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Letter to the editor

Growing wisdom

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published July 20, 2007

The city's influx of townhomes and condominiums has slightly affected how Earl Mathews runs his garden shop. These days, more people want indoor plants for their yardless living quarters.

But when urbanites come in and ask for something they don't have to water or tend to much, Mathews has just the solution:

"I tell them go to the artificial plant place," he said with a laugh.

His is the kind of blunt advice that can only come from a man who has plied his trade more than half a century.

He's seen Tampa's flatlands morph into high-rises, and tastes in plants and citrus change.

But he has no plans to retire - not anytime soon.

"Oh, no! I'm just 84," he said. "I don't know what I'd do."

- - -

After operating Earl's Garden Shop Nursery on Manhattan Avenue for 52 years, the business moved a year and a half ago. The faithful followed, but there are those who show up at the old location to find an empty lot, layered with dust and gravel, and wonder what happened.

"We're still here," said Mathews. "Every day, we're trying to figure out what we can do to let people know."

The garden shop now sits just south of Gandy Boulevard, at 4328 W Pearl Ave. Mathews moved after the city's plan to widen Manhattan finally looked like a go.

The location may have changed, but the service customers have come to expect hasn't.

"I tell it like it is," Mathews said.

He sends customers away when he thinks a home remedy may provide an effective cure for a plant problem. Only if that doesn't work will he resort to selling his own products.

When a lawn mower repair shop in the area that sharpened blades for free went out of business, Mathews took up the task.

"I just do it because I want the lawn to look good," he said.

He doesn't charge for landscaping designs, which he draws by hand. But there's a caveat on doing the work.

"We don't go north of Kennedy," Mathews said. "We don't cross the bridge. I might if I'm going fishing."

Which he doesn't seem to have much time to do.

Mathews works nearly 10 hours a day, six days a week, said his son Walton, 46. "He just doesn't slow down."

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Mathews started his first gardening shop on Dale Mabry Highway with a partner in 1947 - a year after Lowe's first opened its doors and more than three decades before Home Depot was founded. They called the Dale Mabry shop Tropical Gardens. It later moved to Manhattan and became Earl's.

Experience taught Mathews most of what he knows. He was born in Georgia but grew up in Palma Ceia. He attended Plant High School and studied agriculture at North Carolina State College.

He met his wife, Mary Ann, when they were teenagers. They have three sons and two daughters.

"She runs the business," he said. "I run my mouth."

Faded newspaper clippings and pictures on the garden shop's walls tell tales of Mathews' storied past. As a youngster, he posed with an alligator he killed when South Tampa had more brush than condos. A black and white photograph behind the cash register shows Bayshore Boulevard with few homes scattered throughout Hyde Park.

"You used to look around and see there were no houses," Mathews said. "Now they're everywhere."

He's noticed other changes in the landscape.

Guava trees aren't as popular as they once were. Mathews remembers throwing ripe ones at friends as a child. Nowadays, he figures, people just don't care so much for guavas.

- - -

Mathews plans on sticking around for whatever changes are to come, because he doesn't plan on retiring any time soon.

His son, Shane, tried persuading Mathews to retire several years ago. Shane works in television in Los Angeles. He wanted to put his dad's face on HBO in a show called House Calls with Earl. Mathews would show up at someone's home, diagnose their yard and come up with a plan to beautify the lawn.

They produced an episode, passed around a DVD, and that's where it ended.

Mathews still makes house calls, but without the camera crew.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this story. Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com.

Fast Facts:

Earl Mathews

Age: 84

Home: South Tampa

Occupation: Garden shop owner

Fears: Flying in an airplane

Growing up: Wanted to work in the cattle business

Enjoys watching: The History Channel

Recommends: Proper watering of plants and proper placement for the right amount of shade and sunshine

[Last modified July 19, 2007, 07:58:15]