Flagstaff Featured Business: Forster's Greenhouses

(as published in the April 3 edition of The Community Press)

The Flagstaff Region Featured Business is a monthly newspaper and web feature presented in partnership by Flagstaff County and The Community Press.

Forster’s Greenhouses
14516 Hwy 53
near Forestburg
780-582-2460
Open April 30 to June 30, daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Right around the time she had been laid off from her teaching job, Barb Forster noticed that a Forestburg-area greenhouse was for sale.

The figurative seed had been planted.

And as she took a drive to her parents’ home in Saskatchewan, the idea of buying a greenhouse and going into business for herself quickly took root. “I drove for two hours and thought, ‘Why not?’” Barb recalls.

By the time she returned home, she was convinced she could make the business bloom.
She just needed to convince her husband Marty.

“It took a while,” she smiles, “but then we decided that it would be a good step for our family and that’s why we decided to come here. I love plants and so it was always something that I found was an interest and I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Why not, indeed.

Forster’s Greenhouses – proud purveyors of bedding plants, hanging baskets of all kinds, perennials, and head start veggies for your garden – is now embarking on its sixth growing season.
For Barb, who has since returned to teaching at Forestburg School, it’s a labour of spring and summertime love – for which she’s extremely grateful.

She’s also grateful for the opportunity to help make the Forestburg area and the Flagstaff Region, as a whole, a more attractive place to live.

“We are a small business, but I think it’s just one more thing for our county to be proud of and to show that Forestburg’s an inviting place to move your family to,” she explains.

“Especially being a teacher, it’s a secondary goal for us to want people to move here and I think the more diverse businesses we have, the more chances we have of building our community and our county up again.”

Like his wife, Marty also teaches at Forestburg School.

“So he comes when he can help on the weekends,” Barb adds. “And our kids are here to help. They are thrilled that we no longer grow the lilies that we did the first year because that was a lot of weeding and a lot of that kind of stuff, whereas now on the weekends we will come and stack trays and do cleaning. Our oldest daughter Maddie spends a lot of time out here helping with putting pots together.”

Of course, growing their business hasn’t been without its challenges.

“Carbon tax was a big one,” Barb admits. “It’s really changed. Heating is expensive, especially in a building like this, and so that was one thing that we have tried to do as many things as possible to minimize our costs.

“We start later in the season and try to keep heat in as best as we can. Last year, we had a furnace go down on us and so we had minus-25 in April in the evenings and ended up losing a third of our crop. We ended up covering everything for about two weeks and that was tough.”

Fortunately, there’s been no shortage of community support.

“The community’s been so amazing that we’ve been able to grow and get better,” Barb enthuses. “Marty was born and raised here. It’s amazing. Small town, I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

“Our kids have been born and raised here. And because of living here, our community supports us.

“And so we have all kinds of people who come just to check it out and we’ve been so lucky because we have all of our small town businesses as well, like Prichard Plumbing & Heating and CEMS Electrical. They come at the drop of a hat to help. I wouldn’t live anywhere but a small town.”

Throughout the growing season, Forster’s Greenhouses offers a variety of planting courses, a new service that Barb started last year.

“We started offering planting courses with just pots with plants and then also we’ve been doing succulents,” she explains, “and we’re going to do some herb classes this year, maybe a few stepping stone classes, that kind of thing.

“We’re trying to always expand to the latest trend and what the interest is in our community. It’s fun. It’s wine and plants – what can be better?”

Forster’s Greenhouses has also collaborated with a couple businesses in the area, namely Danelle Wright Photography and Gauge Yoga.

“Yeah, it’s been really exciting. Danelle Wright is a photographer here in the Forestburg area and last year she offered little mini photo sessions. And so she came and took pictures of other people and the lighting in here is absolutely incredible for a photographer and so she was thrilled with what her results were to the point that she’s coming to do Maddie’s grad pictures here in May, so that’ll be exciting.

“Last June, we also collaborated with Gauge Yoga and Bridgette (Ponto) wanted to do hot yoga and this is the perfect place, especially once it starts to heat up in here. We cleaned out everything to about halfway and washed everything down and she had one class and then unfortunately the weather dropped quite drastically. It was really neat to see lots of people – and not me – doing all the poses that they were doing.”

Forster’s Greenhouses is also working in collaboration with Communities in Bloom.

“Actually, this year is Forestburg’s 100th year and so we’ve got a huge order coming in,” she says.

“We work every year with Communities in Bloom to make Forestburg look absolutely incredible.”
For those looking to start their own business or for current business owners looking to expand, Barb offers the following sage advice.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” she says. “I’ve been really lucky because we’ve had lots of challenges and yet anybody that I’ve ever asked for help from, they’re more than willing to help out.
“Whether that is local tradespeople, local businesses, even just programs that Flagstaff County or that the government has, they’re there to help our small businesses to flourish and grow.”

For more information on Forster’s Greenhouses, find them on Facebook.

As published in the April 3 edition of The Community Press – on newsstands today. Never miss an issue, become a SUBSCRIBER today!

The Flagstaff Region Featured Business is a monthly newspaper and web feature presented in partnership by Flagstaff County and The Community Press. For more information, contact Jenalee Blackhurst, Economic Development Coordinator, at 780-384-4152.