News Heritage Blooms at Little Mountain Growers

Heritage Blooms at Little Mountain Growers

Heritage Blooms at Little Mountain Growers
February 4, 2025 |

By Marlee Jackson

With just a glance, it’s easy to understand David Funderburk’s fascination with Alabama’s state flower.

Unfurled petals in shades of pink, red and white pop amid glossy green leaves at his family’s Little Mountain Growers nursery in Elmore County. Delicate buds are filled with the promise of more midwinter beauty.

“Camellias are a traditional, Southern plant,” David said. “I just enjoy watching them grow. My mom was the same way. She had an affinity for camellias and taught me the varieties.”

Those lessons included the difference in winter-blooming Camellia japonica like pale pink, frilly Debutante versus fall-flowering Camellia sasanqua such as single-layered, orange-red Yuletide.

Both are among the scores of stunning Southern perennials, shrubs, trees and groundcover the Funderburk family propagates at Little Mountain Growers. The plants are destined to dot landscapes in central Alabama, thanks to wholesale business relationships cultivated over nearly 40 years with landscapers, garden retail centers and construction companies that service nearby communities.

“We had no idea of the housing boom to come in Pike Road, Auburn, the lake,” said David’s wife, Leah. “Right now, we’re in the perfect spot.”

Family Roots

Despite a common misconception, the Little Mountain Growers name predates its location nestled in the hills of the Emerald Mountain community. The moniker instead pays homage to the nursery’s Clay County origin in the shadow of Alabama’s tallest peak.

“We could see Cheaha from our (original) place,” David said. “So we were the little mountain.”

David’s parents, Robert and Bettye, began the business as a hobby Christmas tree farm on family land in 1982. The family’s green thumb quickly grew, and container-grown azaleas soon became their signature offering.

Fast forward to 1988. The Funderburks had moved operations south to property flush with high-quality water and a more accessible customer base. Business was blossoming, though Leah and David still juggled respective day jobs as a nurse and buyer for Gayfer’s department stores while assisting the elder Funderburks.

A crossroads came when Bettye was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and Robert contemplated closing the nursery.

“We talked about it and did a lot of praying and decided the Lord was going to lead us to do this full time,” said David, a humble man of deep faith. “God has directed our paths all the way through. You can look back and see it, but you can’t look forward and see it.”

New Growth

The following decades brought growth as Little Mountain Growers opened two retail garden centers in Montgomery. David and Leah leaned into the “family” aspect of their business, nurturing daughters Jayne and Joy to enjoy nature and life on the nursery.

The girls transformed from tiny tykes helping pack customers’ cars with their trademark azaleas to teens unloading pine straw. They stayed true to their roots at Auburn University, honing horticulture skills under the tutelage of family friends and industry leaders such as Harry Ponder, Jeff Sibley and Dave Williams.

Like a plant pruned to encourage new growth, David and Leah sold the retail centers in 2014. They refocused on their wholesale business and are now teaching the ropes to Joy, who joined the nursery full time in 2020.

She’s learning careful lessons from David, whose sharp instinct and sales background pinpoint market trends and inventory needs. Little Mountain Growers manages over 200 sizes and species of plants grouped on shaded growing pads; in greenhouses; or in open sunlight — though what’s not in stock may be just as significant.

Take barberry, a thorny, deciduous plant with red or yellow foliage that was a popular landscape pick — until it wasn’t.

“Loropetalum stuck its nose out there,” said David, referencing the now-popular, sun-loving shrub with purple foliage and vibrant, fringed flowers. “As soon as I saw loropetalum, I thought, ‘This is going to kill (demand for) barberry.’”

Plant People

The tight-knit, fun-loving Funderburks maintain David isn’t a nurseryman; he’s a plantsman who loves to watch God’s creation grow.

“Growing plants gets in your blood,” David said. “You either like it or hate it.”

“It’s genetic,” Joy quipped.

David agreed, “Once you start, you can’t quit.” 

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