Hind donates tree to library

Published 9:50 am Wednesday, December 19, 2018

The owner of a Keysville-based nursery recently decided to give by donating a brilliant Norway Spruce to the Town of Farmville.

The 23-foot cut tree, complete with sprawling branches, adorned with lights and a shining star, has been installed using a metal brace to hold the tree upright. The tree can be seen in the town’s West Third Street, located by the Barbara Rose Johns Farmville-Prince Edward Library.

“It’s a pretty big tree,” Hind said.

Hind, a regular at the seasonal Farmville Farmers Market and owner of Whispering Hills Garden and Landscape Center in Keysville, said he enjoyed the town and wanted to find a way to show his appreciation.

“I decided to give back to them.” Hind said. “Pay it forward.”

Hind said he knew the former farmers market manager, Rodney Lewis, before Lewis’ retirement.

Hind said he has sold vibrant burning bushes, weeping cherry trees, pear trees and apples trees at the farmers market among other plants. Strawberry plants and daffodils are popular in the springtime, Hind said.

Hind operates the nursery at the same time he is attending Southside Virginia Community College for two associate degrees in business administration and information technology (IT). Hind, at the nursery, sells seedlings and can transport supplies cross-country.

He said he transported the tree to the Town of Farmville via his landscape trailer, where town public works officials placed the tree by the library.

Hind said the choice for Norway Spruce was obvious.

“They’re just a good Christmas tree,” Hind said. “Blue Spruce die easy, especially with the heat down here and everything, and (the) Norway Spruce just grows anyplace.”