A destination for plant enthusiasts has taken root in the Foothills.
Diamond Valley Tropicals, voted the gold medal for Best Nursery/Greenhouse in the 2024 Western Wheel Readers’ Choice Awards, is attracting clientele from near and far.
“I’ve had people come from Edmonton, Lethbridge, B.C., just because I have a lot of plants you can’t find in other spaces, I’ve become a little bit of a hub,” said owner Tara Maurer. “It’s been awesome, I basically built the place that I always wanted to go to and it’s drawn some traffic.
“It’s nice to be able to do it my way and to have the feedback I’ve had has been amazing.”
Maurer, with a background as an electrician and landscaper, built the business at 220 Main St. NW from the ground up, purchasing the land and retrofitting a trailer into an eye-catching storefront along the historic Cowboy Trail.
“And everything has just come together to make this store and it’s awesome to be able to share all these cool plants with everybody,” she said.
Clients at Diamond Valley Tropicals, which opened its doors at its current location in May 2023 and is set for a retail space expansion in the back, are looking for rare, unique and trending foliage.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” she said. “The unique, the large, a lot of gift options, whether it’s corporate events, weddings, party favours, at Christmas time people will come in and order 12 of the same thing for all of their staff members. It’s really a mix.”
The award recognition will enable the business to help out the community more, including supporting non-profits with initiatives, Maurer added.
“It essentially means that I’m doing something right,” she said.
For more information, go to diamondvalleytropicals.ca.
