Founders’ Story
The Roots of Arbutus Grove Nursery Ltd.
Arbutus Grove Nursery (AGN) raised its first crop in 1981, but the story starts several years earlier with Hans and Susan Stoffelsma in Vancouver.
Where it began
Hans grew up in the Netherlands and moved to Mexico to work for an American tobacco company after graduating with a Degree in Agriculture. There, he began to imagine a different future: in Canada, in forestry, and, crucially, working for himself. Through conversations with contacts in British Columbia and persistent calls to people in the sector, an idea took shape: growing trees for reforestation.
Susan brought complementary strengths. She was raised in Burnaby, BC, and worked many part-time jobs while in high school to save money for her education.
She was in her final year of nursing school when she met Hans.
Driven by passion
Hans and Susan met by chance through friends at a gathering at a local pub. Susan still recalls Hans’s green sweater, his pipe, and the easy conversation. When Susan graduated from nursing school, she and Hans married in Vancouver, and Susan began her nursing career.
That partnership, Hans’s determination to build something of his own and Susan’s willingness to work hard for a shared, uncertain vision, became the foundation of AGN.
After early years in Vancouver, they moved to Victoria with their young son, Nathaniel. Their daughter, Sarah, was later born in Victoria. Hans was hired to start and manage a nursery in Victoria for a construction firm. Susan worked part-time evening shifts as a nurse so they could save for their future endeavour.
Every spare dollar went toward the goal of owning their own nursery business.
Putting down roots
In 1979 they purchased a five-acre property on the Saanich Peninsula, attracted by its arbutus trees, conifers, and open meadow. That fall, they moved their young family into a camper on the raw land and began building a home and a nursery from the ground up. That blend of perseverance, calculated risk, and shared belief laid the groundwork for Arbutus Grove Nursery’s first crop, sown and shipped in 1981, and its continued growth in the years that followed.
The arbutus trees that grew on Hans and Susan’s property also gave the business its name: Arbutus Grove Nursery. One of the family’s first projects as new landowners was collecting arbutus berries, which they processed and sowed as one of AGN’s very first crops of trees for sale. The following spring, part of the land was cleared, and the family moved from the camper into a modest wooden house heated by a wood stove. From their savings, they bought a small tractor, which later helped them secure the bank loans they needed to expand.
The timing was fortunate. Around then, the BC government changed the Forest Act, making all companies with forest licences in BC legally and financially responsible for restocking and reforesting the lands they harvested. For a young family with a clear vision, it was a window of opportunity, and AGN was off to a strong start.
Built by hand
Hans’ horticultural training in the Netherlands shaped the nursery from the beginning. He built much of the early equipment himself, constructed the first greenhouses, manually sowed crops into the containers, and watered them with simple sprinkler systems. Those early years demanded hard work, long hours, and perseverance.
Susan was a partner in every sense. While raising Nathaniel and Sarah, she handled the bookkeeping and payroll, made deliveries, and organized staff parties.
For a time the nursery also grew poinsettias and perennials, which Susan sold throughout Vancouver Island, often with her mother along for the sales trips and deliveries.
Growing the operation
Over the years, AGN has grown and now operates on more than 30 acres of land, including greenhouses and outdoor growing areas, cold storage facilities, and operational buildings. Across more than four decades, the operation evolved from homemade equipment to computerized irrigation, automated seeding, and modern machinery, steadily improving efficiency and seedling quality.
A new generation
In 2002, Nathaniel, a UBC Chemical Engineering graduate and former member of Canada’s National Sailing Team, retired from sailing and from coaching at the US Merchant Marine Academy in New York to return to the nursery. It began as a trial to see whether the move would benefit both sides, and whether father and son could work together. It quickly became clear that it was a very good fit. Within two years, Nathaniel had become Business Manager and taken over leadership of the business from Hans and Susan.
He brought a fresh, team-centred approach, “Team AGN,” that took the business to a new level of growth and success. Much of the current leadership and many key staff were brought onto the team by Nathaniel, who still serves as an advisor to the business.
Sarah, a primary school teacher, connects AGN to the next generation in a different way. She brings her students to tour the nursery, showing them how seedlings are grown, why that work matters for the province, the country, and the planet, and what careers the industry offers. Every child goes home with a tree to plant with their family.
The AGN Team
AGN’s story is ultimately about its team. Just as the business passed from Hans and Susan to Nathaniel, it has created opportunities across generations for the families who work here.
The Webb family is a clear example. Ron Webb was AGN’s Head Grower for more than 25 years. His son, Sean, is AGN’s current General Manager, and Ron’s niece, Kelsey, is AGN’s Controller.
Many other people and families have been part of the AGN Team over the years, and together they bring continued energy, enthusiasm, and passion to the business.
Over the years, the nursery has been proud to employ multiple generations of W̱SÁNEĆ people from all four First Nations on the Saanich Peninsula: Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum, and Pauquachin, including the Sam family of Tsawout First Nation. Neighbours from across the Peninsula and a number of seasonal workers from Mexico have been, and continue to be, an important part of the AGN Team.
“There have been many challenges, but also much satisfaction working in this business.
May this industry continue to thrive in the years to come, and may it continue to give pride to those who work in it.”
—Hans and Susan Stoffelsma
