Tejas Nursery is opening its newest location in Kingsville; specializing in native plants from South Texas.
The owner, Kimberly Juarez opened her first nursery in 2022. After working at other nurseries over the years, she realized that there aren't any that showcase native plants. That's when she decided to open her own location.
While deciding to open the new location, Juarez said she wanted to also focus on growing milkweed, a food source and host plant for the monarch butterfly, which is the official insect of Texas.
"There isn’t really a lot of access to native milkweed in this area. So it’s going to be a featured item here. Kingsville, Texas is a monarch city USA, so offering the native milkweed, also helps the citizens here, but also the traveling monarchs every year," Juarez said.
Native plants such as milkweed, Texas sage, red yucca, and blue bonnets provide habitats for wildlife and offer benefits to other plants that keep them healthy without chemical fertilizers. They're also great for conserving water and don't require much maintenance.
“They hold up moisture, they can help with erosion control," Juarez said, "They also help the microorganisms that are in the soil retain moisture. So featuring native plants in your yard is going to help your overall garden pretty much.”
Juarez is also opening the Kingsville native plant nursery with help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through their Farm Service Agency,Tejas is on the list of businesses receiving support.
“They’re going to teach us production planning, they’re going to teach us finances," Juarez said. "They’re really there to help first generation farmers, like myself, get into the business."
In a statement, the USDA FSA emphasized their priority on helping local farmers and ranchers in their effort to grow their business and the economy.
"Two of the biggest challenges facing new farmers and ranchers are access to land and access to capital,” said Christina Escobedo, Farm Loan Manager, "Our loans programs offer opportunities for farmers and ranchers to start, improve, expand, transition, market and strengthen family farming and ranching operations."
The nursery will feature a barndominium for the garden center, a pond garden, sitting area for classes and a prairie full of sunflowers and other native plants. Juarez said she also wants to offer educational classes for schools and anyone interested in learning about native plants. The hope is to have it all up and running by this fall.
The Tejas Nursery will be located at W County 2150 in Kingsville.
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