A two-hectare slice of Launceston history has sold to a new owner.
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Youngtown Allan's Nursery is expected to eventually become a residential development after selling to a local buyer for $2.4 million.
The wholesale facility will settle on December 1, bringing an end to a business that supplied Tasmanian gardeners with plants and seedlings for 58 years.
"We finish up on the 1st of December so in the meantime there's going to be lots of bargains," founder Bill Allan said.
"We'll probably open part of this to the public, so there should be some healthy gardens this year."
RELATED: Bill Allan - a life in full bloom
Once neighboured by empty farmland, the nursery has become increasingly encompassed by housing.
Selling agent Ian Singline, of Shepherd and Heap, said the property at 77 Victoria Street had attracted both Tasmanian and mainland buyers.
"There was good interest and broadly based," Mr Singline said.
"Most of [the interest] was centring around the land potential in the longer-term - for most of the enquiry interest that was in the foreground."
At its peak, the Allan's brand employed 60 staff across garden centres at Prospect, Youngtown and Rocherlea.
Mr Allan and late wife Noelene built the Youngtown facility from scratch - "all the glasshouses, all the welding, the drainage, the water connections" - and built up a robust customer base including Bunnings and Mitre 10.
"I'll miss the staff," Mr Allan said.
"I'll miss getting the orders out and thinking to myself - 'that's a nice plant'.
"I made the motto that if it's not good enough for my garden it's not good enough to go out, and we've maintained that policy.
"It's going to be hard [retiring] because I've cut my lunch every morning and come over to work for a long period."
The nursery may be selling, but the Allan's legacy will live long into the future.
Allan's Garden Centre Prospect is trading under separate owners and Mr Allan has bred several plants that will stay in seed, including the Allan's Early Red tomato and a pansy called 'Storm Cloud'.
Storm Cloud is also the name of the boat that brought Mr Allan's great-great grandfather and grandmother from Scotland to Tasmania, though they didn't find out until after two years after naming the pansy.
"You wouldn't credit it would you," Mr Allan said.
The flower comes in 13 different colours.
"What's different about this pansy is the stripes through the petals," he said.
"It's absolutely first-class."
Looking back on a 64-year career that has taken him to the US and Europe, Mr Allan said he was proud of being named nurseryman of the year in 1988 and helping raise $42,000 for Rotary through a 3.5 acre flower show.
One thing is for sure - his retirement plans don't include hanging up the gardening gloves.
"I'm going to finish breeding that pansy [improving it]," the 85-year-old said.
"I'm building a little glass house at home."
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