The May long weekend typically signals the start of gardening season.
But if the holiday weather — or anything else — prevented you from getting out into your yard last weekend, don’t worry; your procrastination is about to pay off.
Global News Weekend Morning’s regular feature #YYC5 found five of Calgary’s favourite spots to get all your gardening goods that will help get you going on creating your dream yard.
Spruce it Up Garden Centre really lives up to its name and then some.
In addition to a seemingly endless offering of annuals, perennials and tropicals, Spruce offers tree pruning and landscaping services with separate divisions dedicated to each service.
Whether you want to spruce up your indoor living space or outdoor one, Spruce also offers home décor suitable for all seasons.
The aptly named Green Gate Garden Centres is all about being green — and we’re not just talking plants.
For over 20 years, Green Gate has provided gardeners with expert advice and top-quality products while using 100 per cent green energy to power the retractable roofs and in-floor heating in their innovative greenhouse.
Green Gate also has a track history of giving back to the community.
They’ve donated hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of plants throughout the years, and have also provided ongoing support to several local non-profits, including the Calgary Food Bank and the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
READ MORE: Calgary seniors team up with students to spring into planting season
Watch below: (From May 21, 2019) The chilly weather certainly put a damper on the traditional May long weekend kickoff to the gardening season in southern Alberta. But as Gil Tucker shows us, spring planting is already well underway for some Calgarians, with two quite different groups of gardeners finding some great common ground.
You’ll find the sweet smell of success just south of the city at Garden Scents Garden Centre.
Owners Wade and Candace Lester turned their dream into reality in 2012 when they opened Garden Scents.
With two greenhouses and a yard full of high-quality trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, garden décor, tools and accessories, Garden Scents strives to provide its customers with everything they need to make their own gardening dreams come true.
For its 50th birthday in 2017, Golden Acre turned over a new leaf, so to speak.
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The northeast greenhouse rebranded and re-emerged as Golden Acre Home & Garden. The new moniker properly reflecting and reinforcing its image as a gardening destination within Calgary.
In addition to the expansive offering of products, including plants, flowers, gardening accessories and outdoor furniture, Golden Acre is also a start-to-finish design company.
So if you can dream it, they can plant and build it!
You can also learn how they do what they do through any of the workshops and seminars offered on-site.
From gardening gurus to wannabe green thumbs and everyone else in between, Plantation Garden Centre wants to inspire and help make all those gardening goals and dreams happen.
“Being a small place, we can be on the edge of trends all the time,” Plantation owner Colin Atter said.
“Our manager, she will go off to Europe and she’s looking for the latest, greatest, most brand new, crazy plants and we’ve got them first.”
Sitting in what was once an old gas station in the city’s northwest, Plantation opened its doors almost two decades ago.
“I happened to just be walking down the street and I saw a for rent sign in the building, and I thought that might be a good opportunity for a garden centre,” said Atter, who along with wife Dianne took the leap 18 years ago and never looked back.
“So we just wracked up a Visa and just started really, really slow and small and just built it up and it was a success right from Day 1.”
Atter says a strong focus on customer service and meeting the needs of all who walk through their gates have been the keys to their long-term success.
“We’ve got people who can talk to other experts — who want to talk about plants lots, we have those staff here, we also have beginner staff,” said Atter, who has 30 employees working at his business.
“We don’t want to intimidate people that come in. We’re not just going to talk Latin to you and tell you how much we know. We want you to be successful.”
Endnote: #YYC5 will next be looking at the best spots in Calgary for guys to go to for a little pampering. So whether it’s a shave and a haircut, a masculine mani or a facial fit for a dude, we want to know where to send the men in our lives for a little TLC. Father’s Day is just around the corner after all!
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