Morden Nurseries - serving the Pembina Valley for 60 years

Morden Nurseries is celebrating 60 years as a family business with three generations shaping the business as the region grows and changes.  

Second generation daughter of Herman and Els Temmerman, Monique Rampton said they bought it from someone at the current location after they moved to the area from Winnipeg. 

"Mom and Dad bought it in 1964. Dad continued to work for the Research Station until 1980. My mom did a lot of the work during the day before that, and then he came on a little bit more full-time, and always had evening help, and kids help along with it."  

Els and Herman Temmerman

Both Rampton and her brother Pat Temmerman have good memories of growing up in the family business, like Pat's love for the tomato patch and his throwing abilities.  

Temmerman said there was a lot to learn. 

"We learned a lot of things firsthand from my dad. We did take some schooling too, but on-hand learning was always the most valuable, in my opinion. Work ethic is #1 which is carried on till today."  

Herman in the tomato field

Rampton chimed in adding a few other values passed from generation to generation, like resilience. 

"How at mercy, you are to the weather and everything that happens along with it. And always wanting a quality product for the people to buy, I think has always been a big thing, (along with) good customer service over the years." 

Rampton's daughter Leah Olson is the third generation to work at Morden Nurseries and she feels very privileged to work with her family every day.   

She shared her admiration for her Oma.  

"I think she's just an incredible lady. Just everything she's gone through coming from the Netherlands when she was 20 years old on her own and meeting my Opa in Winnipeg, of all places. Both of them being from the Netherlands, and coming out here, and starting almost from square one and building this up. And then, these two coming in and building it up even more. If this looks nothing like it did 60 years ago, or even 25-30 years ago for that matter, it's come a long way."  

Leah, Monique and Els

Gratitude to the many years of support from the region was expressed by each one and Leah said, it's evident in some of the things people say when they come back each year.  

"What I think is really cool is, I still have people come in now who say I bought an apple tree from your grandfather, however many years ago, and that's so cool because I was 5 when my Opa passed away. So, to still have people that have come back after that amount of time is just really neat to see."