General News
10 July, 2026
End of an era for Carramar
Carramar Nursery owners David and Jenny Schuppan have retired finishing 37 years at the helm of the business.
Longtime Carramar Nursery owners David and Jenny Schuppan have closed their doors for the last time after almost four decades in business.
The Derby Road nursery closed on June 19, despite the couple’s best efforts to sell the business, ahead of their retirement.
It’s the end of 37 years of long-hours, hard work, and sometimes difficult years for the couple.
Mrs Schuppan said, while they loved the customers, she felt it was time to retire.
The couple hope to do some travel, focus on their own garden, and pursue hobbies that interest them.
“We’re relishing these sleep ins I tell you,” she said.
The couple put down roots in Maryborough in the late 1980s after running a landscaping business and small nursery in Melbourne’s Williamstown.
The allure of no commute, particularly with two young kids, saw the couple buy the existing Carramar Nature Plant Nursery.
They’d go on to transform the business as a team.
“We had to do a lot of work but we didn’t have a lot of money,” Mrs Schuppan said.
Over the years the couple redesigned the nursery, put down paving, and built a fernery and showroom.
They also expanded the range from tubestock and natives to include a wide range of seedlings and plants.
Meanwhile they had to navigate small town life as the new face on the block.
“You had to doubly earn their trust ... because you weren’t born and bred here,” Mrs Schuppan said.
Yet, almost four decades on, the couple’s contributions can be seen throughout the community.
Alongside the nursery Mr Schuppan has led landscaping and irrigation projects for the Central Goldfields Shire Council, Maryborough Education Centre, Highview College, and many more local organisations.
While he may be too humble to admit it, Mrs Schuppan said he was a skilled tradesman.
“We had a brilliant business,” she said.
It’s a success story which was threatened in the 2000s with the millenium drought.
“The drought hit and we lost everything ,” Mrs Schuppan said.
Practically their entire stock died, alongside that of their competitors, many of whom were forced to close.
“It was a horrible time. You just had to get back up, dust yourself down, and get back on with it,” she said.
“Otherwise it would have killed you.”
Mrs Schuppan said recently, with increasing costs, business felt as difficult as it did back then.
“We both worked bloody hard and then it just got more as we got older and we thought we need to retire,” she said.
While the couple can look back on their efforts with pride it’s the customers that stand out to Mrs Schuppan.
“The best part of our business were our customers. Over the many years we have met some wonderful people who have become great friends,” she said.