Take one talented man, mix in an incredible work ethic, a lot of dedication and patience plus some ingenuity and you have the start of the Estevan Greenhouses and Nurseries. This agri-focused business flourished near the southern edges of Estevan for several decades thanks to the efforts of Walter Fichtemann and his wife Millie and later, their sons who were determined to carry on a tradition, one returned to the business on a smaller scale after retiring from an active career in the music and entertainment industry.
It was labour intensive, but also a labour of love, which was evident in the products that emerged from the nurseries and greenhouses on a regular basis.
Walter Fichtemann arrived in Canada from Germany in the late 1920s, armed with a doctorate degree in botany and a vision of making his way in a new country.
The first couple of years were challenging as the young man toiled on a farm near Yellow Grass, a place where his skills were underutilized. But there was one silver lining in that experience because it was during that period, he met and later married Millie, who shared his vision of moving along in the wonderful world of plants.
Walter’s next stop was a brief period as the head groundskeeper at the provincial “mental care hospital” in Weyburn. It was during this time that an idea was springing forward to build a significant greenhouse operation in the district, funded by a group of shareholders. The idea spread and caught hold with the young and talented German/Canadian being a key resource in the operation that was launched in 1930, the start of the Great Depression.
Two giant greenhouses were constructed, measuring 36 x 250 feet with a large heating plant, garage and design room attached. There was also a cold room for flower storage plus an office.
The greenhouses were built along Highway 47 south of the city on six acres of purchased land in the valley region.
“It’s interesting, during the many flood years this area experienced, the greenhouses were never flooded out. We had some water coming up on the lawn a few times, but that was it,” son Gerry recalls. After he returned, a number of years later to re-establish a nursery operation nearby, he and his partner Glen were flooded out in 2011, returning to a home that contained three feet of water and near total destruction of the interior.
But from 1930 and on, no water damage, and, in fact, during those Dirty Thirties, there was not much water at all.
When Walter Fichtemann expressed a desire to buy out the shareholders in the early 1940s, and with their knowledge that the key person in the operation was also considering a lucrative job offer in British Columbia, the shareholders determined their best move would be to lease the property to Walter and let him buy out their interests. That happened in the summer of 1943 and the new operation became known as the Estevan Market Gardens. The complete purchase of the original company was carried out the following year and was operated under the name Estevan Greenhouses until 1961 at which time it was incorporated as Estevan Greenhouses and Nurseries Ltd.
Like any fledgling company, there were a few tough years, but the son remembers how his father and mother were always able to “scrape together the money to meet the bank payments and keep it going.”
A third greenhouse was added in 1955 and the acreage under cultivation increased to 20.
The business offered a large variety of fine cut flowers such as snapdragons, mums, calla lilies, petunias, pansies, marigolds and more, while the nursery stock included trees, shrubs and perennial flowers, all suitable for the tough prairie climate. Those included some fruit trees.
The floral arrangements displayed some fine artistic talents which were later passed on to sons Ron and Gerry, with Ron taking on a retail florist operation in Estevan for several years.
“I remember floral arrangements being shipped out on the train to all parts of the country,” said Gerry.
He also recalled winter months when the greenhouses had to be kept secured and heated.
“There was one coal hauler truck that was simply dedicated to supplying coal for the greenhouse furnace,” said Gerry. “That was his only job, haul coal to keep the three greenhouses warm. On the cold nights, it would take up to eight tons of coal and a bit less during the winter days because the sun would come up and help out, but around 4 p.m. when the sun started to go down, bang, the furnace would kick in and start gobbling up the coal.”
Spring and summer were easier on the system. “Of course, that’s when the furnace(s) would get cleaned, ready for the next winter. I also remember dad hired one school kid every summer and his job, for the whole summer, was replacing cracked and broken glass in the greenhouse. The kids would climb the ladders and do the glass replacements, all summer. One year a kid fell through. Luckily for him, and all of us, he had a soft landing on some flowers,” Gerry recalled with a grin.
Gerry’s own attachment with the business ended when he turned 24 and wanted to realize a dream in the musical world.
“We had a five-piece dance band back then,” said Gerry, who was a talented keyboardist on the Hammond organ. “We got some great gigs in Regina at places like the Trianon and Temple Gardens. I told dad I needed a change, so I went to Winnipeg and even after the band split up, I was still getting weekend dates to play. So, I loaded up the Hammond and went to Winnipeg and checked in with the musician’s union there, found a great gig at the Town and Country, a big supper club in the city. Barbra Streisand even sang there. My two-week contract turned into six months.”
Later Gerry said he moved east and worked steadily, by booking from Peterborough and later Niagara Falls, entertaining supper crowds as Gerry Mann with his Hammond organ and a percussionist. This continued for several years.
“At that time, contracts just weren’t for weekends, they were usually a few weeks with options to extend,” he said.
This career that included easy listening music and good interaction with dinner guests, ended with the lowering of the legal drinking age in Ontario, which brought him back to Estevan where he worked briefly for Vernon “Butch” McLean at Estevan Fibreglass before setting up in the nursery business himself with a modest two-acre outlay, but once again, in the valley south of the city, not far from the original greenhouses which had continued for a couple of years under new ownership following his parents’ retirement, but was eventually decommissioned.
Trees, shrubs and nurturing plants had always run in his bloodstream, so it was a natural progression, for the re-start enterprise, until his own recent retirement.
“There was still some good business, but I didn’t want to have to ship flowers and shrubs south to the U.S. and all that. It would have just been too much for the more modest operation,” he said. So then came retirement, the floods, and gradual recovery.
Gerry said the valley area has a rich history for locals, having been home for the Greenhouses and Nurseries. There was also the Prairie Nurseries, operated by Torge Torgeson and his crews and the Pawson family’s market gardens. All accommodated by the rich soils and environment of that valley.
The Fichtemann business served as a wholesale grower for florists in Regina, Moose Jaw, Brandon and Winnipeg, among others during the best years.
“The staff at the greenhouses and nurseries would be as many as 25 to 35 in the peak summer season with bedding plants and all the necessary shipping; and there would be between six and eight employees year round. It was a pretty significant operation at the time,” he said.
There was no denying the significance to the economy and community at the time either.
And, it’s all part of Estevan and area’s rich agricultural history.
