Small Nursery Feature - Plant Life Nursery

I like to occasionally profile small nurseries that sell native plants. This week is one that isn’t all native plants, but it has been significantly increasing its native stock over the last few years. Plant Life Nursery is located in Rome, GA where it has attracted a customer following from not just Georgia but from many other southeastern states. 

Larry Spencer first started growing plants as a way to have fresh herbs for his job as a chef, but he also sold some of them part time. He eventually left that job to grow plants full time and started his landscaping and nursery business. He expanded to grow perennials such as purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and Japanese maples, honing his skills with both natural talent and advice from experienced friends. American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) was one of his early favorite native shrubs, recommended by a customer as many of his plants have been, and it’s still a big seller at the nursery (especially this time of year). 

One of this nursery’s strongest qualities is a wide variety of seed-grown plants. Larry and his nursery manager Ryan Lovvorn grow thousands of plants from local seed, all of them pesticide-free. These guys are incredibly talented in growing healthy plants. While many of these go on to become gallon-size perennials, shrubs, and trees sold to retail customers, an increasing part of the business is selling well-rooted plug trays to other small businesses. The seemingly endless rows of seedlings and plugs at the nursery in spring is an amazing sight. 

Larry’s passion for native plants as a bigger part of the nursery’s selection grew out of customer suggestions, some of them bringing local seed from their own gardens, as well as a deep sense of the environmental importance of supporting local ecosystems. Follow Plant Life Nursery on Facebook and Instagram to see a parade of monarch butterflies visiting the nursery and using its vast stock of milkweed plants to create the next generation. The list of native plants that they carry is longer every year and he says that sales of native plants now make up most of his business. 

Monarch butterflies grown at PLN

I’ve been recommending this nursery for years, but it’s the quality of the plants and the service that ensures they have many repeat customers. Larry and Ryan are friendly and helpful for customers who know what they want as well as those needing ideas. They have cultivated a wide selection of pollinator garden and bird-friendly plants for those looking to support wildlife. The nursery also supports numerous local groups with donations of native plants to community gardens as well as local master gardeners at the annual Chiaha Harvest Fair and the Georgia Native Plant Society. 

The nursery is open year-round, 7 days a week. Stop by sometime … but make sure you have plenty of room in the car for plants because you’ll need it.