End of era as owners bid farewell to family nursery

After 38 years digging deep for the Marlborough gardening community, mother-son duo Jill and Bruce Rodgerson have decided “it’s time” to move on from Devon Nursery.

Jill and her son Bruce will be closing Devon at the end of this year, as both believe it's the right time to bring the family business to a close.

Devon Nursery began out of Jill and late husband Peter's Dillons Point Garden before moving to their Old Renwick Road premises 30 years ago.

However, with both spending half their lives working at the family nursery, the duo has decided it's time for something new.

"The nursery originally opened after my daughter Marie and I decided to start selling perennials on Thursdays and Fridays through from spring until early winter,” Jill explains.

“When people came to the nursery they were able to walk around the garden and see what the plants that we were selling would look like.”

Slowly the days were extended until it became a seven-day a week operation.

"When we started, Peter said that if people did make the trip to Dillons Point to buy plants, he would eat his hat.

“One day we made $1000 selling plants for $2.50 each, but I never did see him eat that hat,” Jill laughs.

After moving the operation to Old Renwick Road, the family connection was further cemented with all the grandchildren taking their turn making pocket money - potting up plants and learning what a good quality job looks like, Jill explains.

If they didn’t do their job to the expected standard, they had to do it again.

"Potting up plants and working in the Nursery is a tremendous task to do, and it taught each of the grandkids a good work ethic.”

When Bruce was handed the reins in 1998, he moved to extend the quantity of plants available and specific plant varieties--but growing that catalogue took time.

"It took about a year to expand, because we were growing everything in house, and starting with growing natives, shrubs, fruit trees and even more perennials.

“This meant we attracted landscapers and wholesale orders by having everything in house or having their workers be able to drop by and pick up quality, quantity stock on the day it was needed,” Bruce says.

Across their careers working alongside gardeners and landscapers, Jill and Bruce say they have seen much change.

"Plants are just as fashionable as clothes--a few years ago we couldn't give away Salvia plants, but recently we haven't been able to grow then fast enough,” Bruce says.

"We are confident we've done a great job because we don't have customers come and buy plants," Jill explains.

"They come and spend time telling us about their gardens, talking with us, listening to the peaceful music, the bird song.

“This is their happy place, they often refer to the Nursery as the garden and they know that they can browse about without being hassled by us.”

When Jill said she was ready to close the nursery, Bruce agreed - and both are eager to enjoy something new.

"Neither of us want to look back and think "I wish I did that" so I'm making my first extended break in 26 years for 6 months around Europe with my fiancée, while Mum hopefully enjoys her eighth retirement, and gets this one to stick, because it's well earnt," Bruce says.

"I'm hoping for an active retirement volunteering and continuing a productive and fun lifestyle - but in the meantime everything here is for sale, except me, and I can be borrowed,” Jill smiles.

"We do feel we are leaving a big gap in the local market for gardeners when we close up, in perennials and wider varieties, but we've done our part to make Marlborough a bit more beautiful and that's been a great job we have enjoyed so much.”