Green thumb destination

BIANCA Rothacker’s Bridgewater

Nursery is topping the bucket list of gardeners across Victoria for quality plants, shrubs, trees and ornaments.

The destination nursery has seen Bianca move from owning a wholesale nursery to specialising in selling direct to the public from the historic 19th century prefabricated garage on Main Street.

“We have a lot of people come from Boort, Kerang, Maryborough ... they make the day-trip to visit the nursery, enjoy snacks from the bakery, a coffee and walk along the river,” she said.

“They have Bridgewater Nursery on their must-visit list of nurseries and always tell us that our prices are amazing - they are close to wholesale - and they can find quality plants, shrubs, seasonal vegetables and trees.

“Our stocks are locally-grown and acclimatised and that is so important for gardeners,” said Bianca who has been in the horticulture industry for more than 20 years.

Bianca’s Bridgewater “destination” dream almost went in another direction. Soon to start a family, Bianca was phasing out of the wholesale business and had bought the iconic Bridgewater main street property.

“At first, we were thinking of turning the house into an AirBnB,” she said.

“We had plants still to sell and just opened the doors of the old garageliterally a pop-up garden garage sale.

“The response was so good the AirBnB destination accommodation dream was quickly cast aside to create a destination nursery.”

New customers are amazed when travelling rural and regional Victoria to discover Bridgewater Nursery with such quality stock and equally fascinated with the heritage building.

Generations of Loddon residents knew the corrugated iron building on Bridgewater’s main street as the local garage until three years ago when the National Trust classified building became the town’s nursery attracting greenthumbs.

Some believe the building was a church but historians have been unable to bed down that theory.

“The corrugated iron building that I’ve transformed into a great destination nursery is always a talking point when people come in for the first time ... and the second and the third,” Bianca said. “And it makes a wonderful setting for the front of the nursery that now stretches to the back of the block, full of trees, shrubs, ornaments and plants ready to put extra colour and vitality into gardens.

“I guess that’s why the nursery is as synonymous with Bridgewater as the river and vanilla slices - our customers keep coming back and telling their friends they must make a visit.”