If there’s one thing I have learned during my 57 years on this planet, it’s that the only constant in life is change – and yet sometimes these tangents take us by complete surprise.
Such was the case last fall when Ken Knechtel of Red Barn Plants and Produce pulled up as usual with a truckload of perennials and herbs.
“Well, Mike, this is our last spec truck, so enjoy,” he said as he opened the back.
To which I replied: “No problem, but I’ll still see you next season.”
Then he gave me that look, the one that told me in a glance that I wouldn’t be seeing them anymore, at least not as a perennial supplier.
I have known Ken and his wife Elke for a long time, through the growing years of the ’80s, into the peak of perennial gardening in the ’90s and early 2000s, and finally through the transition of the trying to figure out where this business is going for the past 12 years.
It was during these difficult latter years that edibles such as sweet potatoes, herbs, wasabi, rhubarb, garlic, mustard greens and asparagus started making an appearance along with a much more limited variety of perennials. That same trend could be seen at their 224th Street nursery, where stunning perennial display and stock beds were being gradually phased out in favour of edibles.
So instead of trying to juggle these two very different crops – both vying for limited growing space and the time they invest in perfecting their cultivation – they decided to drop the perennials altogether and concentrate entirely on food production.
Both Ken and Elke admit that they were spreading themselves a bit thin, so “we went where our interest lies and decided to focus on one business, that being edibles.”
Of course, this decision was not taken lightly, as their roots go back to Rainforest Gardens (1985) and The Perennial Gardens (1999), and they made their name in local horticulture circles with such plant introductions as Hosta ‘Canadian Shield’, Geranium ‘Phoebe Noble’ and Sempervivum ‘Yennadon’.
But if you count their horticulture training at BCIT (where they met) starting in 1979, both Ken and Elke will have been professionally gardening in one form or another for almost 40 years – and that’s a long time to be doing anything.
With their son Erik running a farm in Cawston, where they grow apricots, prune plums, apples, melons and tomatoes, Ken and Elke are hoping to build his edible business into a separate entity, so they can ‘retire’ to a do a little sales and marketing on his behalf.
Truth be told, they are getting a bit tired of the weeding, planting, harvesting, sorting, watering, storing, selling, transporting and myriad of other things that small-scale farmers have to do just to keep the business going.
So for those of you who miss their cheerful smiles and rare perennials, don’t despair. They still sell a handful of these at their farm stand on 224th Street (Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m., and Saturday 10-3 p.m.), as well as at the Coquitlam Farmer’s Market on Sundays. They will be offering seasonal produce such as salad blends, fresh figs, ginger root, cabbage and sugar snap peas, as well as preserves, vinegars, apple juice and dried herbs.
As for me, I will continue to assure my retail customers that life will go on just fine with fewer perennials (particularly the much-missed Tricyrtis or Toad Lilies), and that Ken and Elke haven’t dropped off the planet, they are just growing in a new direction.
Mike Lascelle is a local nursery manager and gardening author (hebe_acer@hotmail.com).