Small Nursery Feature – Stolen Flowers Nursery

I like to occasionally profile small nurseries that sell native plants. This week is a relatively new one, having been open just a few years in Armuchee in NW Georgia (near Rome). I recently had a chance to visit this nursery and was very impressed with the quality and diversity of plants.

I first met Terri Todd last spring when she approached the Georgia Native Plant Society about donating some extra plants, particularly purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), to our sale. Unfortunately we canceled our sale for 2020 but she renewed the offer in 2021, so several of us drove there to pick up her donations. All of her plants are seed-grown and raised under the canopy of large open hoop houses on site. When I saw how beautiful and healthy the plants are, I knew I wanted to let other people know about this nursery.

The coneflowers she donated to GNPS

Terri has grown flowers for some time but initially focused on growing and selling cut flowers. She became interested in native plants after reading an article about the decline in Monarch butterfly populations. She said that she “was thrilled to find flowers with a purpose and function.” She now grows at least two species of milkweed (Asclepias sp.) to help those butterflies as well as a wide assortment of native wildflowers.

The name of the nursery was very interesting to me. She said the name was taken from an experience when she was a child. She would pass through a yard with a lot of flowers as she walked to visit her grandmother. She would pick some of the flowers to take to her grandmother. The owners of the yard, Miss Love and her sister, were not happy. “I don’t recall if I knew then that it was wrong to steal the flowers, but I found out for sure that it was very wrong when Miss Love called my mother to complain about me picking her flowers.”

Terri really enjoys growing flowers from seed, watching the plants grow and develop is part of the enjoyment. That tells me that she is in this for the love of plants, and we could see how much she cared about growing a diverse and healthy selection of mostly native perennials. She is planning to add some native small trees, shrubs, and vines in 2022. Perennials are available in 4.5 inch and 1G-sized pots.

I appreciate good signage!

Her nursery is open during the growing season: April-June and September through mid-November. The hours are Thursday-Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. The best source of information is the nursery’s Facebook page. You can find the address and phone number there. I will give a tip on traveling there: when coming from Rome via US 27, if your navigation has you turn onto South Little Sand Mountain Road; make sure you stay on the road for about 4-5 miles until you get to the 4 way stop with North Little Sand Mountain and Little Sand Mountain Roads. The nursery is 1777 Little Sand Mountain Rd, Armuchee, GA in Chattooga County. Cell reception can be spotty in the area.

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Happy, hardy native flowers growing here