Rooted by the River Nursery owners, Andrea and Jeff Lamond, along with their two kids, Georgia and Owen, are happy to be busier than ever in their family run garden centre in Clearwater.
Following an early spring fire that destroyed much of their inventory and a large greenhouse structure on April 15, the Lamonds didn’t waste anytime rolling up their sleeves and opening the gates of this popular resource for valley gardeners.
READ MORE: Fire destroys popular Rooted by the River Nursery greenhouse in Clearwater
“We were only shut down completely for two days and then we have just been trying to make sure that we fulfill all of our obligations with our commercial customers and making sure we have products for all of Clearwater and area for bedding season,” Lamond told Black Press.
The nursery supplies their customers with bedding plants that include flowers, vegetables, berries, trees, shrubs and beautifully designed hanging baskets.
Thanks to many suppliers, the community and long time dedicated employee, Sue Armstrong, the family was able to be open for business quickly in time for Mother’s Day and are now back on track for a very busy growing season in the North Thompson.
When asked about how they were able to bounce back from such an unexpected and traumatic fire, Lamond’s gratitude is evident as he explains the support they received,”The industry pulled together and helped us get some supplies quickly and shipped product that we normally wouldn’t buy from them that were planting ready, companies assisted with extending payment dates. Our suppliers were really taking care of us too so we weren’t just doing it on our own.”
He shares how the whole family and a key staff member, Sue Armstrong, work as a team to keep things running smoothly again praising key employee Armstrong and said, “Sue is really the heart of this place right now on the day-to-day. I don’t know how she does it. She took two days off and came back full gangbusters to get everything opened again. There’s no way we would’ve done this without her.”
Rooted by the River is known around the community for donating their own time to contribute towards sustainable initiatives in the North Thompson and it’s quite apparent that this family is happy to have their gates open for business thanks to so many who love gardening as much as they all do.
