In September 2015, I wrote about the Vera Daniel Flower Farm, a well-known nursery on Brooks Road.
This week, I received a nice email from the niece of Vera Daniel. Peggy Butler, now living in Jasper, Georgia, provided some interesting information about this popular establishment, including a connection with Elvis Presley:
"I just ran across your article of September 10, 2015, 'Lost Memphis: Vera Daniel Flower Farms.' This was my great aunt and she owned the largest nursery and florist in Memphis for many years. The photo you showed was not a postcard, but an ink blotter with a drawing of her place on Brooks that she handed out to customers from time to time.
"What you called trees [they looked like tree trunks to me — Vance] were actually stone walls on either side of the entrance to the business with vines growing on them (as kids my cousins and myself loved to climb to the top of the walls and watch the traffic … which wasn’t anything like today.
"She was so well-known in Memphis that there was no need for a sign. She even landscaped and had her gardeners do both of Elvis’ houses — first the smaller home [on Audubon Drive] and then Graceland. She was a very trusted business woman and respected her clients' privacy. This of course was very hard for me who was such a big fan of Elvis at the young age of nine. I just couldn’t believe she wouldn’t give me his phone number!
"She did live in the second story of the building. The first floor was the florist with work areas in the back of the first floor, and there were greenhouses for the plants on either side of the main structure. Acres for growing the plants, brushes, and trees were behind and to the sides of the building. There was also a small house on one side of the building that was occupied by her foreman and main gardener. There were small houses on the back of the property for most of the other workers and their families too.
"When she sold the business to a trucking firm that wanted the property, she made sure she found jobs for as many of her workers as she could." — Peggy Butler
Thanks for the information, Peggy. I'm sure quite a few Memphians remember the place, but I wonder how many knew about the connection with the King of Rock-and-Roll?
