Gardener pushes past his disability to manage, grow his Warrick Co. greenhouse

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — For Ted Kroeger, working with a disability does not mean he can't do his job, it just means he just needs extra time. 

"I can't walk very far, sit for very long or stand for very much," the bilateral amputee said. But he's found work he can do and different ways to do it.

Since 2012, Kroeger has been a bilateral amputee, which is a person who has had both legs or arms amputated. His love of horticulture and his garden cultivation and management have allowed him to keep pushing.

"Horticulture is a really interesting thing because it works well with people with disabilities to be able to do it," he said.

One thing Kroeger loves about horticulture is its cyclical nature, kind of like a roller coaster, he said. 

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"The cycles run about 90 days. My world in November slows down, and then by mid-December, it picks up, and it's on its way again," Kroeger said. "It's got a big hill in the beginning for spring, and then it slows down to not much in the summertime. And then it picks up with a little hill in the fall with chrysanthemums."

Kroeger, 59, knew from a young age he wanted to grow his own crops and flowers. 

His earliest memory involves Saintpaulia or African violets. At 4, while visiting his grandmother's house, she gave him a small watering can and tasked him with watering the violets sitting on her windowsill. To this day, he still grows the violets, not nearly as much as his grandmother had, but enough to still feel connected to her through the plants. 

Kroeger Greenhouse and Gardens in Newburgh started from a junior high science experiment where Kroeger was germinating tomato seeds on his windowsill. His father saw something special in what he was doing and decided to build the first greenhouse on the family property.

In the 12-by-20 greenhouse, he grew tomatoes and sold them at Yankeetown Elementary during the '70s. Since the first greenhouse in 1975, five acres are dedicated to growing produce. 

Following his passions led Kroeger to eventually receiving both a undergraduate and graduate degree in horticulture and botany plant and pathology. 

Kroeger's greenhouse is now the largest horticulture business in Warrick County. 

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"I don't want to toot my own horn, but I want to tell people with disabilities that 'Hey, you're not down for the count', (because of your disability)," he said.  

In his garden, Kroeger grows different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, squashes, herbs, geranium, chrysanthemums and more all stemming from his love of celebrating diversity among the plants.

With it being mid-September, he is mostly focusing on his chrysanthemums, where they grow about 1,500 different varieties of the flower including big Fiji and football mums. Because of these different varieties and plans for future growing seasons, he wants to start looking for more help around the farm. 

Following the pandemic, and the loss of some family members, Kroeger is trying to change the dynamic of the business by hiring apprentices and planning a chrysanthemum festival for next fall. 

Kroeger said many are looking to learn how to garden, and he wants to teach them. For his apprentices, is looking for people to work five to 10 hours a week, tending to the greenhouses and helping with outside upkeep. While apprentices will not be paid, they will be able to take home boxes of produce they helped grow. 

For the planned chrysanthemums festival, he wants people to be able to drive through and look at the plants to learn more about them and have a fun time on the farm. 

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At some point, he's even looking to expand the greenhouse and open an apple orchard and vineyard on his land. Kroeger said he'd also like to create a walking trail for people to walk and come look at his plants. 

If you go

The 'Kroeger's Greenhouse and Garden' is located at  4377 Sharon Road , Newburgh. They are open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Ted Kroger can be reached at 812-853-3248. For more information on the company, visit kroeger-greenhouse-gardens-inc.business.site/.

Rayonna Burton-Jernigan covers diversity and culture-related topics and can be contacted at Rayonna.Burton-Jernigan@courierpress.com or (812) 454-1765.