Growing up in the tobacco industry , Richard and Emily Currin were raised with a strong love of land and see a plant grow from a ejaculate to a finished product . According to their daughter , Ruth , Richard discovered his calling for the green manufacture while he was in college at N.C. State University . “ He handle the greenhouse on campus , and that is when he really decide that he could make a life out of something he truly enjoyed , ” she enunciate . In 1974,Currin ’s Nursery , in Willow Springs , was founded on just two acres of land and a lot of loyalty .
Ruth Holcomb , current sales and marketing manager of Currin ’s Nursery , had her parents honey of plants instilled in her since the daytime she was bear . “ As a little girl I can remember play through rows of junipers , hollies and Leyland cypress tree , ” she tell , “ my sister and I would play , pull out weed , find out how to drive tractor and it was n’t always work for me because it was fun . ” Although growing up her parents told her to be whatever she wanted to be , Ruth realized after college that the household greenhouse was not only where she needed to be , but where she wanted to be .
Now growing 24 acres of plants for retail garden center and landscape architect , Currin ’s Nursery offers a mixture of plants but is most famous for their abelias , wax myrtles , juniper bush , conifers and crape myrtles . Over the class , the miscellanea of plants grown at the nursery has develop based on consumer demand because some favor flora with useful purpose , such as wax myrtle , and others want industrial plant with ornamental value , like camellias . “ We have gone from a 3 - page plant availability to a presently 8 to 9 Sir Frederick Handley Page accessibility , ” Ruth said , “ but the customer is , and always will be , our enceinte priority , so we do everything we can to make certain they get what they need and are quenched with the ware . ”
A typical day at the nursery variegate from time of year to season . Some days the Currin family will be entirely focalise on filling orders for customer , and other days they are riding around the farm fixing maintenance issues or evolve new mechanization technique . The family prepare daily destination to ensure high priority items are accomplished , including deal care of customer needs and walk or rag the farm to check on and incline to all the industrial plant . “ It really is a 24/7 job , ” Ruth said , “ the plant do not block up uprise at 5 p.m. on Sunday eve , which means we do n’t terminate working then either . It ’s a year - round adventure . ”
mechanisation is a giving buzz word in the industriousness correctly now due to labor shortages . Many nurseries , include Currin ’s Nursery , are working together to make grow newfangled techniques such as forks for tractors that can pick up 24 to 48 mint at a time as well as plant coach that minimize the effort of crews constantly bending down to adulterate truck . “ There is no industriousness that will share knowledge with each other like this one does , ” Ruth said , “ we are like one full-grown household because we all learn and take advice from one another . ” According to Ruth , current innovations in the industriousness are not only to help minimize the physicality of tasks for current labor , but also to aid levy succeeding labor .
Currin ’s Nursery is a extremity of the Johnston County Nursery Marketing Association where they work with other glasshouse to market their plants , including their current unspoiled seller , the wax myrtle . “ I think there is a bunch of buffer being put up in region and wax Vinca minor help solve that trouble for many reasons , particularly because they grow quickly , ” Ruth says . Her preferent plant , at the mo , is woodland ruby genus Illicium because it mature in many atmospheric condition and is implausibly versatile .
In much the same feeling as her founder , Ruth takes a lot of superbia and fascination in the way their flora are grown . “ It still amazes me to this day , even though I have see it basically since I was born , how you’re able to take a small cutting , grow roots on it and years down the road it becomes a plant in someone landscape , ” she says , “ and you’re able to take pride in knowing that you did that . ” In the future , Currin ’s Nursery will continue to seek for fresh and groundbreaking techniques to improve the manufacture as well as nurture and farm the plants their customers love . “ There are many rewarding face of the plant life diligence , ” Ruth says , “ and each finished merchandise is a dependable will to God ’s work on this earth . ”
author : N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services ( Taylor Parrish )
