of people will drive 45 minutes outside of Atlanta to go and buy their plants. They’re just so grateful to have a spot right here in town where they can get high quality plants at a reasonable cost.”

The Avondale Estates resident started to do more work in her garden last year, like many others, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But Andersson couldn’t find any unusual or interesting plants at stores like Home Depot or Walmart. 

I started looking around and I found a lot of really interesting farms and wholesale nurseries but I couldn’t get in because I wasn’t a landscaper,” Andersson said. “I actually decided to get my business license and my live plant license and become a business simply so I could get into these farms and wholesale nurseries and all of that.” 

She loaded up on plants at Saul’s Nurseries after she got her business license. On the way home, Andersson thought about selling the plants rather than planting all of them in her own yard. 

“I had a couple of palm trees, so I put them on Facebook marketplace and I got no less than 100 responses,” Andersson said. “I went back the next day. I bought all their palm trees and I sold them out in a day.”

The business started out as a side gig and a hobby but grew into a full time job after Andersson lost her corporate job in September 2020.

Andersson Gardens has a variety of plants available from annuals to azaleas to edibles and perennials. Andersson’s focus is mainly on the perennials that come back year after year. 

“I want to make gardening easy but still have high quality, unique plants for people,” Andersson said. 

Andersson Gardens is set up in a way to make it easy for people to pick out plants with sections for sun, shade and a combination of sun and shade. So if a customer doesn’t know where to begin but knows they have a lot of sun in their yard, then they can choose plants from the sun section, Andersson said. 

Andersson is also available to answer questions and point customers in the right direction. 

“The other good thing about being a small, independent nursery is that you do get that individual one-on-one attention when you come here,” Andersson said. 

Andersson Gardens is located at 2832 Washington Street and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking is available in front of the shop and across the street. 

Andersson Gardens can also be found at the Avondale Estates Farmers Market on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

A variety of other businesses have also opened in the city recently, including: 

• 37 Main
• Dependable Tires
• Easter Seals North Georgia
• Eclectic Hair Studio
• Feather Nail Bar
• Gaal Homes
• Globe Studios
• My Fair Sweets
• One Shot Wellness
• Puff Smoke Shop
• Shades of Green Permaculture
• Spectrum Performance
• Taylor’d BBQ
• Travis Gilday, State Farm
• Village Music
• Wechsler Engineering

Additionally, more businesses will be opening in Avondale soon, including: 

• Avondale Pharmacy
• Common Root Farmer’s Market
• Daisy Day Florist 
• Decatur Yoga & Pilates
• Flippin Pizza 
• Little Cottage Brewery
• Shady Grove Landscape
• Simply Admissions