The way Shoal Creek Nursery owner Mike Sewell sees it, his store is not just a place where gardeners can come to buy a plant—it’s a place they can come to solve their problems.

Customers will come in, Sewell says, with a leaf from one of their plants to ask an employee what’s wrong. Recently, Sewell remembers one man who came to him wanting a tall plant to provide some privacy from a neighbor next door building a new two-story house.

“I was able to find out how much sun he had, the growing requirements of the plant, what was practical, what wouldn’t freeze in Austin,” Sewell said.

Sewell and his wife, Veronica, have owned Shoal Creek Nursery for the last 13 years. Before they bought the store, they owned a wholesale nursery in Louisiana and had their eye on a shop in Austin. In the years since the Sewells have owned the store, their business has grown along with the population in the metro area.

“One of the owners was wanting to retire and leave town; he just made an offer to us,” Sewell said. “Honestly at the time, the Austin economy wasn’t doing that well. [The economy] wasn’t in really good shape, but it enabled us to be able to afford to buy [the store].”

Over the course of more than a decade, Sewell said the staff’s expertise and the variety of products have helped the store to build a strong returning customer base. Situated on 1.5 acres of space, the shop’s inventory changes constantly.

“We’re a very small nursery with a very good location,” Sewell said. “So we have to pretty much bring fresh plants in all the time.”

The clientele at Shoal Creek Nursery includes everyone from customers in for garden color change-outs to the occasional landscaper. Sewell said recently, as the neighborhoods around his store have changed, he has seen succulents, cacti and house plants become more popular—all  with shoppers in need of the same expertise.

“[Those plants have] gotten real big, because there’s more people moving in [to Austin], but not necessarily to single-family houses. They’re moving into apartments, and they want a little greenery in that apartment,” Sewell said.

Shoal Creek Nursery
2710 Hancock Drive, Austin
512-458-5909
www.shoalcreeknursery.com
Hours: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily