Gardening has taught Miles Hunter an important virtue: patience.

“Planting and growing anything takes patience,” the owner of Hunters Garden Centre told the Straight in a phone interview.

“When you’re growing something from seed,” the avid gardener said, “you put a seed in the ground and it can be two weeks before that seed might show itself and pop up. And so you have to learn to wait and be patient.

“When you’re growing something that’s going to produce food—like, say, you’re going to grow a fruit tree, an apple tree or cherry tree—you’re probably waiting two to three years before you’re going to get your first reasonable crop out of it,” he continued. “So you have to learn to wait.”

Flowers are another example. “You can plant a small plant in the early spring, like right now—you can plant some geraniums and petunias and things like that—but you’re not really going to see a big show until June or July, when those plants are going to produce their big show of flowers.”

Hunters Garden Centre has been in business for almost 69 years. It was started in the autumn of 1953 by Hunter’s grandparents David and Margaret, who had their first store in Vancouver on Kingsway and Rupert Street.

Hunter’s parents, Ron and Deni, eventually took over. Hunter is the third generation in the family to run the business.

Asked how young he was when he first got involved in the company, Hunter said, laughing, “As soon as I could walk.”

“Officially, I didn’t get put in the payroll until I was 14, but I certainly worked at the stores before then,” he said. “We used to have a nursery, and I worked at the nursery probably since I was eight years old.”

He has been the general manager since 2010 and became the owner in 2015. Hunters Garden Centre has two locations: at 2560 West Broadway in Vancouver, and 15175 72nd Avenue in Surrey.

“The people of Vancouver and Greater Vancouver definitely love their gardens,” Hunter said about how the family business has thrived through the years.

“They’ve always had a really great gardening community, and they’ve always supported us very well,” he added. “From the early days of the business, we’ve had lots of great gardeners as customers.”

On March 22 this year, the Canadian Garden Council announced that it has proclaimed 2022 as the country’s Year of the Garden. The CGC was founded as a nonprofit in 2014 in collaboration with the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association.

Hunter’s grandfather David was active for many years in the CNLA, which is marking its 100-year anniversary in 2022.

Hunter said that the Year of the Garden 2022 is a great way to celebrate the beauty and bounty that nature provides.

“I would like to see people continue to enjoy spending time outdoors in their garden, making the world a more colourful place,” Hunter said. “I would like to see people growing their own fresh herbs and vegetables on their patio or in their backyard, so they can experience the taste of fresh produce.”

For people wanting to get into gardening, Hunter suggests starting small.

“For indoor plants, I would start with two to three plants. For outdoors, just three to five,” he said.

For a beginner’s vegetable garden, Hunter recommended a small plot of just four feet by eight feet. When you can manage that, it’s time to expand.

In other words—as Hunter said he has learned from his long years of gardening—be patient.