July 7, 1983
Supplement to the Cheney Free Press
Alan and Rosemary Courtright opened Country Garden Nursery in April 1975 on land along the Cheney-Spokane Road, one mile from Cheney Plaza.
They began with a 50 foot by 70 foot sales area, but as the business prospered, the Courtrights expanded. In summer 1977, they sold drip irrigation and supplies and offered pruning services and landscape consulting.
In March 1979, Country Garden Nursery started offering trees and shrubs and doubled their sales area. By now, the business featured more than 200 plant varieties.
The Courtrights kept adding new items so that by April 1982 they had opened an evergreen sales area, converted a rock garden display to a pond and started selling beauty bark.
When the business opened in April 1983, it featured an expanded shade tree display, sales area and terrace for special plants. In addition, the business had grown large enough to include 35 varieties of fruit and nut trees and more than 100 varieties of evergreens, plus perennial ground covers, ornamental trees and shrubs.