Sally and Lance Fitzgerald opened the nursery in its current location in 1996, in what was formerly a horse paddock. With their son, Dave, they built the nursery premises by hand using mud bricks and render (and love!). They planted the now lush gardens around the nursery for regeneration, inspiration and for everyone who visits to enjoy.
Lance started on the path (to the opening of a retail nursery), by collecting local rainforest seed, growing the plants and selling them at the local markets. This then grew to supplying the rainforest plants to the Tweed/Brunswick Reforestation Committee in the early 1980’s. Sally joined him in these ventures in 1986.
The nursery came about from their passion for native plants, saving rare species and the desire to regenerate the land around us.
A lot of the plants growing in the gardens and for sale in the nursery have come from seeds gathered during bush walks over the years. This tradition has been passed on to friends and family members who still collect seeds and plants and bring them in to the nursery for propagation.
There are now well over 2000 species in the nursery a far cry from the early days where the nursery specialised mainly in rainforest trees. Now the plant range encompasses not only Australian rainforest but also sclerophyll trees and shrubs, palms, cycads and ferns, understorey plants, groundcovers, sedges and grasses and a huge edible range.
Their son Matthew has continued in the family tradition and can be found most days at the nursery, offering advice on revegetation, landscaping, plant identification and involved in the day to day running of the nursery. Dave left the nursery to run his own business trading as “Bush to Sea Landscaping, Bush Regeneration and Property Management”. Sally still spends her time in her favourite field: propagating! Lance still pops in to ensure his propagating tunnel is being well maintained and the gardens are at their best.