In the mid 1990’s, we (Bill and Jen Cure), started a wholesale nursery supplying containerized native trees and shrubs for stream buffers and restoration projects. We had come from an academic background in plant sciences, doing research in atmospheric CO2 and air quality effects on vegetation — so this business with vegetation suited us well for a long time. We have moved into an age where CO2-induced climate changes as well as cultural patterns such as agribusiness and pesticide use threaten both the species composition of our native flora and the fauna dependent on it.
As we were approaching retirement age, two things happened to change everything. First, stream buffer requirements were reduced in North Carolina, so our market suffered. We were tempted to retire! Second, about that time, we picked up Doug Tallamy’s amazing book, Bringing Nature Home.
This book, aimed at the suburban gardener, made the case that there is insufficient wild space left to support the bees, butterflies and innumerable insects which form the foundation of our ecosystem. Since the suburban landscape is now the dominant landscape in much of America, homeowners and suburbanites themselves can and should transform this landscape into one that supports our native insects, one yard or school or park at a time. We would like to help them.
Cure Nursery is reinventing itself, building its retail-by-appointment operation and reaching out to support parks, schools and small businesses. Katie Davis (sales, propagation) is as passionate as we are to help make these wonderful plants available to gardeners and landscapers, town planners and small businesses.