A stone’s throw from the Tapatío landmarks Teatro Degollado and Hotel Frances, a unique retail store with a long and interesting history peeks out beneath graceful, yellow and white arches.
One may think a farm and garden supply store out of place on this piece of urban real estate, but the constant flow of customers in and out of La Casa del Hortelano tells a different story.
“We used to sell our products — seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and so on — throughout the entire republic,” said Dulce Ballesteros who, with her sister Martha, owns and operate La Casa del Hortelano (House of the Garden). “Now, because of decisions my father made about offering credit, we don’t sell nationwide, just regionally. But the business has been here in the same building since 1930.”
At that time, Dulce explains, it had a different and unusual name — El Graf Zepelín (The Graf Zepellin) — which had been a sewing notions store at the same location. That store was converted in 1930 by a previous owner to a garden supply store, which kept the old name (which recalls a famed German passenger zeppelin that travelled the globe in the early 20th century). Then, during and after World War II, anti-German sentiment was so high in the United States that the store had to change its name because its U.S.-based suppliers balked at selling seeds to a store with a German name.Besides seeds, perhaps the store’s most important products are substances to control insect and fungus pests. “Managing these products is not easy,” Dulce said. “We need a permit from the federal agency SAGARPA to sell them and it isn’t common to have this permit.”
So La Casa del Hortelano acts as a consultant to customers who buy these poisonous products. Dulce is particularly qualified to give this advice.
“Dulce is an agricultural engineer. She studied at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara,” said her sister and co-owner Martha.
In addition to these hazardous materials La Casa del Hortelano also offers organic farming products and advice, said Martha. These can be organic compost, fertilizer made from sheep dung, garlic extract spray, or even ground tobacco leaves, which control certain problems in grass.
“Organic products are new to Mexico,” added Martha. “They give better protection to people who use them.”
As for seeds, of which the store offers a wide variety, Martha explained that GMO or transgenic seeds are “a project that is still in the future. We don’t have GMO seeds, although we do have hybrids. The seeds that we sell at the counter must have a thin layer of fungicide on them, for germination. But we have some regionally produced seeds that are sold differently, such as alfalfa, squash and chile de arbol. They are not coated with fungicide.”
Martha, who speaks fluent English, commented that although women in the agriculture business are not common, “we have been in this field all our lives. Our father had all the elements and experience to be a farmer and he taught us.”
And it was the father, Alvaro Ballesteros, who was the link between the days of El Graf Zepelín and the present.
“Our father started to work as an accountant at El Graf Zepelín in 1936. At the end of the 1960s, the owner got sick and he didn’t have children, so his brother proposed that some trusted employees take over. Then in 1971, my father bought it. He ran it until he died in 2007.”
A memorial plaque affixed to the front of the store remembers Alvaro Ballesteros and his dedication and pride in the family business. “Porque los arboles mueren de pie” [Because trees die standing up].
La Casa del Hortelano, Pedro Moreno 210, Colonia Centro, Guadalajara, (33) 3614-3665, 3614-2102, www.lacasadelhortelano.com.mx, open Monday to Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.