Tucked just outside the northern boundary of Sherwood Park on Clover Bar Road, we are a third generation family business that began in 1919 when the Wallish family began growing vegetables and selling them at the City of Edmonton Farmer’s Market. In 1963, the business was incorporated and became known as Wallish Greenhouses Ltd. We moved to our present location in 1996 where our greenhouses now occupy approximately 100,000 square feet.
When asked, “What has changed over the years and through the generations?” The answer is, “Well, nothing and everything.” In the early days, we took seed, cuttings, and soil; then added water, fertilizer and heat to produce the plants to surround yourself with beauty.
Today, we take those same ingredients and do the very same thing - just differently. The seed and cuttings are sourced worldwide, bringing you a far greater variety of interesting plants for your garden. Much of the heavy lifting and grunt labour has been replaced by various types of machinery, which our employees appreciate. The greenhouse environment is computer controlled and integrates state of the art curtain systems, LED lighting, ventilation and heating systems to create the best environment for plant growth possible while reducing energy use. Advances in watering technology allow us to water our plants more uniformly while enabling us to recapture, recycle, and reuse our irrigation water. This has not only reduced our water and fertilizer use by approximately 75-80%, it has also reduced the incidence of plant disease significantly and our use of chemical fungicide treatments.
We recognize that single use plastics are a significant challenge for our industry. Consequently, we use biodegradable pots for our hanging baskets. We also have our own branded pots with the Wallish name and logo on them. These can be returned to us for reuse, and we encourage our customers to work with us to reduce plastic waste.
So, again, “What has changed over the years and through the generations?” Everything and nothing. Even though the way we do things has changed, the goal has always remained the same. We strive to give our customers a positive experience, whether they visit us in store or online, and we strive to provide them with the best ingredients possible to surround themselves with beauty.
