Eddie Aldridge, the creator of Aldridge Gardens and the man who patented the “snowflake” hydrangea, passed away Nov. 25 at 85 years old. During this month’s Hydrangea Society meeting, people shared stories about the man whom everyone called Snowflake.
Karen Mitchell, society president, recalled a time she was selling garden tour tickets in the Bed Bath and Beyond parking lot.
“At about 4:30, these two guys drive up in a convertible and they wanted tickets,” she said. But since the gardens close at 5 p.m., she told them she didn’t think they would make it out in time.
Mitchell ran into these strangers at a later event, and the two men told her what happened next.
“They drove out to Kay (Aldridge’s wife) and Eddie’s, and the tour was over,” she said. “They said they knocked on the door, and Kay answered the door and said, ‘Oh, come on in! We’re just having a glass of wine.’ They gave him a glass of wine, and Eddie toured them around.
“That’s just their heart,” Mitchell said. “They could have been ax murderers. But he was a sweet, kind visionary who gave this to us.”
Jan Rogers, who was the keynote speaker for this month’s meeting, shared memories of taking a group of second-graders on a tour around the gardens.
“A public garden, and for someone to have given it to us – I’m not sure how much second-graders get of that, but it still astounds me that that happened. I would always want them to go down and touch the magnolia trees and tell them about how Eddie and his dad helped plant those. On the last magnolia tree, there’s actually rope embedded in it from a long-ago parking of a boat. … You can just imagine a young man in his teens coming to plant a tree, and now look at this tree. The history of Eddie will be with us forever.”
Aldridge planted those magnolia trees in the 1960s on what was then the Coxe family estate in Hoover. He bought the property in 1978 for $425,000 with the financial help of the Coxes and turned it into Aldridge Gardens in 1995. It was here that he patented the snowflake hydrangea, which can now be found all over the world. You can read more about Eddie Aldridge in our May 2018 article about him.
Mitchell discussed ideas for a memorial to Eddie at the gardens.
“If we could do a statue on the bench with his hat under the tree … of course it would need some fundraising, but I think that would just be a wonderful memorial to him,” Mitchell said. “Because he loved being out there.”
