Horticulture and High Water

Ornamental nursery growers in western North Carolina, an industry hot spot, are persevering in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

BRADFORD MCKEE

In several videos Robert Stine made of his nursery in Fletcher, North Carolina, on September 27, the windshield wipers slice away rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. All around his stranded Toyota van, brown water roils through the nursery, Botanical Treasures, where he grew more than 300 perennial varieties for wholesale. In videos recorded around 8:00 a.m., countless plants in black plastic pots churn in the water toward Stine from the direction of hooped greenhouse frames. An hour later another video shows more water coming, and no more pots. The flood swamped Stine’s six tractors, his Sprinter, his pickup truck, and his workshop. When the water receded, most remaining plants lay stuck around some obstacle or other. Hundreds of thousands of plants were gone. “We’ve lost a minimum $2.3…

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Landscape Architecture (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2025

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