A different type of garden centre
County yet, it is quickly becoming well known for the wines and the farm-to-table culture that the upscale restaurants provide. In 2017, more than one million tourists came to the county looking for a rural experience. I am building on this momentum with the products and the plants I am carrying in my space.
A few years ago, I invested in an heirloom seed company with the thoughts that I would one day figure out a way to sell rare vegetable plants and herbs to home and condo owners looking for healthy ways to add flavour to their diets. On one of my recent media tours, I found a self-watering planter that lets me do just that. So instead of hostas, boxwoods and the traditional garden centre plants, I am providing gardens-to-go, with things like 1,000-year-old pink peas from Egypt and basil from Tanzania. Visitors can pick what plants they’d like in their planters and we will pot them up while they wait.
In addition to plants, I wanted to sell tools. Now, I have gone through a lot of gardening tools in my time, and I’ve gotten to the stage where I am starting to pay more for tools that I think will last longer. I have gone through so many pairs of pruners that I wanted something that would last. With that in mind, I went on a global hunt for tools that are built to endure and I found some that I want to share with my customers. I am bringing in pruners from Japan. The Japanese have taken blades to a different level with their love of gardening, bonsai and precision pruning. From the Netherlands, I have unique weeders, shovels and implements that have a different design than what were are used to in Canada. I also found a smith locally who hand forges shovels, hoes and rakes.
I addition to plants and tools, I am carrying books, planters and more than 450 varieties of seeds from across the country. I want to have a little destination space that gardeners come to just because they love to garden and want to treat themselves to something special.
Hopefully in 2019, you’ll come and say hello, too.