Bloom Where You're Planted
/Bruce Pardue of Little Country Greenhouse Provides World-Class Agritourism Opportunities in New Boston
By Jenny McCormack Walker
As the old adage goes, if you love what you do, you will never work a day of your life. Bruce Pardue embraces that lifestyle as the owner of Little Country Greenhouse in New Boston. In addition to serving as a supplier for typical gardening needs, Bruce has also embraced agritourism, offering free, family-friendly experiences for visitors 364 days a year (every day except Christmas).
“One day, my wife told me I needed to take a vacation,” Bruce said. “She said, ‘Maybe there is some paradise out there you need to see.’ I said, ‘Why? I work in paradise.’ I am one of the lucky few who get to create the dream, live the dream, and enjoy the dream.”
The retail side of Little Country Greenhouse consists of a nursery and general store, where customers can purchase plants, expertly designed floral arrangements, fresh produce, gifts, and goodies like coffee and ice cream. Guests enjoy visiting the koi pond and meeting the large variety of birds that inhabit the grounds, including exotic chickens, ducks, and parakeets. The Little Country Greenhouse also hosts no-cost seasonal events, like a pumpkin patch in the fall, photos with Santa and a “Walk in the Wild” in the winter, and tours through the butterfly cottage in the summer. Bruce is passionate about ensuring that visits to Little Country Greenhouse are educational and inspirational.
“Most of the time, I give the tours,” Bruce said. “I want people to not just come here to shop, but I want them to make a memory.”
And they do. Little Country Greenhouse has played host to marriage proposals, countless family photos, and generations of customers over the years.
“I’ve got some really good people around me who want to help the customers be successful.”
“I thought it was neat to see the kids of my customers come in, but now I am seeing the grandkids of my customers,” Bruce said. “That is really something.”
Bruce opened Little Country Greenhouse 34 years ago, but his love of horticulture began much earlier, at eight years old.
“When I was a kid, I spent spring break in Indiana with my grandparents,” Bruce recalled. “My grandpa sold vegetable plants, and my grandma put geraniums in clay pots and sold them. Grandpa gave me a shovel and just let me dig.”
That experience left Bruce covered in dirt from head to toe and completely hooked on gardening.
“I am sure I had more dirt on me than I got into the clay pots, but I didn’t get any licks,” Bruce laughed. “‘You mean I can play in dirt and not get licks?’ That’s when I knew I loved gardening.”
Years later, he attended college in Louisiana as a horticulture major. He went on to work in gardening retail and landscaping, gaining experience in every aspect of what it means to run a garden center. He opened Little Country Greenhouse in 1990. Since then, he has learned that he finds the most joy in interacting with customers and sharing his knowledge, passion, and wisdom with them.
“There is a young generation that is really interested in growing their own food,” Bruce said. “If I go out and build a garden for someone, it’s one thing, but when I educate someone about how to do it for themselves, they are so proud of it when it’s done. When people go through the Butterfly Cottage, I can help them learn about different butterflies. In the ‘Walk in the Wild,’ I get to teach them about animals. Those are really my favorite parts.”
Bruce is an excellent teacher and certainly an expert on all things gardening, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously. A jokester through and through, he regularly refers to himself as a “bloomin’ idiot.”
“There is a Bloomin’ Idiot Society,” Bruce said. “To become a member, you have to publicly call yourself a bloomin’ idiot, and I’ve been working on it for a while. I thought with all the plants blooming, it makes sense for me to be a bloomin’ idiot.”
Bruce enjoys hosting free seasonal events at Little Country Greenhouse.
His business is also blooming. Little Country Greenhouse has grown into the fifth-largest greenhouse in the state of Texas, and customers travel to New Boston from places like Dallas, Houston, and Shreveport to shop with him. He said Little Country Greenhouse is also the only garden center that sells Blue Bell ice cream.
“Blue Bell did not understand why we would want to sell ice cream,” Bruce said. “They sent a representative from the company here to see Little Country Greenhouse. He didn’t understand it at first, but once came here and saw everything we do, he understood.”
To keep all of the Little Country Greenhouse activities moving smoothly, Bruce relies on a strong team.
“I’ve got some really good people around me who want to help the customers be successful,” he said.
One of the most beloved “staff members” is a gray cat named Tom who serves as the company’s greeter and social media star.
Looking to the future, Bruce said he will continue offering the highest-quality products and the lowest prices, as well as a unique experience for his customers. He also hopes to offer a variety of monthly classes for beginning gardeners and is planning an additional fall event this year—a haunted greenhouse.
“[The haunted greenhouse has] been a dream of mine for a long time,” he said. “We are going to have animated robotic creatures and a lot of surprises. And, of course, like all of the other activities we offer, it’s going to be free. It’s just a way we like to have fun in the different seasons and give back to our customers and community.”