BURNSVILLE, NC – “We were stocked and ready to go,” said Bill Jones, owner of Carolina Native Nursery in western North Carolina. “Not only for fall but also for spring.”
Jones started Carolina Native Nursery over 20 years ago to provide wholesale and retail customers a source of perennial native plants, particularly shrubs, ferns and grasses. In late September, the nursery had over 250,000 plants at its location along Prices Creek in western Yancey County.
Midday Sept. 26, as the remnants of Hurricane Helene advanced toward western North Carolina, four inches of rain had fallen at the nursery. It was wet but things were manageable.
“We have an SOP for storms,” Jones said. “We had everything battened down and were good to go.”
As the day progressed and turned to night, rain continued to fall – and fall and fall and fall. It was later estimated that some areas of Yancey County received over 29 inches of rain.
On Sept. 27, Jones went to check on the nursery. Prices Creek flowed over its banks. Four feet of water washed through the nursery’s main production area. At the time, there was nothing to do but wait for the waters to recede.
Not long afterward, Jones posted to social media the following wry observation: “We estimate 90% of our plants are on their way to the Atlantic Ocean right now. It’s not really the way we wanted to reforest North Carolina – but we’re happy to help.”
Also happy to help were over 100 volunteers who, a few weeks after the storm, participated in four days of clean up at the nursery. Vegetative detritus from the flood was wrapped around anything that could have caught it in the flood waters – carts, the frames of the houses, hydrants. A dozen houses were lost and many more hoop houses were damaged. Inside the houses, tables had been pushed topsy-turvy by the flood waters.
For all the damage incurred, the nursery didn’t lose any equipment. And the losses they suffered will be covered by insurance.
In late September, the remnants of Hurricane Helene ravaged the production areas of Carolina Native Nursery. By October, volunteers were helping to sort through the wreckage, inspiring owner Bill Jones to rebuild the nursery to help re-landscape the region. Photo by Karl H. Kazaks
“The amount of work that’s been accomplished in the first 10 weeks has been phenomenal,” Jones said. “We still need to repair a lot of houses and rebuild a lot of tables, but we’re planning on a very active year in 2025. We’ll be potting up and re-establishing all our inventory.”
As hard as it was to lose so many plants, it was even harder to know that there would be so many disappointed customers. “We’re a major supplier of these plants,” Jones said, thinking about his customers not just in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, but also as far away as Georgia and Maine. Those independent garden centers, re-wholesalers and landscapers won’t be getting much if anything from Carolina Native Nursery until next autumn at the earliest.
Jones moved to western North Carolina after selling his Charlotte-area lawn care business. During the first decade or so of running the nursery, Jones had a passionate but not widespread customer base. During that time the nursery sharpened its ability to grow native plants and developed a particular expertise in starting native azaleas and rhododendrons from seed.
In the past five years, Jones has seen an “unbelievable” increase in demand for native plants. Just last year, he started using a Javo potting machine to permit the nursery to increase production more efficiently. The nursery grows about 200 items, and for most of those items, Jones has a hard time growing enough plants to keep up with demand.
That continued demand is thanks to the high-quality plants Jones grows, healthy and pruned and shaped to be attractive.
While there is plenty of work ahead to bring Carolina Native Nursery back to the point where it can be a preferred supplier of native plants again, Jones is motivated by the enthusiasm of the volunteers who have come to help the nursery rebuild. “It’s been overwhelming and humbling and encouraging, all at the same time,” he said.
Jones knows there will be a need for native plants in the coming years. The demand strong before the hurricane, but now there will be additional demand to help repair the landscapes devastated by Helene.
“In the long run, we’ll be alright,” Jones said. “We’ve just got to get there.”
As of January, Carolina Native Nursery is looking for a head grower. If you know of anyone who may be interested, reach out through their website, carolinanativenursery.com.
by Karl H. Kazaks
