David and Sara Loewen are from Ontario, Canada, so snow on the ground through the spring planting is nothing new.
Low temperatures and a lingering snowfall don’t bother them in the least.
In fact, Loewen Greenhouses and Landscaping on the South Thorp Highway soon will have its first growing season, starting with seeds in the ground in February.
“We have two 30-by-96-foot greenhouses with double polyene, insulation with gas heat. We will be doing our seeding and planting here pretty soon,” manager Sara Loewen said. “We grow about 50% from seed and about 50% from vegetated cutting.
“We’ll be the first local greenhouse growing all of our plants (annuals and perennials) from seed and vegetative cuttings or bare root.”
All the plant material is carefully germinated from seed or grown from vegetative cuttings or bare root. Loewen Greenhouses and Landscaping designs and plants its own planters and hanging baskets.
“We’ll continue to improve our inventory and try to have a good variety of things that are good for the climate here and our growing zone and our soil types for gardeners,” she said. “We’re gardeners ourselves, so we test varieties that we grow to make sure that we like them when it comes to what kind of tomatoes and peppers that we sell.
“When we had our garden center in Ontario, Canada, we would do school tours, workshops on growing and making planters and mini gardens, and we’d like to start that up again.”
Sara said they welcome various groups for educational sessions, ranging from gardening clubs to 4H groups to school field trips to anybody wanting to learn more about gardening or flowers.
“Once I actually have some green showing, we’ll reach out to the schools. In the past, schools would send teachers out to do workshops,” she said. “We’ve also gone into schools and taught classes on plants and soil and growing. It’s good exposure for kids to a different kind of agriculture.”
David Loewen built his first greenhouse at age 16 and began his business and career with growing. He is a horticultural technician and Red Seal certified landscaper and has operated a 22,000-square-foot commercial greenhouse.
He, Sara and three sons relocated to the Pacific Northwest to be near family in 2020.
