Rick Van Duyvendyk connects communities through Saskatoon greenhouse

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Everything Rick Van Duyvendyk learned about gardening and greenhouses started in a field rather than a classroom.

After school, he’d hop straight onto the tractor to help his father work the soil of their 80-acre nursery, a family business that’s operated for 71 years in Saskatoon’s Sutherland neighbourhood.

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Arie Van Duyvendyk started Dutch Growers Garden Centre in 1953 after immigrating to Saskatchewan from Holland. There was little work during wartime, and Dutch horticulturists were encouraged to go to Canada to start greenhouse businesses, Rick says.

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His father left with a suitcase, a hat and a $20 bill. He was sponsored by a greenhouse in Regina, then became a head gardener at the Weyburn Sanatorium before Immigration Canada brought him and his family to Sutherland, which was then a town on the outskirts of Saskatoon.

Seven years later, Rick was born into a life of trees and shrubs, soil and seeds. He grew up on the nursery; his chores are some of his earliest memories.

They hired a foreman named Lloyd Malanovich. Rick soaked up his knowledge, becoming the Dutch Growers nursery manager as soon as he graduated high school. He built the greenhouses, fixed the tractors, and was out in the field cultivating.

“It didn’t feel like work at all. Honestly, my whole career here has never felt like work. And my wife can tell you that, too; it drives her crazy sometimes. She’s like, ‘You like your job too much,’ ” Rick says, sitting among emerald fronds in one of his bright, humid greenhouses.

‘He is an industry and community man’

In 1981, his father sold most of the land and built the new building, with its signature windmill out front, on the remaining five acres. The business evolved into a nursery with crafts, floral arrangements, food and clothing.

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Rick and his brother took ownership; four of the six siblings eventually bought in. Hands changed and now, Rick, his wife Kim and their two daughters run the show.

Jill Van Duyvendyk says somehow her dad can fish out any document he needs from the toppling paper stacks in their shared office.

“He is an industry and community man — someone who gives above and beyond — and yes, sometimes I remember hearing my mom say, ‘Rick, do you really have to say yes to being on that board?’ ” she recalls.

Rick helped start Gardenscape, a leisure and gardening trade show in Saskatoon, and is still on its organizing committee. He’s currently involved with the Family Business Association of Saskatoon, and used to be the chair of the Saskatchewan Greenhouse Growers Association and the Saskatchewan Nursery Trade Association.

He laments that service clubs and associations seem to be fading away because the younger generations aren’t joining.

“It’s kind of sad because I think that when you connect with people, especially people in your industry, that’s what makes it real and a way you can grow even more. You can grow somewhat with Google, but you don’t get that personal part of it.”

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That’s what sets Rick apart, said Susan Kuzma, manager of special events at Prairieland Park.

“He really spends time in bringing industry members together and sees the value to supporting shows like Gardenscape, which encourages the industry to network with each other.”

The 63-year-old loves learning from others in the industry — and not just by going to trade shows, seminars and other greenhouses.

“Where you’re going to learn is in the coffee shop, or the bar or the restaurant, with people from other nurseries. My father taught us that from a young age,” he says.

‘You get more credit by being honest …’

Using his experience in Holland, Arie Van Duyvendyk was one of the first people on the prairies to sell plants all year round, Rick says. This allowed customers to buy a shrub in the middle of summer.

They’ve partnered with the University of Saskatchewan to research the best ways to grow plants in the province.

“My nursery, I ended up transitioning it from growing in the fields to basically growing everything in containers, and then learning how to winter them,” Rick says.

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Now, he uses that knowledge to educate his customers, and the community.

Rick and Jill have a call-in radio show called Garden Talk. Rick has been doling out gardening advice every Sunday morning on News Talk Radio for more than 20 years.

“At first I was not sure if I wanted to do it, you know, because now you’re out there,” he says.

But answering questions on the phone is a lot like answering questions from customers in the garden centre. He might not have the answer, but he’ll always try.

“You get more credit by being honest, and saying that I don’t know, but we’re going to find that out for you.”

“There is nothing that man cannot do, or doesn’t attempt to do. He will find a solution, even if it’s a temporary quick fix,” Jill says.

“My dad has a work ethic like no other; he is not one to stand by and watch a job get done. He is the first to set the pace, lead by example and stick it out until the end.”

She said her dad’s known to put out plants for the new landscaper after hours, or stop by a neighbour’s house on his way home to help with a pruning question or pest problem. He always has a pair of pruners in his truck door, just in case.

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“People always say, ‘I bet you wish there was frost in the spring, after they planted all their gardens.’ I say, ‘No I don’t.’ The avid gardener is going to come and replant, but what I call the weekender warriors, if it freezes the next night, they’re going to say, ‘That was a waste of time’ ” Rick says.

Jill says he has the same mentality for their radio show.

“He could use it as an advertising opportunity, but rather he always takes the stance (that) we will promote the industry first. He truly gets that gardening becomes a part of people and when they succeed at gardening, that’s when we will thrive as a business, even if that first seed they planted came from a box store or competitor.”

Trees and shrubs a specialty

Rick’s specialty is trees and shrubs. He remembers working on the Dutch Growers pruning crew and getting to see how they adapt to different spaces.

He likes to drive by and check on the trees he helped plant years ago in the city’s Eastview and Wildwood neighbourhoods. His favourites are lindens (“The shape of them are perfect”) and oaks (“A legacy tree”).

If he wasn’t involved in the family business, Rick says he might have become a conservation officer. He remembers his father closing the garden gates to embark on camping and canoe trips, making sure to expose his kids to other aspects of the natural world.

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The family truck, bought in 1953 and used for everything from field work to road trips, was restored in 2019.

Rick has three kids and eight grandkids. He spends winters at the rink watching them play ringette and hockey. In summer, he loves to sail, starting out with a small catamaran and moving up to a 30-foot boat at Lake Diefenbaker after getting his captain’s certificates in coastal navigation around Vancouver Island.

The Van Duyvendyks were also therapeutic foster parents. Rick says he still talks to his former foster son, now 31, once a week. They are trying to help him with his addictions issues and get him off the street.

“My wife and I felt we had a home, we had the means to be able to do something in the community. There was a need; we knew there was a need.”

Rick and Kim helped start Choc’lacure, an organization now run by 18 women that raises money to buy equipment for the Saskatoon Cancer Centre. A year ago, his sister-in-law died from cancer. She helped his wife start the charity, and used some of the equipment they bought, Rick says.

He wants to keep teaching an agronomics course at the U of S, and giving more talks at seniors homes after he transitions the rest of the business over to his children in the next few years.

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But even when he’s retired, Rick says he’ll always be helping in some capacity.

“In the wintertime I might take off, but in the spring it’s too much fun. There’s lots going on. My father is 94 years old right now, and he was probably sitting in a chair greeting people there four years ago still.”

Engaging with and giving back to his community isn’t just important to Rick — it’s necessary.

Plants, trees and flowers are a “root” to get there.

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