Nursery Place

In 1899 a 30 year old James Duncan purchased 7 acres of land in Westown to form the J. R. Duncan Exotic Nursery. This encompassed land on either side of Wallath Road and bordering Tukapa Street (then known as the Eliot Rd.) Thus began the fabulous story of the development of the Duncan and Davies Nursery.

Not long after, a young man by the name of Victor Davies was apprenticed to the firm. A formal apprenticeship agreement was signed in December 1905. Victor completed his apprenticeship in December 1908.

Then in 1910 the young Victor signed a partnership agreement with James and cemented the name of Duncan and Davies which was to become a dominant player in the nursery world both here in New Zealand and in many other countries.

Nursery Lane was named in 1981 and it is recorded in the council records that it was..."To preserve the memory of Duncan and Davies Ltd. whose headquarters were once part of this area."  Today there is no part of the nursery still in this area, so it really is a marker to the flourishing business that was part of so many people's lives for nearly a century in the area.

Alan Jellyman has published a superb history of the company titled "The growing World of Duncan and Davies a horticultural history 1899-2010". In it he recalls the land near the Davies' family home of Mairehau being subdivided and the naming of the cul-de-sac Nursery Place. A project between the New Plymouth District Council and a local Rotary club had a bronze plaque installed and unveiled in 1995 on the traffic island there. On it you can see the extent of the land devoted to the nursery in Westown.

In 2006 the nursery, now well-established out in Brixton, was purchased by a nearby company, Stepping Stones Nursery Ltd. They retained the rights to the Duncan and Davies name, ensuring it's fine reputation was not lost to the horticultural world.         

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.