For University of Georgia Bulldogs fans, the hedges that surround the field at Sanford Stadium in Athens are an enduring symbol of the school and its famed football program.
So, in 1995, when UGA loyalists attending the Auburn game were invited down to the field to get their own piece of the hedges before they were removed to accommodate soccer games during the 1996 Summer Olympics, alumnus George Garrison claimed his.
Afterwards, Garrison, took clippings from that host plant and propagated them. Now, nearly two decades later, Garrison has a huge inventory of hedge plants in different locations that he and fellow alum and co-founder Stephen Carreker have turned into a business.
The whimsical name: the Hedge Fun.
For $30 plus shipping and handling, Dawgs fans can order them at thehedgefun.com and get their own piece of the hedges in a pot. The product is officially licensed by the school through the Collegiate Licensing Corp.
"If you're an Auburn fan, it's just a privet," said Garrison, 63, now semi-retired and living in North Carolina after a career in the carpet business. "But if you're a Georgia fan, it's something special."
Carreker, 63, a semi-retired landscape architect living in Florida, and Garrison conceived the idea at a get-together in Jacksonville around a UGA-Florida football game two years ago.
“It was one of those things where the light bulb went off,” Carreker said.
Obtaining the licenses and approvals for shipping has been a process, but the partners expect their investment of time and money will pay off. The Bulldogs’ fast start and national championship prospects this season have boosted their optimism.
UGA Associate Athletic Director Alan Thomas said, “We see so many different products come through, but this one has the history and the heritage.”
