We at Boyd & Boyd Nursery are proud to be fifth generation producers of quality nursery stock in the Nursery Capital of the World, Warren County, Tennessee. John Henry Harrison Boyd started this great endeavor as the result of the illness and death of his cattle, caused by the ingestion of the seed from the Calycantheus Bush, commonly called Sweet Shrub or bubby bush.

 

After extensive studying, JHH Boyd found the Sweet Shrub seed was being used to manufacture medicine. In 1886, the first seed pod order was sold for the sum of $5.00 per bushel, to Emerson Sterns, a botanist and a naturalist writer who specialized in horticulture, from Brooklyn, NY. JHH Boyd started selling the seed and planting the species for resale under the name of JHH Boyd Nurseryman and Seed Collector. Being a self-taught man, learning from others and expanding his selection of plants, his business grew and prospered. By the late 1890's Boy products were being shipped all over the world. As the story goes, he even had a large shipment of nursery stock on the Lusitania ship that was sunk by the Germans on May 7, 1915, during World War I.

 

In the early 1900's, JHH Boyd moved to Irving College, TN, allowing him to be closer to the railroad for shipping. The fields in that area were also better suited for larger fields of quality nursery plants and producing seeds. With the move, the business name changed to Forest Nursery & Seed Company. Forest Nursery, under the direction of JHH Boyd, produced and sold approximately one million seedlings for the restoration of the Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC. These orders were shipped on refrigerated railroad cars to the Biltmore and later across the nation. JHH Boyd personally supervised the planting of  the native seedlings at the Biltmore.

 

JHH Boyd had two sons who kept the growing business successful. JR Boyd, whose interest was in the wholesale business and FC Boyd Sr., who preferred the mail order retail. FC Boyd Sr.'s business became known as Boyd Nursery Company in the Westwood community of McMinnville, TN. Due to growth, the business expanded to the Morrison community in Warren County, where FC "Campbell" Boyd III continues the business today. All eleven of FC Boyd Sr’.s children, along with many other family members, worked at the nursery over the years, including Tallman Boyd, son of FC Boyd, Sr., who eventually founded Flower City Nurseries. Tallman's sons, Ramsey and Joe T., and daughter Martha Eleanor, were instrumental in the growth and traditions of the Boyd family at Flower City. Eventually, in 1988, Ramsey and his son, Tommy, went on to start Boyd & Boyd Nursery at our current location at 7960 Smithville Hwy., McMinnville, TN.

 

We at Boyd & Boyd Nursery are continually striving to produce quality nursery plants the same way previous generations of Boyds have. This quality keeps our loyal customers coming back year after year.

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          Quality is in our Roots!

 

          Sincerely,

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          Thomas “Tommy” Ramsey Boyd, Jr.