Milestones: The Bloomin’ Gardener Celebrates 25 Years

The Bloomin’ Gardener . . . A Flourishing Family Business Since 1997

By Dave Hall

Biz X magazine is now in its 25th year of publishing and since our success is due to the support of area businesses and organizations — and of course our readers, advertisers and suppliers — we want to celebrate with others also achieving this amazing milestone. This column will feature a local business, biz pro or organization, recognizing 25 years of operation in 2022. The grand finale wraps up in the November/December awards edition, but for now let’s kick off the festivities with our first profiled company.

Customer service, attention to detail and offering customers a wide range of plants, baskets and shrubs are the main reasons why The Bloomin’ Gardener is still going strong after 25 years in a highly-competitive marketplace.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on offering quality products while staying away from the big box models,” says Mike Colasanti, who owns the business along with his wife Kelly. “We go for higher quality and while you may pay more, it’s the way we’ve been able to keep loyal customers coming back year after year.”

He continues by stating: “There are a lot of great growers across the county, but Kelly and I have chosen to be different than many of them — and it has paid off.”

Mike grew up in the nursery and garden centre business — his parents own and operate Colasanti’s Tropical Gardens in Ruthven.

At age 19, he spent a year in Europe working in the greenhouse sector and picked up much of the knowledge he has been using ever since.

“My schooling was more or less from the school of hard knocks, which means you work hard, make mistakes, learn from them and continue moving forward,” he explains. “It was all hands-on and working alongside people with years of experience.”

In 1993, Mike left his family’s business and, after a couple of years of working at different jobs, he returned to what he knew best and opened The Bloomin’ Gardener with Kelly in 1997.

“I’ve tried to maintain the same philosophy I grew up with,” he expresses. “I don’t have an official office. My office is my work space out in the greenhouse. We all work side-by-side in the greenhouse and in our growing and production areas.”

The business has built a reputation around its large, colourful and unique combination baskets which are currently in production for the new season.

“We’d rather produce unique beautiful baskets than grow the typical mainstream varieties and compete with the big box stores,” he says.

It’s a philosophy which has flourished over the years and continues to do so.

When North America was going through a recession in 2008, Mike and Kelly increased staff, instead of cutting back, in preparation for re-opening for the spring and summer season that year.

“A lot of people thought I was a lunatic, but I wanted to show our customers that we were alive and well and I was not going to use the recession as a crutch and cut back on customer service,” he adds.

Currently, there are 12 people working during the production season, which ramps up to 20 once the greenhouse is open to the public for the spring/summer planting and buying seasons.

Since first opening, the Colasantis have supervised slow, steady growth and now the business, at 6673 8th Concession in Oldcastle, encompasses 45,000 square feet of greenhouse space and a further 22,000 square feet of space for outdoor production.

“We could have grown larger much faster, but sometimes bigger creates more headaches,” comments Mike. “At our current size, we are able to maintain a high level of quality control, while at the same time, offering our customers a vast variety of products.”

Kelly points out that they grow just about all their plants and flowers on-site as well as designing and producing thousands of hanging baskets every year.

“We bring in trees, shrubs and perennials from other specialty growers and tropical plants and flowers from suppliers in Florida,” she also mentions. “We also have a big line of pottery, cement urns and other landscaping features, which we bring in as well.”

With the new season about to open, the couple is looking forward to once again offering the highest level of customer service to every patron coming through their doors.

“Our customers come here for the peace and serenity our greenhouse offers and we’re not going to rob them of that experience, otherwise we may as well close our doors,” adds Mike.

For more information on the opening date this season and a photo gallery, visit: TheBloominGardener.com.

Pictured inside their greenhouse in Oldcastle are Kelly and Mike Colasanti, Owners of The Bloomin’ Gardener, who specialize in selling plant arrangements, bedding pots, hanging baskets and vegetables and herbs. Photo by Rod Denis.