Website/Catalog published 1860.

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This nursery was ("near Angaston"), South Australia

From the book by Geoffrey B. Saegenschnitter. Keyneton 1839-1980
EVANDALE NURSERY

Mr. Henry Evans extended his horticultural interests at Evandale and established a Nursery in 1858 for primarily the propagation of vines and trees. He employed Mr. John Frederick Wood "a gentleman of great horticultural experience and knowledge" to be his full time Nurseryman. By 1862 the Nursery covered an area of ten acres and, during the previous year, Mr. Wood was reported to have budded in excess of 100,000 plants. That total comprised fruit trees, roses, floriculture, many ornamental trees and shrubs and about 80,000 vines. A hot house 40 ft. long by 8 ft. wide was used mainly to raise seedlings.
Mr. Wood also experimented with vine trellising to compare results with the then standard method of individually staking vines. It was found that the vine trellis promoted a much neater vineyard and significantly increased the yield of grapes. Henry Evans had a keen sense of judgment and foresight to enhance the natural beauty of his estate when planning its layout. He took equal pride in the ornamental as well as the commercial layout of the property. The roads and walkways were lined with evergreen borders and hedges. Beds of rare plants and flowers were established around the house. Many different types of pines, cyprusses [sic] and other ornamental trees were planted in the garden. Most of this development was supervised by Mr. Wood, and the physical maintenance of the garden, roads, paths, hedges etc. was carried out by other gardeners employed at Evandale.
Amongst the more exotic plants grown or propagated at the Nursery were the purple leafed Sycamore, Siberian Elm, an evergreen shrub called Escalonia Flora Bunda resembling the white lilac in appearance and "Stuart's Grape Seed", specimens of which were brought from the interior of Australia by the explorer Stuart. Nursery stock was sold to the public from Evandale and at various distribution points particularly during the winter months when vines and fruit trees were dormant.

The following advertisement appeared in the Kapunda Herald in 1866: —
"EVANDALE NURSERIES —ASSORTMENTS of FRUIT and ORNA­MENTAL TREES and SHRUBS, and VINES of Best Varieties, will be sent to Kapunda from the Evandale Nurseries on SATURDAYS, the 23rd and 30th June, and on every Saturday during the month of July. Orders addressed to the Proprietor, Mr. HENRY EVANS, at the Nurseries, or given to his man in Kapunda, will be promptly attended to.
N.B. — No person has been authorised (except Mr. Evans' own man) to take orders, or receive moneys on his account".

In later years the Nursery was phased out as an area for the propagation of new plants and instead was planned and laid out with trees, shrubs, walkways etc. A tennis court was built within its bounds and, for many years, the Nursery was a popular site for picnics and other recreational functions. Today a number of elderly citizens can still recall their work experience at Evandale being employed either in the orchard, apple factory, garden or Nursery. Many hours of labour were expended each year in trimming hedges and shrubs, clearing walkways of weeds, hand digging the large garden at Evandale and general maintenance in the Nursery. During the past 40-50 years, however, the Nursery