Article: THE GARDENER'S TOY STORE THE WEEKEND GARDENER FILLS A NICHE FOR GARDEN ACCESSORIES IN HAMPTON ROADS. AND THE FRANCHISE'S CREATORS SAY THE CONCEPT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GO NATIONWIDE.(BUSINESS)

Byline: WENDY GROSSMAN, STAFF WRITER

In her pink canvas high tops, 7-year-old Brittany Prater runs straight from the front door of The Weekend Gardener to the bird stream. Squatting before it, she swirls her fingers in the running water, then pats her wet hands on river rocks, bird feeders, wind chimes and flower pots.

The Weekend Gardener is a garden accessory franchise opened by Walter and Sharon Ewell last November. Located in Chesapeake's Crossways Shopping Center, it's the third Tidewater-based franchise with the possibility of going national.

``We sell everything from dirt to fine art,'' Sharon Ewell says, wearing dark-green rubber garden ...

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