Seven years ago, Pam and Tyler Tetrault took a chance on Golden, and their vision of owning a community garden centre, and have never looked back.
The pair met at business school, and soon found that they needed to make a change.
“Tyler’s mom had a hobby greenhouse, and I had a hobby tree farm. We decided we wanted to do something different, it was more for the lifestyle,” said Pam.
The Tetraults had just begun a family, and wanted to find a profession that would allow them to work, and still spend time with their family.
“That was the main reason we wanted to make a change. We were either going to have to work 9-5 jobs and put him into daycare, or come up with something different. So this is what we came up with so that we can work from home, be with our kids, and lead an active lifestyle in the community.”
So they moved to Golden, and opened up Mountainside Gardens, but not before making sure they knew what they were doing. Tyler went back to school at Olds College, and took the Journeyman Landscape Gardener program.
“I wasn’t going to put everything behind it unless Tyler was educated in that. And I’ve been kind of self taught from him. But I think it’s super important to have the base knowledge of everything. If you don’t have that, it’s hard to offer your customers the best,” said Pam.
Mountainside Gardens has just about everything to fit your gardening needs. They have a wide variety of flowers, trees, shrubs, hanging baskets, seeds, soils and fertilizers, tools, and garden art and decor. They also provide gardening services such as landscaping, maintenance, and custom growing.
“I think a lot of people think that we’re just flowers, just bedding plants. And before we moved here, that’s all that Golden seemed to have, places that come and open up in the busy season with flowers. We offer a lot more than that,” said Pam.
“We won’t sell someone something just because we have it for sale, if it’s not the right product for them. It’s important that they get what they need, and that we sell healthy, quality products.”
Mountainside has grown and expanded almost every year, offering something new for their customers. The Tetraults are busy raising a young family, but in the future would like to have a year round garden centre, when they have a little more time.
“Eventually we would like to be open for the Christmas season, and do Christmas trees and things like that.”
In the meantime, Mountainside Gardens is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., until October.
They host several community events at the garden centre, including an Easter Eggstravaganza, a Mother’s Day Tea in the Gardens, and the upcoming Father’s Day Customer Appreciation Pancake Breakfast on June 16.
To learn more about Mountainside Gardens and what they offer, go to www.mountainsidegardens.ca.
Check upcoming issues of The Golden Star for a gardening column written by Tyler Tetrault.
