Welcoming Creekside Tree Farm and Nursery

The local horticulture industry in Manitoba is a close-knit, supportive community, in which wholesale growers and retail garden centre owners know each other well. Many are long-standing, multi-generational family businesses.

If a local grower decides to expand greenhouse operations or a garden centre changes ownership, it’s big news that ripples throughout Manitoba’s entire horticulture industry, including the gardening community.

So, when a brand-new, independent wholesale nursery and garden retailer sets up business on 236 acres just 35 minutes north of Winnipeg, it merits considerable interest. A new startup in an industry with very few new players stands out.

Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery, a retail and wholesale nursery, is located at 165 Tom Prince Dr. in Petersfield, Man., just down the road from Chesley’s Resort and Campground. The owner, Mikkel Grabinski, is 28. He purchased the site for his nursery in 2019. The past few years, he has worked quietly around the clock to grow his operation by planting thousands of trees, build relationships with wholesale suppliers, and hire a workforce.

Today, with a dedicated inventory of more than 60,000 container-grown trees as well as field-grown trees, along with shrubs and a recent expansion into perennials, Creekside Nurseries represents a substantial commitment, far beyond the scale of a hobby nursery.

“We have a dedicated field production area. We’re constantly expanding our balled-and-burlapped (B&B) tree operations and plan to plant a couple thousand more trees this fall,” Grabinski says. Creekside also offers a diverse selection of shrubs for the home landscape.

“We have over 60 varieties of shrubs, including roses, as well as a huge selection of small fruits, including kiwi, golden and black raspberries, blackberries, grapes, Saskatoon berries and haskap shrubs.”

Some of the inventory at Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery is sourced from wholesale growers in Manitoba, such as Jeffries Nurseries in Portage la Prairie and Aubin Nurseries in Carman.

“We grow some of our stock from seed and we also buy rooted cuttings. But we like to grow as much as possible ourselves,” Grabinski says.

Creekside attracts customers from West St. Paul, Selkirk, the Interlake, Winnipeg Beach, and the Gimli area.

“Almost half our customers come from Winnipeg,” Grabinski says. “We deliver and install almost daily. We get a lot of customers who are building new homes and want several trees and shrubs.”

Hydrangea shrubs and hydrangea tree standards are hugely popular, he says. Demand is strong, too, for trees for shelter belts or windbreaks. Ornamental, flowering crabapple trees, however, are Creekside’s No. 1 selling deciduous tree.

“The biggest demand this year for crabapple varieties has been Starlight, Gladiator, and Dark Knight,” Grabinski says.

He also offers dwarf crabapple varieties, such as Candy Krisp which was developed at Jeffries Nurseries.

Word in the local gardening community spread quickly this year when Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery expanded into perennials. Indeed, that’s how I first learned about Creekside. A new garden retail operation is an immediate draw. Gardeners often visit several garden centres in search of unique plants and to compare prices. On my recent visit to Creekside — ostensibly to meet and interview Grabinski — I came home with a gorgeous shrub rose that is new for 2027.

Reader, I could not resist. But more on that later.

Grabinski has multi-year plans to expand his operation. Currently he is in the process of creating irrigation infrastructure and improving drainage on his property, especially after some flooding damage caused by June’s heavy rainfall.

“But in terms of the future, No. 1 on our priority list is to build a retail greenhouse,” Grabinski says.

“We want to expand into perennials on a larger scale, as well as offer annual plants, including vegetables. We offered some perennials last year. This year, I built several tables but the next step is to build a greenhouse. I anticipate having one built sometime next spring. We’ll be able to offer many more products.”

Grabinski is excited about bringing in a large selection of coniferous plants and colourful hybrid maples from Oregon-based Iseli Nursery.

“Next year, we’re going to have the largest selection in Manitoba of their products, including the Jack Frost collection of hybrid maples,” he says.

Grabinski was born and raised in Manitoba.

“I grew up just outside of Winnipeg. My family had a cabin at Chesley’s Resort and Campground. So that was my early connection to this area,” he says. “Then, when I was 13, we moved full-time to Petersfield. After high school, I started a landscaping and construction company. We did a lot of residential landscapes and tree installations, and I became very intrigued by the planting aspect. I bought the acreage in Petersfield with the vision of starting a tree farm and nursery and then I just fell in love with the industry.”

Grabinski says that starting a new business in the green industry is challenging but exciting. Labour is one challenge.

“With live plants, there can’t be a day off in the nursery industry. You’re constantly working long days outside in the heat. Somebody has to be onsite seven days a week, not just for the retail side but also the production side of things. But I would say that I’ve built a really good team,” Grabinski says.

The trees Creekside offers come in all sizes, from five-gallon pots to 25-gallon wire baskets. On my visit I admired a perfectly beautiful, 2.1-metre-tall Eastern White Pine in a 15-gallon container.

“We refer to the container as a field pot,” Grabinski says, “because the tree is grown in the field, then harvested and wrapped in burlap and placed into a pot. Typically, a field-grown tree is a hardier, more resilient tree because it is grown in native, clay-based soil.”

Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery also grows fruit trees in fibre pots.

“These are biodegradable cardboard pots,” Grabinski says. “Just place the fibre pot in the planting hole and backfill with soil. The advantage is there is no disturbance to the root ball.”

Grabinski has tested the fibre pots in his own orchard to see how long they take to decompose naturally.

“By the end of the season or the following spring, the fibre pot below grade is entirely gone,” he says.

Grabinski lives on the property, in a house he built in 2019. In fact, his house, with a boat parked nearby, stands just metres away from rows and rows of the potted trees and shrubs he sells.

Tall with a lean build, Grabinski was wearing a golf cap when I met him. I asked if he had much time these days to golf or use his boat.

“Not much at all,” he says, with a rueful smile.

“I’m always working. But I’m definitely happy. I have so much passion towards this industry and trees and plants that it doesn’t necessarily feel like work. I feel optimistic and looking forward to the future.”

As for the rose I could not resist buying, it’s called Reminiscent Ginger Rose. New for 2027 from Proven Winners, Reminiscent Ginger has fully double, highly fragrant petals in shades of orange, yellow, cream, and gold.

Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery is open until Oct. 31. All the plants at the nursery are now on sale.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com