Bott's Legacy Flowers at Auburn
By: Katie Smith Jackson, Ag Illustrated Editor
When Elbert A. "Bert" Botts first enrolled at Auburn University in the late 1940s, he chose forestry as a major. Though his fondness for trees never diminished, he broadened his study of plants one day when he happened to walk past AU's Paterson Greenhouse complex.
At the time many foresters were being sent out West to fight forest fires. Botts, who loved trees but was not keen on being a fire fighter, was strolling past the Paterson complex and noticed the beautiful plants being grown there. He went inside and met a man named Henry Orr, one of the faculty members in Auburn's Department of Horticulture.
After a short discussion with Orr, Botts changed majors, managing to do so without losing any forestry credits. From that day forward Botts was a horticulturist. Today Botts' legacy is helping cultivate future horticulturists at Auburn.
Botts, who graduated from Auburn in June 1950 with a degree ornamental horticulture, also took classes from Orr, who was one of AU's most revered and beloved horticulturists. A firm believer in providing students hands-on experience in the field of horticulture, Orr also mentored his students after graduation, a fact that Botts discovered first-hand.
A native of the Banks community in Pike County, Botts left Alabama just after graduation for a job with a Cincinnati, Ohio, nursery. But, according to his widow Barbara Leeuwenburg Botts, that first cold winter quickly reminded Botts that he was "a southern boy," so he soon relocated to the Miami, Florida, area.
After only a few months in Miami, Botts was lured to Augusta by a then-county agent who wanted to open a garden center and needed educated help. The county agent, "Farmer" Chambers, found out about Botts through Orr and soon Botts, with just $25 in his pocket, was on a train to Augusta.
The garden center business, which was the first real garden center in Augusta, took root 1951 in a 30-by-100 foot space located on Kings Way in Augusta. Botts and Chambers soon were so busy that they recruited another Auburn graduate, Sidney Jones, to help run the business.
Within a year or so of opening, Chambers decided the gardening trade was not for him and he sold the business to Botts and Jones. The Auburn duo then moved the business–Green Thumb Nursery and Garden Center–up the street to a larger facility on Central Avenue and the center continued to thrive.
In 1977, Botts and Jones dissolved their partnership and struck out individually with their gardening enterprises. Botts moved his operation, which became known as Green Thumb West, to its current location on a two-and-a-half acre site on Davis Road in Augusta.
In the years that followed, Green Thumb West continued to build its fine reputation for exceptional customer service and high quality merchandise. Botts himself also was an esteemed pillar of the community. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Augusta and a Paul Harris Fellow and member of the Beech Island Agricultural Club. In addition, he served on a wide range of local, state and national committees, boards and commissions related to horticulture. In fact, he was honored on several occasions by such groups as the Georgia Nursery Association and American Association of Nurserymen for his outstanding achievements. Botts also was instrumental in establishing the Georgia state botanical garden in Athens as well as one in Augusta.
When Botts died in 1995 at the age of 70, Mrs. Botts put her business skills, honed from her experience working in real estate, to run Green Thumb West, and it remains a hub of activity for customers looking for full service and for healthy and often unusual plants.
"I'm a Dutch girl and all Dutchmen are gardeners," she said of her love of plants. A native of North Carolina who adopted Georgia as her second home, Mrs. Botts does not leave her affection for plants and nature at the office, and she is especially passionate about orchids and hummingbirds.
According to Mrs. Botts, her husband also truly loved plants and the nursery business, and he retained his forest-related talents throughout his life. "He could identify trees no matter where we were," she recalled. "I don't care if we were in Australia or Alaska, he knew his trees," she said.
Though Georgia became Botts' home, he did not forget his Auburn experience. Before his death, Botts established a $10,000 fund as seed money for an endowment in horticulture. Through the years, that fund grew slightly through accrued interest and memorial gifts following Botts' death. More recently, Mrs. Botts fully endowed the fund by donating more than 13,000 additional dollars to establish a $30,000 Elbert A. and Barbara L. Botts Fund for Excellence in Horticulture. This fund will be used for scholarships, assistantships and fellowships for AU horticulture majors.
In addition, funds from the Botts' estate have been willed to AU and will someday be used to establish a $300,000 Elbert A. Botts and Barabra L. Botts Endowed Professorship in Horticulture. Other monies from the estate will be added to the Fund for Excellence to further enhance student support.
"This is the largest gift the Department of Horticulture at Auburn University has ever received, said David Williams, professor of horticulture at Auburn. "Mr. Botts' legacy of generosity will impact the lives of future horticulturists not only financially, but as an enduring example of what it means to be part of the Auburn Horticulture family."