Walking with a customer near a shaded row of potted hydrangeas, Randy Coleman does what he does best — talk dirt.
Not trash talk, but literally about dirt — and soil and gardening.
Laid back and generously sun-kissed across his face and arms, the 49-year-old owner of R.A. Coleman Landscaping says he enjoys educating folks about home gardens.
“We have clay in this area. It’s unsuitable for growing plants. You have to dig out the clay,” he explained to the customer.
Passing along helpful advice is one way Coleman gives back to a community that has supported him as a local business owner, which began in 1991 with a single tractor and a maxed out credit card.
Now 27 years later of talking all things dirt, Coleman has grown a thriving landscaping business, paving the way for the launch of Coleman Nursery & Farmer’s Market at 3000 Ironbound Rd.
The nursery, which opened in 2014, covers 16-acres, where he sells budding plants and local produce, among other things. But Coleman wants to take his newest venture just one level higher.
His vision is a $2 million investment to transform the property, the site of a former dumping lot. A project launched three years ago, it will manifest into walking trails, a Koi pond, classes on horticulture and gardening, maybe even some bees, he said.
“Someone can come here and learn about flowers and shrubs and trees for their yard…so they can make the right choices,” he said. “I always wanted to develop a nursery and work with plants. I always wanted to do it in Williamsburg.”
The transformation includes adding a building, a two-story structure under construction now, which will house the classes once it’s completed in July.
The expansion will create new jobs too, as the building will be a hub for some 10 employees, with extra hires that will add to the ranks, he said.
“It’s something I always had a passion for growing up. [Now] my passion and vision is to give back,” he said.
From an Indiana farm to the Virginia landscape
Coleman first got his hands dirty playing on a farm as a 3-year-old in West Lafayette, IN, where he was born.
Perhaps it’s a typical accomplishment for a toddler, but it marked a starting point for the young Coleman.
At the time his dad, Randolph Coleman, was earning a Ph.D in chemistry from Purdue University. Meanwhile his mom, April, spent the days on the farm with Coleman, he said.
He said it was she who helped sow the seeds that would blossom into his passion for the outdoors.
“My mother had me in the garden and in the flower beds — weeding,” he recalled. “I liked to chase the bees. She would remind me of what a flower looked like growing and what a weed looked like. I enjoyed it.”
Fast forward to Virginia, Coleman and his family relocated when he was a little boy to the Williamsburg area after his father secured a job at the College of William & Mary as a chemistry professor.
Coleman’s mother continued to be active in gardening circles, ultimately serving as the president of the Council of Gardening of Williamsburg.
But by the time Coleman was a lanky teen in Willilamsburg-James City County Public Schools, he already knew his destiny was outdoors.
“As a teenager I would mow my neighbor’s lawns. I had a dozen of them,” he said. “I didn’t want a desk job.”
When he graduated from Lafayette High School in 1985, he enrolled in Thomas Nelson Community College and earned an Associate of Arts degree in Police Science.
“In order to pay for college, I worked as a landscaper…at the time borrowed a tractor,” he said.
Nonetheless, he became a police officer and entered the James City County Police Academy in 1988.
By night, he patrolled his beat. By day, during his off-hours, his vision and passion grew in the sunlight. His work in landscaping began to take root
Coleman also received some great advice from his father along the way. It was the same advice his dad gave to other young people he taught at William & Mary.
“He told me ‘Go out and do your passion and you’ll be successful,’ ” Coleman said. “I still had the desire to be outside. I decided I really wanted to do something.”
Coleman, the 24-year-old woke up one morning and got himself — a tractor.
“I maxed out my credit card — $1,500. It was enough for a down payment on a tractor and I got started,” he said.
Now Coleman’s vision had sprouted and his business was growing, and all while he worked as a police officer.
Once a dumping ground, soon a treasure
When Coleman purchased the Ironbound Road site in 2013, it came with a history and mounds of trash.
“It was an illegal dumping ground from the 60’s and 70’s,” he said. “I’ve had to clear this property.”
On a land purchase for a 5-acre parcel, Coleman paid $150,000 for and then rolled up his sleeves.
As word spread of Coleman’s efforts, neighbors on the surrounding properties liked his idea. They sold him more land, which is how he amassed up to nearly 16 acres, he said.
Officials on the county level took notice. Last year the James City Clean County Commission awarded Coleman the top prize in the 2016 2nd Quarter Clean Business Award for his efforts in converting a historic dump site into a sustainable nursery.
Coleman, who ended his career at JCCPD in 2016, said since purchasing the land, he has hauled 650,000 pounds of trash, including discarded household items, carpet, glass, plastic, tires and other debris.
In came rich soil — some 4,700 tons he had hauled in to replenish the land. It followed the a construction project to transform a former local dump into what he believes will become a local treasure.
“We need a quality nursery for people to enjoy and walk through and look at the plants in their natural setting,” he said. “A working nursery, close to botanical garden quality… I want to put Williamsburg on the map.”
