Riverdene Garden Centre opens under new ownership
The Riverdene Garden Centre has begun a new growing season under new ownership.
The greenhouse opened their doors on May 1 with new owners Ashton Redden and Jennifer Speir at the helm. The ownership duo held a special ribbon cutting ceremony on May 4 to recognize the beginning of their new endeavour.
“It just kind of fell into our laps. We were out shopping and realized it was for sale. We were both kind of looking for a change, and it just all worked out,” Redden said after last Tuesday’s ribbon cutting.
The duo had a busy 2021 in advance of their May 1 first day opening. Their work started back in August of 2020 when they ordered all their plants and trees for this spring. That extra effort continued through pre-planning and organizing throughout the past year. It was mid February of this year they turned on the furnaces at the greenhouse, and they started their seedlings the last week of February.
“We have tried to keep the same kind of plants that people have known and come here for, and then we’ve added a few of our new favourites this year. So there’s a few new things for people to come check out, but we still do have the old favourites here too,” Redden noted.
Some of their big sellers this year have included Bubblegum petunias, the Vermillionaire firecracker plant, and stocks of many of their grasses were pretty low after just a week of operations.
Staff Sgt. Gordon had a chance to attend the council meeting during his first day on the job to provide a brief introduction.
Staff Sgt. Gordon is a 17-year RCMP member has previously worked in general duty policing, The greenhouse dates major crimes, aboriginal policing, and most recently in a supervisory/ management position during postings in Fort Nelson, BC, Prince George, BC, Kamsack as well as the last nine years in Morse.
“I feel that my background back to 1954, and since 1986 it had been operated will afford me good experience for the position of your detachment commander,” Staff Sgt. Evan Gordon said during last Tuesday’s introduction.
His wife Elizabeth is an education assistant at Herbert School, and by Sherman and Doreen Lyngstad. his children Addison, 13, and Reid, 11, will finish the year at Herbert School before relocating to Swift Current.
“I don’t think we could have found a better corner of the province than this Southwest corner,” he added.