Locally Rooted: Our Story
Kerby’s Nursery began as a backyard hobby. Founded in 1980 by Larry and Vicki Kerby, it was really Larry’s parents, Ruth and Mabry Kerby, that started it all. They loved to garden, maintained a large vegetable plot at home in Seminole Heights, and were always making cuttings of a variety of plants in their backyard. Even as she approached 100 years old, Great-Grandma Kerby would still call us at the nursery to bring her fresh pots and buckets of potting soil. Her driveway was always lined with plants that she grew from cuttings.
Through the 80s and 90s, as the community grew, so did the nursery. In 1999, Larry and Vicki’s oldest daughter, Kim, decided that although she’d gone to school for international business, she wanted to work in the family profession. She came in and immediately started making changes. She told dad that he couldn’t do his cuttings in the main customer area, and she started to bring in new plants and pottery to expand the nursery’s product offerings.
As if one radical career change wasn’t enough, upon finishing graduate school at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2005, Kim’s husband, Joey, decided that he too wanted to be a part of Kerby’s Nursery. Taking over from Larry that year, the nursery has grown over the last 15-plus years into the place that you are experiencing today.
From a passion that began two generations back with Ruth and Mabry, to Larry and Vicki creating a family business, to the present with Kim and Joey’s expansion and vision for the future, Kerby’s Nursery has inspired countless families and individuals in the Tampa Bay community to get their nature fix through a life lived outside in the garden, indoor plant parenting, or both. And the Kerby’s legacy continues to pay it forward: the fourth generation of Kerby’s family members, Abby and Maddy (Kim and Joey’s daughters), serve as enthusiastic helpers at the nursery and are avid gardeners alongside dad and mom.
We invite you to join us in growing health and happiness in your gardens and homes. Plant love is best enjoyed when shared – we look forward to partnering with you!
Anybody can sell you plants, we make sure you succeed.