History

Wombine Wholesale Nursery was opened by Kurt and Susi Jahnel in 1984. In 2004 Susi sold it to Ross and Debbie Peters in partnership with Debbie’s brother, James Diprose and his wife Rosemary Diprose. Subsequent to this, James and Rose sold their half to Ross and Debbie in 2006. Kurt’s specialty, in terms of growing, was cyclamens for which he built a state of the art glasshouse and it is still being used today. Due to the harsh climate in Cowra, cyclamens are no longer grown at Wombine. Kurt and Susi grew a large range of potted colour, flower and vegetable seedlings, and herbs, which were wholesaled to retail nurseries across western and southern NSW. This range of plants continue to be grown and wholesaled today but the range was extended to include a wide variety of perennial shrubs during 2007. In 2008 Ross and Debbie opened a retail outlet at the nursery site.

Ross and Debbie moved to Cowra to manage Wombine Nursery in early 2012. They previously owned and operated two very successful Companies which provided food safety auditing and training services over a period of 25 years, and are well known in the food industry in Australia and New Zealand, and across the world, for their pioneering work and expertise in this field. Debbie was born in Grenfell where her parents still reside, hence her affiliation with the Cowra region. Sadly, Ross passed away suddenly in mid December 2012.

Debbie and her team of staff continue to operate the nursery which has the capacity to grow approximately 2.5million plants per annum. It is situated on 4.5 hectares on the outskirts of Cowra and has not only a glasshouse, but a large cathedral style house, five small igloos, a large igloo, and a large shadehouse. The vast range of plants grown Wombine are hardened off to suit the harsh climate west of the Dividing Range. The nursery also has a number other structures used to service growing of plants including a large potting shed, a seeding shed, a workshop and an office. Unique to this nursery (to Australia) are some of the irrigation systems and the glasshouse heating system used in winter.

The nursery wholesales plants throughout the Central West, South West Slopes, Central and Southern Tablelands and the ACT.