Let's Take a Look Back to 1957
Established in 1957 by Commander D Saban, Garthowen Garden Centre has been many things over the years.The land at Garthowen was bought in 1956 by Dennis Saban when he retired from the Fleet Air Arm having served in Africa and Malta during the war. When Dennis and his wife Edna started the land was a chicken farm and a large field of wheat.
SOME NEW IMPOVEMENTS
Over the next few years a commercial Nursery was built to grow hothouse tomatoes cucumbers and chrysanthemums with a cold house for lettuce, strawberries bedding plants and outdoor chrysanthemums.
and to the now...
In 1972 during the oil crisis when prices soared a new direction was needed and the garden centre was started.
Denis and Edna's 4 children and 3 grandchildren have all had experience of working in the nursery and garden centre, with Chris and Sally having run the Garden centre with their husbands Dave and Graham since the death of their father in the early 1990s.
The grand children work in the business and on the site with Chris and Dave's daughter Lottie managing the coffee shop and a Director of the Garden Centre, their second daughter Louisa working in the office.
Try and spot Chris and Dave!
Garthowen has always been rooted in family, and that legacy is now blossoming into its fourth generation. Even the great-grandchildren are beginning to get involved, learning the joys of plant care and growing up surrounded by the nurturing spirit of the garden centre. It’s a true community hub — a place shaped not only by passionate gardeners but by a family who have poured their hearts into it for decades. And nothing captures that better than moments like Dave and his granddaughter watering the plants together, a simple reminder of how Garthowen continues to grow, generation after generation.