This project was funded exclusively through a TVA grant funding program.

If you are ever in need of any type of plant, come to Cold Mountain Nursery, owned and operated by Josh, Tracy, Phyllis, and Steve Sorrells. This family farm grows over 2000 different varieties of plants including flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and beautiful hanging baskets. This operation all started on a smaller scale back in the 1960’s when Steve, former horticulture instructor at HCC began growing various types of trees. When his son Josh graduated from NC State University with a degree in horticulture, he began building what is now Cold Mountain Nursery.

The nursery originally just sold wholesale to various agricultural businesses in the area but soon became a favorite among locals. Now, Cold Mountain Nursery sells to not only businesses but to the public as well. For a few years, the Sorrell’s started to realize a need for new heaters in their greenhouses, especially the ones used for starting plants. The original heaters would not move enough heat to the back of the greenhouses, causing the plants to die or become low quality.

In 2016, a $6,000 grant was given to the Sorrells family by Southwestern NC RC&D Council to replace the old heaters with new ones that had the ability to move heat to the backs of the green houses as well as retain the heat level inside the greenhouses. “Working these greenhouses is a lot of work,” said Steve when being interviewed about how this projected helped him and his family business, “These heaters have made our plants even better quality and has brought us great success in the short time we have had them.”