Taylor, who started the Napier-based nursery in 2005 on 0.4ha of Landcorp land near Hawkes' Bay Airport, said she was "excited" about receiving the accolade.
"Being a part of the awards enabled me to tell my native plant story to a national audience. It was also great to meet other inspiring rural women and hear of their stories of business success and I am still in shock at my win."
It was the second time she entered the awards.
"I had entered the competition back in 2015 winning the Love of the Land section for the first time, but my business financials weren't as good then. Former Rural Women NZ president Wendy McGowan encouraged me to enter again when my accounts looked better, and I took her advice."
Taylor said she started the nursery after getting divorced.
"That freed up time, energy and money to establish the business. I had been growing eco-sourced plants for the restoration of the lifestyle block I was living on at Bayview, and people had started buying my spare plants - and there seemed to be a gap in the market for eco-sourced plants and someone who could help customers with advice about planting projects.
"I had been working for the QEII National Trust as the Hawke's Bay regional rep, and that gave me a good working knowledge of plants and their distribution across the landscape. I also had a good network of rural customers across the bay because of my work with the Trust and as a rural journalist
She also wrote a cook book featuring her mother's recipes.
