GOOD HOPE — The flowers are blooming at Gibbs Garden Center’s new home in Good Hope, and the company held its official grand opening and ribbon cutting Friday morning to celebrate the move to the city. 

Gibbs first announced last April that the garden center would be moving from its former five-acre location in Holly Pond to the new 38-acre piece of property alongside I-65 on County Road 616 in Good Hope.

The move was completed earlier this year, and the ribbon cutting on Friday marked the official opening of the garden center’s new home. 

Owner Dusty Gibbs said he grew up in Holly Pond and went to school there, and the town’s residents have always been very supportive of the company, so making the move outside of the town was a difficult choice to make, but he has already seen a few of their regular Holly Pond visitors coming to shop at the new location. 

From the first day they broke ground in the city, Gibbs said there were Good Hope residents stopping by to welcome them into the area and express their excitement for the garden center’s arrival, and he is thankful for that support that they have shown. 

“As tough a decision it was to leave there and those people who are just like family to us, we are equally as excited to be here,” he said.

Gibbs also made sure to thank the garden center’s employees for all of their hard work over the past year to facilitate the move, and said it would not have been possible without their effort. 

He pointed to last May on the Saturday before Memorial Day, when all of the employees were there to lay the first pipes at the new location while hundreds of people streamed by on the interstate during the holiday weekend. 

“There must have been 500 boats that went down that highway, and we were out there in the mud and muck,” he said to the gathered workers. “I want y’all to know that I appreciate y’all.”

Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett thanked everyone on the city council and city planning commission for working together to make the move as painless as possible, as well as Gibbs for working with the city and deciding to make Good Hope the company’s new home. 

“There’s a lot going on here, and we are so proud that this business has located in Good Hope,” he said. 

Gibbs Garden Center is visible to those traveling down I-65, and there have already been many people who have driven by and seen it and came back through Good Hope to see what plants are available, Bartlett said. 

“We appreciate the traffic, we appreciate the jobs, and most of all, we appreciate the taxes,” he said. “We’re so glad you’re here.”