A passion for plants since 1932

1931–1932

Small beginnings in Tapanui

Stanley R. Hughes founded Blue Mountain Nurseries in 1931–32. He had arrived in New Zealand in 1924 after attending agricultural college in England. The nursery initially grew vegetables for local people, but Stanley’s first love was ornamental plants: bulbs, perennials, alpines, trees and shrubs.

With the support of his wife Elizabeth, whom he married in 1935, Stanley built a business around that passion. Their children John, Denis and Judith all helped at the nursery during their teenage years and beyond.

A collector and plant breeder, Stanley became known for rare and unusual plants. Gardeners travelled from around New Zealand to visit his collections. He belonged to national and international horticultural societies and was a fellow and life member of Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society.

Cut flowers and floristry were also part of the business from the 1930s. Stanley’s brother Ernest, based at Millers Flat in Central Otago, shared his interest in bulbs and plant breeding. Ernest’s Narcissus selections later became part of the Blue Mountain Gardens bulb range.

From 1966

The family business grows

John and his wife Irma, and Denis and his wife Margaret, developed their own interests as the family business expanded. John established Blue Mountain Gardens, concentrating on bulbs, perennials and cut flowers on his farm, formerly owned by A. J. S. Winslade.

Denis and Margaret developed the trees, shrubs and retail nursery, retaining the Blue Mountain Nurseries name. Stanley and Elizabeth continued the floristry business until Stanley’s death in 1976.

Blue Mountain Gardens supplied bulbs by mail order and through wholesale outlets. Mechanisation allowed its bulb harvester to lift up to 10 tonnes a day. Tulips, daffodils and iris were grown as cut flowers, with cool storage and greenhouse forcing extending the tulip season. Weekly cut-flower production grew from around 80 cartons in the 1970s to peaks of 400 cartons in the 1990s. John and Irma retired in 2004, when Blue Mountain Gardens closed.

A continuing passion

Plants with a Blue Mountain story

Denis and Margaret’s enthusiasm for collecting and breeding plants has shaped the nursery’s distinctive range. Rhododendrons became a particular passion: Denis produced the first plants of Rhododendron ‘Crest’ in New Zealand, while Margaret bred ‘City of Dunedin’, the feature plant for Dunedin’s 150th anniversary.

The Blue Mountain deciduous azaleas, Agapanthus ‘Blue Mountain’ and many other introductions reflect this long interest in finding and developing plants for the garden.

That family connection continues into a third generation, with Chris and the nursery team carrying the business forward from its home in Tapanui.