Hoover celebrates life of nurseryman and gardens creator Eddie Aldridge

All across the state, nation and even in other countries, the delicate, white blooms of the official flower of Hoover can be found growing everywhere from renowned gardens to right outside of homes. For many of the people of Hoover, the award-winning flowers honor longtime Hoover resident and nurseryman Eddie Aldridge, who created the city's beloved Aldridge Gardens, as well as patented the native oakleaf hydrangea, also called the ‘Snowflake’ hydrangea, with his dad. 

In early December, Eddie Aldridge’s celebration of life was held at Riverchase United Methodist Church, where people from all over the city honored him and what he contributed to the community.

“He was ‘Mr. Snowflake,’ he always was,” his wife of 35 years, Kay Aldridge, said.

Eddie Aldridge died Nov. 27 at the age of 85 years old, she said, and still loved sharing the flowers with other people as much as he did when he was a child. 

When Eddie and his dad patented the snowflake hydrangea, they did it to show people the existence of the flower, Kay Aldridge said, and they never made any royalties off it. 

“They just wanted to call attention to it, and that was exactly what they did,” she said. “We traveled the world and everywhere we would go we looked for snowflake hydrangeas, and nine times out of ten, we would find it, too … It was like he was seeing his child for the first time. He was just so excited about the snowflake hydrangea and truly loved it.” 

Aldridge Gardens, made up of a 30-acre woodland garden featuring native Alabama plants and a variety of hydrangeas, has been a public treasure in the heart of Hoover since 1995, when Kay and Eddie Aldridge collaborated with the Hoover City Council and the city of Hoover to convey the property. Prior to that, they lived on the property. By 2012, it was officially opened as a free public garden, and each year hosts a variety of community events, art classes, celebrations, weddings, tours and other events. 

Aldridge Gardens CEO Tynette Lynch said Eddie Aldridge’s love for the gardens was like something she had never seen.  

“He would sit on his bench in the gardens and speak with everyone that came through. He was so proud that this was a living legacy that he had created, with beautiful Kay,” Lynch said.

It all started when Eddie was a small boy, Kay Aldridge said, when he and his brother would go to the bus station in Bessemer and pick up dormant hydrangeas in the winter. They would bring the flowers back to their greenhouse and watch as the blooms unfolded over time, which they would then give his mother for Mother’s Day. 

“He just loved hydrangeas; he loved trees, too. Those were two of his favorite things,” Kay Aldridge said. 

Kay Aldridge said everywhere they would go, her husband would tell her, “Oh, look up at that tree.” She would always look up, even though she had a problem straining her neck, she said.

He was always walking around and looking at trees, and their yard was filled with “wonderful, rare trees” planted over the years. 

The year Eddie Aldridge’s dad died, he and his dad were looking at the then-Coxe Family Estate, where the Aldridge Gardens is now located. His dad told Eddie it would make a great public garden one day, and that if that price wasn’t too high, Eddie should buy it. Sure enough, he was able to negotiate a price he could afford, Kay Aldridge said.

“That’s always stuck in Eddie’s mind, that he had to make that place a garden. He worshiped his dad, I mean till the day he died, he was still talking about his dad. Two days before he passed away, he said, ‘I’m ready to go see my dad, my brother and my mom,’ and he couldn’t wait to get to heaven to see them,” Kay Aldridge said. “His dad planted a seed that he wanted him to make a garden in Hoover, and he worked very hard and diligently doing [for his whole life].” 

Toward the end of his life, she would take Eddie to the gardens every Saturday, and they would sit on a bench and watch the people and plants. Occasionally, she would even talk to some of the people enjoying the Gardens and introduce them to the “creator” of it. She said he would sometimes start telling the story about how he acquired the land, lived there and the story of the snowflake hydrangeas — which people loved to hear. 

“He got started talking, and he would say, ‘This is my happy place,’ and it was his happy place,” Kay Aldridge said. “… I love gardens. I don’t know, I think it was divine intervention for the two of us to come together.”

One time, on one of the couple’s many travels to gardens all around the world, he found a snowflake hydrangea in a garden in England. When the gardener found out he was there, he took them on a private tour and Eddie was able to talk all about the flowers. 

Those were the kind of situations, Kay Aldridge said, they were always finding themselves in. 

Over the course of his life, Eddie Aldridge received many awards, with some of the most significant being the Garden Club of America Award; Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alabama Nursery Association; Environmental Award from Auburn University; and some joint awards with his father like the Hall of Honor at Auburn University, state and national awards from the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Urban Beautification Award from the American Horticultural Society and the Woman's Committee of 100 Small Business Award for 1980-81.

“We miss him and are so sad to have him leave us, but we all know he is already gardening in heaven,” Lynch said. 

According to Eddie Aldridge’s obituary, memorial gifts can be made to Riverchase United Methodist Church or Aldridge Gardens. 

For more information about the gardens, go to aldridgegardens.com.