New fountain, sign installed at Aldridge Gardens

A new sign has been erected at the entrance of Aldridge Gardens, courtesy of a grant from the Alabama Department of Tourism.

The sign, installed June 8 at the 3530 Lorna Road entrance, comes as the state tourism department has included Aldridge Gardens as part of the new Alabama Garden Trail. Besides Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, the trail includes six other garden across the state: Mobile Botanical Gardens, Bellengrath Gardens & Home in Theodore, Dothan Area Botanical Gardens, Jasmine Hill Gardens in Wetumpka, Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Huntsville Botanical Gardens.

Tynette Lynch, CEO of Aldridge Gardens, said the Alabama Garden Trail could play a great role in raising awareness of the state’s public gardens. Details on the trail are available at alabamagardentrail.com and via public brochures produced by the Alabama Department of Tourism available across the state.

The new sign replaced an existing sign at the same location.

“The new sign updates our Aldridge Gardens' look and adds a line to the removable type so we can better announce events,” said Rip Weaver, executive director at Aldridge Gardens.

In addition to the new sign, Aldridge Gardens has a new fountain installed adjacent to its visitor center/administrative offices. The Bittern Fountain, by Robinson Iron of Alexander City, is similar to the fountain that was in place at the Aldridge Garden Shop in Homewood for many years before being relocated to Aldridge Gardens’ founders Kay and Eddie Aldridge's house in Highland Lakes.

“It is a cast iron fountain with a verde gris finish. The basic design is very old, probably around the turn of the century or in the 1920's, but has been modified over the years to get what is in place now,” Weaver said. “It has an internal pump that pushes water to the beak of the bittern atop the fountain.”

Lynch said the new fountain is a great asset for Aldridge Gardens.

“We are so excited about the beautiful new fountain located at the front of the Aldridge Gardens home,” Lynch said. “The response from our visitors, including our beautiful brides, has been overwhelming. We can’t thank Kay and Eddie Aldridge enough for donating this to Aldridge Gardens.”