Co-owner and manager of The Garden at Dickson, Ann Gottas, centre, with team members Marcia, left, and Silver. Photos: Michelle Kroll.
The Garden at Dickson survived the drought and COVID-19, but tough business conditions will see the nursery and florist close on 4 May, just short of its half-century.
The site is also going to be redeveloped by the part-owner, The Tradies, but that has nothing to do with the decision to shutter the business, co-owner Stephen Hughes told Region.
The pandemic lockdowns and restrictions meant people grew green thumbs, especially buying vegetable seedlings, but that temporary boom had given way to cost-of-living pressures and higher priorities.
Mr Hughes said The Garden never again saw the level of custom walking through the door that it had then and in the decades before.
“We haven’t been able to lift that back up, and with the effect of interest rates, higher freight costs, higher wages and people with mortgages, they’ve got higher priorities,” he said.
The shift to medium- and higher-density housing and smaller gardens has also taken a toll, as has the Bunnings behemoth.
The Garden at Dickson is the last standing of a clutch of suburban nurseries by the same name at Weston, Mawson, Erindale and Parkwood, all previously owned by Ernie and Rosemary Digweed. Before that, a hardware business occupied the site.
Mr Hughes has dirt under his fingernails, having set up the garden centre at the Yarralumla Nursery in 1990-91. His wife and co-owner, Ann Gottas, has been managing the Dickson outlet for 20 years.
The florist, Flowers from The Garden, will also be sorely missed, having catered for large events at the National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery and the National Arboretum.
It could also claim to be Canberra’s florist to the King, providing blooms for His Majesty’s events at Parliament House on his Royal tour.
But the Canberra community will remember Flowers from The Garden for all the births, weddings, funerals and celebrations it served over the years.
The Garden team: Marcia, Silver, Ann, Rowena, Lisa and Anthony. “Their passion and dedication have made The Garden a truly special place,” says Ann.
Generations of Canberrans have relied on the nursery to build and nurture their gardens, and Mr Hughes said customers, especially the older ones, were saddened that it would soon be no more.
“Lots of people coming in are expressing how sad they are and how much they’ll miss not being able to come into the local garden centre,” he said.
“Older people, in particular, in the local community, are really going to miss it because we found over the years lots of elderly people coming in just for a bit of a chat, a little plant or something, and you know it can fill up their afternoon when they might have been lonely otherwise.
“We have had many long-term customers, and sadly, we’ve seen a lot of them pass away as well, and my wife, in particular, has got to know many of them very well and has had to attend quite a few funerals over the years.”
Mr Hughes said the business had risen to the challenge during the drought as people sought out more durable plants for their gardens, and then the pandemic.
“It was a struggle during the drought, just being able to keep plants alive with the water restrictions,” he said.
Then COVID shut the store down and the business could only take online orders.
“We had to set up a little table at the front gate of The Garden centre because people weren’t allowed to come in,” Mr Hughes said.
“We had staff that would take orders, package them up or whatever, and put them on these tables at the front of The Garden centre for people to come and pick them up.”
The rise of Bunnings meant The Garden could not compete on price, but it found other ways to keep and attract customers, focusing on the quality of service, with all staff being qualified horticulturists, “and also having more unusual plants that are hard to find”, Mr Hughes said.
Ms Gottas said it had been a difficult decision to close, saying The Garden was more than just a business but a cornerstone of the community.
“We are incredibly grateful to the inner north community for your unwavering support over the years,” she said.
“Your loyalty has been the heart of our business, and we will deeply miss the relationships we have built with our valued customers.
“We also want to acknowledge and thank the incredible staff who have been part of The Garden’s journey over the past 49 years. Their passion and dedication have made The Garden a truly special place.”
It will be the end of an era when The Gardens closes its doors on 4 May, but not before two sales – on 26 and 27 April when the best of the stock will be available for purchase at a discount, and a final clearance sale from 1 to 4 May.
