McCorkle Nurseries 

Quality First, Service Always

McCorkle Nurseries, one of the largest wholesale nurseries in the Southeast, encompasses over 840 acres near Dearing, Georgia with 450 developed acres growing container plants.  Employees working in seventy-two propagation houses will prepare 5 million cuttings this year from which the nursery stock is maintained.

Jack, Don, Chris, Beverly and Skeeter, the second and third generations of the McCorkle family, have developed McCorkle Nurseries into one of the largest wholesale nurseries in the southeastern United States.

When C.S. and Avice McCorkle started the family business in 1942 it was as a retail, landscape and growing operation that supplied plants and services to the Augusta area’s post-WWII booming housing market.  In 1977 the second generation, sons Don and Jack, sold the retail side of the business to concentrate on the landscape and growing operations.  Don managed the Landscape Division and under Jack’s supervision the Growing Operation began an expansion of the original five acres.

Today Don’s son Skeetter is CEO of the company while Jack’s son Chris is General Manager of the Luckey’s Bridge and Neil Mill Farms.  Skeetter’s sister, Beverly, is also active in the business maintaining payroll and employee benefits.

The Luckey’s Bridge Farm in Dearing has 300 acres of plants grown in containers ranging from 1-15 gallon in size.  Water for this farm comes from wells and recycled water from the numerous ponds on the property.  As the nurseries expanded, the newest farm, the Neil Mill Farm, down the road from Luckey’s Bridge, was designed especially with water conservation in mind.   This farm is flatter, with little runoff compared to the Luckey’s Bridge Farm.  Space at the Neil Mill Farm was designed to contain run-off on the property and to direct the water into a 160 million gallon water storage pond.  Rain and recycling are the only sources of water for the Neil Mill Farm. 

McCorkle Nurseries, one of the largest wholesale nurseries in the southeast, has an average of 4.5 million plants in containers on the ground.

Hundreds of acres of underground pipes and watering systems manage the millions of gallons of water from the wells and ponds that are pumped each day on all of the farms.  Skeetter and Jack consider water as a precious resource and it is carefully recycled and monitored.   Skeetter says, “Farm Credit has been a helpful partner through all the expansion of our infrastructure.”

The nursery farm projects an average of 4.5 million plants in containers on the ground next year.  Their customer base includes 2,500 nurseries, garden centers, landscape contractors, landscape architects and commercial plant users throughout a seven-state area in the southeast.  Plants are also shipped as far as Oregon.

Propagation of nursery stock begins in the 72 propagation houses where plants are started from vegetative cuttings.  Once the plants have taken root and established themselves for a year the containers are moved to the field for final grow-out before being taken to the market place.  Over 5 million cuttings will be planted this year, with an average of 70,000 per propagation house.

Propagation of nusery stock begins in one of the 72 propagation houses where plants are started from vegetative cuttings.

Once the containerized plants are ready to go to the market they are brought to the staging area and loaded onto trucks.  During the peak season an average of 25 semi-tractor trailer loads of plants a day are shipped to customers; the nursery has been known to ship 30 loads in a day when demand is especially high.  There are two principal means of shipping.  One is the rolling racks; container plants are placed on the wheeled racks, the racks are loaded onto the trucks and taken to the customer where the racks are removed and the plants sold directly from the racks without having to be moved again by the retailer.  Less common is the McStack system of metal pallets that are loaded with containerized plants and stacked on the trucks for shipment.

During the peak season an average of 25 semi-tractor-trailer loads of plants a day are shipped from McCorkle Nurseries to customers.

Specializing in woody plants (shrubs) and some flowering plants, such as gardenias, roses and hydrangeas, McCorkle Nursery takes an innovative approach to the nursery business.  The family contacted the University of Georgia in 1996 about the possibility of creating a unique research facility based on grower needs and conducted under commercial growing conditions.  In 1997 the Center for Applied Nursery Research was launched on a site next to the nursery in Dearing, Georgia.  The facilities include four greenhouses, two weather monitoring systems, a graveled container pad, a pot-in-pot site and research and administration building.

The mission of the Center for Applied Nursery Research is to:

• Provide a managed facility and funding for ornamental horticulture research based on grower needs and conducted under commercial growing conditions
• Generate information to keep growers in Georgia and the Southeast on the forefront of new ornamental plant breeding, evaluation and introduction, as well as, new nursery production techniques
• Provide a forum for the sharing of research results with the ornamental horticulture industry

Dr. Michael Dirr, one of the leading horticulturists in the world, shows Skeeter McCorkle one of the many plant varieties being developed at the Center for Applied Nursery Research.  McCorkle Nurseries, as well as many other nurseries in Georgia and the Southeast, are able to use the invaluable research that comes from the center.

Research projects at the research center focus on agricultural engineering, environment and plant microclimate monitoring, entomology, plant pathology, and soil science.  Dr. Michael Dirr, acknowledged as one of the leading horticulturists and plant breeders in the world, has worked at the research center and closely with the McCorkle family to develop new varieties of plants that exhibit certain characteristics that make them more desirable and viable in gardens, particularly in the southeastern U.S.  Plants at the center are evaluated to determine which are best in disease resistance, prolific blooms, beautiful foliage and form.

The Razzle Dazzle™ dwarf crapemyrtles are an exciting new series of crapemyrtles developed by Dr. Dirr.  As the first series within McCorkle Nurseries’ Gardener’s Confidence™ Collection, Razzle Dazzle™ dwarf crapemyrtles have been developed with the trustworthy attributes of easy care and mildew resistance, as well as exceptional color and compact build.  The series contains selections offering vibrant white, pink and red colored blooms. 

The Razzle Dazzle crape myrtle series, developed by Dr. Michael Dirr at the Center for Applied Nursery Research, marketed by McCorkle Nurseries, will debut in garden centers in the spring of 2006.

The “Lady in Red” Hydrangea is another new variety of an old garden favorite that was introduced to the market by McCorkle Nurseries this past spring.  The “Lady in Red” hydrangea provides stunning color interest from spring into autumn.  After producing summer blooms of pink or blue that mature to a lush burgundy rose, when temperatures begin to cool, the “Lady in Red” hydrangea once again draws attention to the garden with its striking color of luxurious reddish purple foliage with distinctive red veins and stems, which add interest to the fall garden palette. 

As McCorkle Nurseries continues to be run by family members who operate by Christian principles and make a consistent effort to plan for the future, gardeners everywhere look forward to many years of delightful new varieties of plants for their gardening pleasure.