Photos courtesy of Van Belle Nursery
Even in the last few weeks before Bill Van Belle passed away, his passion for plants and the thrill of being part of the nursery industry was as strong as ever.
In between his treatments for the cancer that eventually won out, he would feel strong enough to tour around the nursery by car or in his golf cart, still marveling at the magic of plants rooting out in early spring: “It still gives me a thrill,” he would say.
After reading a trip report from a Van Belle staff member talking about long travel days, diner food and the promising grower visits, he commented, “It still makes my adrenaline rush.”
He lived out that passion for more than 50 years since founding Van Belle Nursery with his wife, Grace, in 1973. And that passion helped create a thriving business with a North American-wide reach and a team of hundreds of industry professionals continuing to build the business, fueled by their own passion and wits — a fulfillment of Van Belle’s dream.
For anyone who knew “Bill the nurseryman,” you knew him as an optimist, nonconformist, inventor, joke-teller with a hearty laugh, man of faith and an occasional firebrand. He was also an aggressive but savvy founder who was comfortable taking calculated risks while understanding that mistakes were inevitable and even proof of pushing past too often accepted limitations.
Van Belle would often remind his son Dave, current president of Van Belle, and the team of leaders, “The guy who doesn’t do anything doesn’t make mistakes.” He operated that way himself through the years and set this tone as part of his legacy, encouraging Dave and team to embrace the freedom to take aggressive but thoughtful action without being motivated by fear.
Van Belle, who immigrated with his family from Holland to Canada in 1949 at the age of 4, recalled learning this way of living from his parents. After settling in Ontario with their four sons and one niece, his father Willem and mother Martha tried their hand at vegetable and cattle farming. Van Belle joked that his dad “didn’t know the front or hind end of a cow.”
His father kept trying different ventures, and eventually, the family found its way to growing ornamental plants, though that wasn’t always smooth. But, as Bill recalled, he respected his parents for pursuing different enterprises, and that they always found a way to make a living and support their family with dignity.
These experiences, along with his deep faith, allowed Van Belle to stay calm and think long-term even when circumstances threatened the survival of the business. His son Dave recalls when in 2012, the powerful Fraser River, flowing very near the nursery, threatened to flood the entire valley. Van Belle said to Dave, “Well, if the whole thing floods, don’t worry about it; we’ll start over again. I already did it once.”
In 1970, after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and Spanish from the University of Waterloo and a certificate in horticulture from the University of Guelph, Bill and his new wife Grace set off for a nine-month honeymoon road trip all the way to the Panama Canal and back. This kind of big adventure kicked off a lifetime of travelling passion for the couple and one he also instilled in his children and Van Belle as a company.
He was a lifelong learner, and he and Grace loved to visit nurseries all over the world to learn from other innovators, discovering new ways to do things better. He had an inventive mind, which he used to inspire Van Belle to stay at the leading edge of innovation. Examples of this include being the first to install the largest outdoor rolling bench system of its kind in North America, making it more efficient for staff and for land use; the first to use rice hulls for top-dressing plants; and the first to develop a potless, no-waste shipping system for shrub liners.
In 1973, after moving from Ontario to Abbotsford, British Columbia, and working for a local landscaping company, Van Belle and Grace decided to start Van Belle Nursery. Van Belle had discovered a strong Ontario market for nursery stock grown in British Columbia, and also a knack and love for rooting flowering shrub liners in their tiny backyard greenhouse.
The business took its first big leap with the purchase of the original 10-acre Van Belle Nursery growing facility. As the business grew, so did their family. They welcomed Dave, Carla, Juanita and Rob, who were taught the challenges and rewards of hard work at the nursery.
The new farm was the first of several growing facilities and led to growth, allowing Van Belle to begin supplying larger customers, like Canadian Tire garden centers and eventually major big-box retailers. Today, Van Belle Finished Plants serves major retailers throughout western Canada and in the U.S. from the Pacific Northwest to Midwest regions, supplying flowering shrubs, perennials, specialty annuals, tropicals and edibles.
The nursery took its second big leap in 1994 with the purchase of its Youngplant facility. It was another example of Van Belle’s boldness and vision. He saw an opportunity and market need and the chance to have greater control over the entire production process.
Since that time, Van Belle Youngplants has grown into a major industry supplier of shrub and now perennial liners. The facility is a few hundred yards from the original backyard where it all started and reflects the full circle story of how Van Belle’s passion for plants led to building a business of people who share his boldness and bias for action.
Van Belle was always a strong proponent of contributing to local and national nursery and landscape associations and was president of the British Columbia Nursery Landscape Association in the 1980s. He believed that by partnering together with other nurseries and celebrating each other’s accomplishments — competitors included — everyone could benefit more than by trying to do it alone.
This fundamental belief in the power of partnership remains a living part of the company culture today. This long-term commitment also made it even more special when the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association named Van Belle Nursery the Grower of the Year in 2016. This made Van Belle eligible for the International Grower of the Year Awards, where the business received the gold in the Young Plants category and a silver in the Finished Plants Plants and Trees category.
Throughout the years, and right to the end, Van Belle would spend time walking and talking with the staff of Van Belle and sharing a cup of coffee. His wife Grace, his lifelong partner of 55 years, passed away in February 2025, and these interactions helped keep his spirits up during his last months. He would reminisce about the good times and the challenges and talk about where he saw the market going and what new industry trends might be on the rise.
He would always talk about the plants, and yes, those roots. But most of all, whatever he talked about, he offered a unique sense of time-tested comfort and inspiration. He was proof that there are many reasons to be hopeful about what we can all accomplish if we follow his lead in recognizing the value and beauty of our product and if we keep a bias for action without fear, knowing not everything will work out exactly as planned.
As Van Belle said, the guy who didn’t do anything didn’t make any mistakes. He was certainly a man who did a lot and a man who will be remembered and missed deeply by his family, church community, hundreds of current and former employees and industry partners all over the world.
See Van Belle Nursery’s photo album tribute to Bill here.
A celebration of life service was held July 8 at Living Hope Christian Reformed Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia. A recorded livestream of the service is available here.