Oderings opens in Philpotts Road

Press, 4 October 1985, Page 13

Oderings opens in Philpotts Road

Oderings Nurseries Christchurch, Ltd, has just opened a 3.6-hectare nursery in Philpotts Road, Waimairi, to cater for all gardening needs. The governing director, Mr Donald Odering, said the new site was opened for two reasons: • To serve the people of North Christchurch with the widest selection of quality garden products. “There are a large number of garden centres south of the city, but until now, the north has not been so well served,” Mr Odering said. • To expand on its present ■ 2.8-hectare nursery, at 92 Stourbridge Street, Spreydon, which is now fully built-up growing shrubs, house plants, bedding plants, cut flowers and other retail products. “We bought the Philpotts road site, which has been operated as a nursery by three previous owners, last April,” Mr Odering said. “Since then, we have spent about $lOO,OOO on development costs, and we are not even half way through completing it yet. “The Stourbridge Street nursery was started by my father and grandfather during the Depression, in 1929, and it has taken us until now to fully develop that site. “In the last couple of years, we have been devoting more area to flowers for export, and needed more area for shrub growing. “Now, we have this site at Philpotts Road which has proven good for shrub growing. “Here, we have about 200,000 shrubs, with another 200,000 growing-on lines for future sales. "Oderings Nurseries has always been very much a family business — with invaluable assistance from the rest of our loyal staff,” Mr Odering said. “My father and grandfather first started with tomatoes and bedding plants, and my father also developed a flair for floristry. We were leading florists for many years. “My mother and father had 10 children, and the whole family has been in the horticultural business up to the fourth generation. Most of my brothers and sisters have nurseries in other parts of the country. “My wife has been an inspiration and untiring helper, and our five children are also in the business. “Darryn, aged 27, is wholesale manager in charge of sales; Julian, aged 24, is production manager of bedding plants; Aaron, aged

17, is production manager with us; Angela and her husband, Mark, are also fully engaged with us. Absent only is Kim, who is working at a large Sydney nursery. “The Philpotts Road nursery is run by Brent Gardiner, who has been appointed manager. “Brent, aged 28, is also a family man with two children. He started working for us on a part-time basis during the school holidays, at the age of 13, and entered his apprenticeship when he had just turned 17. “Brent has had wide experience . in shrub growing, and intends to provide friendly, helpful service in all aspects of retail garden centre work. “Since work started on the Philpotts Road site in April, our staff there has grown from three to eight. "We have made provision for a car park for 100 vehicles, and work is continuing on the pond area, which will feature a Japanese bridge, a large picnic area and children’s playground. “The nursery is being run as a seven-day affair, and beside the wide range of plants, we also have bulk

supplies of landscape materials, including stone chip, screened soil, potting soil, super screen, polarised bark, bricks, paving blocks and concrete urns,” Mr Odering said.