We don’t like to make a fuss, but this year marks a little milestone we thought worth sharing…
We couldn’t let this anniversary pass without acknowledging the huge contribution made by Edward Stewart, our Dad, and the profound change he started.
Whilst we have always understood that a long history in commerce does not guarantee a future (success can only come from constantly adapting to changing circumstances), it really is quite a story.
We'd been growing plants in the ground since 1742.
It's hard to imagine now, but despite being a company that had been successfully growing trees and shrubs 'by the million', Stewarts was on its knees after the two World Wars. As our late mother often said, "We didn't know how we were going to pay our people from one week to the next."
Something had to change and quickly.
5th Generation move South
Only two generations earlier, in 1864, brothers William and David realised that for the business to flourish, they had to move the entire operation south to Dorset, a monumental undertaking.
We are fortunate to have extensive archives from this time, a constant reminder of the roots of our culture and determination.
Ted Stewart's flight to America
Having flown as a hobby before the war, and with the RAF during it, our father's first love was flying. Given the chance, he would've been a commercial pilot rather than the man expected to rescue an exhausted business. So, when in the spring of 1955 he was asked to return a Dakota DC-3 aircraft from Hurn Airport to Florida, he jumped at the chance.
We still possess all his flying records from his first Tiger Moth flight in 1935, through the war years and his American trip, to his last fligts from Hurn in the early 1980s.
The UK's First Garden Centre
We don't know exactly how much Dad knew about what Americans were up to (we were trading with them at the time, so he may have had an inkling). But on his journey back up the East Coast, he wrote to his sisters, "I have seen the future. It's called Garden Centres."
The letter described his vision, and on his return home, he transformed the offices, dispatch area, and potting sheds into the UK's very first Garden Centre.
Introduction of Container Plants
The concept of a Garden Centre, with everything in one place: plants, tools, fertiliser, seeds, bulbs and more, was revolutionary. But it was the introduction of growing plants in containers that truly changed the game.
Before this, plants were grown in fields, and could only be moved when dormant (October to March). If grown in a "tin can", however, they could be moved all year round. Dad brought that idea back with him too, and trade correspondence credits him with introducing it to the UK.
Suddenly, plants could be sold twelve months of the year, a complete revolution for horticulture.
6 years later, Christchurch followed
Ferndown was thriving, and Dad knew he was onto something. He began looking for the next opportunity. As a regular flyer from Christchurch Airfield, he noticed land alongside the new bypass and knew it was the perfect spot for his next vision.
"Garden-Lands", as he called it, opened in October 1961 to huge acclaim. More than 6,000 people came to see his good friend Percy Thrower open it. Many horticultural families attended to witness for themselves the changes being made to their industry, and many went on to emulate his work.
And this was only the start...
As we all know, nothing stays the same. We continue to seek out the future for Stewarts, constantly evolving to meet new opportunities and challenges.
One constant, however, underpins everything we do: our people. Our teams, our suppliers and of course, our visitors and customers are what we cherish most. How lucky we are to grow and sell plants, and to create and maintain gardens as the heart of our business, and beyond that, to enhance lives by encouraging human connection. That's where our future lies.
Martin Stewart
