About

Meet the Founder

If you had asked me a few years ago whether I'd one day own a rose nursery, I probably would have laughed.

Like many people, I thought roses were beautiful... but fussy. The kind of plant that demanded endless spraying, pruning, and attention. They just didn't seem like my kind of plant.

Then life took us in a different direction.

In 2024, our family traded square footage for acreage moving from a 2,600-square-foot home for a cozy 1,000-square-foot home on 30 acres in Oxford, North Carolina. It wasn't exactly the picture-perfect move you see on television. We inherited plenty of clay soil, a long to-do list, and more ambition than experience - but we were excited to build something from the ground up.

Our first adventure wasn't roses at all.

It was peonies.

Drawn to their oversized, ruffled blooms, we planted more than 300 peonies with dreams of creating a U-pick flower field and growing beautiful cut flowers. Along the way, we learned a lot—about weather, patience, and the fact that farming has a funny way of keeping you humble. While we loved the beauty of peonies, we found ourselves wishing for something that could bring that same romantic feeling to the garden for more than just a few weeks each spring.

That's when I looked over at three rose bushes I'd planted a couple of years earlier.

While everything else seemed to be testing my resolve, those three roses were absolutely covered in blooms. They were thriving in our stubborn clay soil with far less fuss than I ever expected. I started researching, and it didn't take long to realize something surprising:

I hadn't disliked roses.

I'd just never met the right ones.

There was an entire world beyond the traditional roses I had imagined—English roses with deep, ruffled cups, old-fashioned blooms, incredible fragrance, and varieties selected for health, resilience, and repeat flowering. Before long, I found myself driving home with fifty roses in the back of my truck, convinced I had everything figured out.

The roses had other plans.

First came the windburn. Then transplant shock. Just when they looked like they might recover, I managed to burn most of the leaves off with a fertilizer mixture that was... let's just say a little more enthusiastic than necessary.

Somehow, they forgave me.

I've learned a lot since then. Chief among those lessons? Roses are far more resilient than their reputation suggests, and sometimes the best thing you can do is simply leave them alone. Less really is more. Looking back, I'm convinced my roses eventually decided it was easier to put up with me than to keep trying to die.

Those experiences became the foundation of The Rose Cove.

We created this nursery to help others discover the roses we wish we'd known about years ago - beautiful and resilient. Alongside our roses, we've partnered with local growers to offer carefully selected companion plants that help create gardens filled with beauty from spring through fall.

Our mission is simple: premium roses, fair pricing, practical guidance, convenient local delivery, and a genuine commitment to supporting fellow small businesses and growers.

Most of all, we hope to replace hesitation with confidence.

Because every experienced gardener was once a beginner, every thriving garden started with a single plant, and sometimes all it takes is one rose to change your mind.

This is our rose story.