Derek Garden Centre

Derek Garden Centre combines a plant shop with a full landscaping contractor, which is an unusual pairing and a useful one. You can walk in for a pot, a seed tray or a houseplant, or you can hand over an entire outdoor space and have it designed, excavated, planted, irrigated and maintained by the same people. The business sits on Canon Road in Qormi, a central town a short drive from Valletta.

The company works across Malta and Gozo for private homeowners, hotels and offices, and for public bodies. It is listed in our directory of garden centres in Malta, and its portfolio of public gardens makes it one of the more visible names in the sector. For anyone buying a home on the island, the guidance in our Malta relocation guide is a good companion to a garden plan.

Five generations and a palazzo garden

The Derek story is long. The family business traces its history back to 1840, when Pawlu Galea began as a small trader in the meat industry, and it passed from father to son and later between brothers through two world wars. In the 1970s and 1980s it grew by processing as well as importing livestock and supplied local markets, hotels and restaurants.

The turn towards plants came in 1988, when the fourth generation, Melosaul Balzan, began importing and selling plants and trees, including trees brought in from Tuscany. Customers started asking him for gardening advice, and the landscaping department grew out of those conversations. In 2017 Nick Balzan, the fifth generation, took charge of landscaping while Melosaul continued to run the nursery and garden.

The garden centre itself occupies a building that once served as a hunting lodge for the Knights of Malta and belonged to the family. Melosaul converted the palazzo into a shop and offices, refurbished the garden and turned abandoned fields into planted grounds with seating and paved areas. Readers curious about the order's legacy can read our Knights of Malta guide. Part of the grounds holds a cactus collection planted years ago by a family member, and visitors are invited to enjoy it during opening hours.

Landscaping, civil works and excavation

Landscaping is the core service. With more than thirty years of experience, the team handles private, commercial and public spaces and manages each stage, from site preparation and planting to paving, turf and finishing touches. The team includes more than twenty specialists, and over 150 projects have been completed.

Civil works cover land levelling, removal of obstacles, retaining walls, stairs, terraces and outdoor living areas, as well as water features such as pools or ponds and paved paths and patios. Excavation provides the groundwork on which a lasting garden depends, and the machinery and tools are described as top of the range.

Quality, ethics and low upkeep are the working values: environmentally friendly methods, cost-effective quotes for any budget, reliable equipment and staff, and a quick response to every enquiry. A garden that is easy to maintain is a sensible goal in a climate where plants must cope with heat, wind and thin, calcareous soil.

Custom irrigation systems keep planting healthy through the year and adjust automatically to the garden's needs, saving time and water. That matters in Malta, where summers are long and dry, as our Malta weather guide explains month by month.

Green walls, roof gardens and indoor plants

Urban sites often have more wall and roof than ground, and Derek specialises in using them. Green walls come in natural and artificial versions and are designed to improve indoor and outdoor environments, add thermal insulation and look striking. The company has installed a living wall at the Marsa Ħamrun bypass, with its own irrigation, and an elevated roof garden in Ħamrun aimed at improving life in a dense residential area.

Indoor planting is another strand. Experts choose and install plants, natural or high quality artificial, and maintain them through watering, pruning, pest control and fertilising. Interior work includes a new building at Ramla Bay Resort and plant schemes for restaurants, where lighting, air conditioning, layout and footfall are assessed before a plan is made.

The restaurant planting work is a good example of the thinking behind the service. Greenery is chosen for the light, air conditioning, layout and foot traffic of the room, then installed and cared for so that it survives daily trading. The same approach applies to offices, hotels and shops, where plants soften a space and make it more pleasant for staff and guests.

Garden maintenance rounds off the offer, using sustainable methods to keep gardens healthy. If you own a holiday home and want it cared for between visits, ask about maintenance when you enquire.

Public gardens and landmark projects

Derek's portfolio includes public work that visitors to Malta may well have walked through. Ġnien il-Larinġ in Ħal Lija is a 750 square metre public garden turned from an inaccessible plot into a community space with accessible paths, seating, a loggia with facilities, irrigation and planting. The Misraħ il-Karmelitani garden in Żurrieq replaced an asphalt area with a public park, and a rehabilitation of 4,000 square metres next to the Simar Nature Reserve in St Paul's Bay restored a natural setting.

In Valletta the company has been responsible since 2022 for the landscaping of the Green Festival and its Infiorata, which transforms St George's Square into a temporary urban garden each spring. The 2026 edition used 100 trees, 12,000 flowers and 45,000 shrubs. Our Valletta guide and the Upper Barrakka Gardens page are good starting points for a visit.

Smaller and private projects show the range of the work. Terramar Oasis blends Mediterranean and tropical design for a home, Green Horizon pairs a lawn and subtle lighting with modern lines, and Verdant Tapestry refreshes a front garden with grass, palms and shrubs that link to a pool. Other jobs include a zen garden created from a bed of concrete, a private villa where mature trees were lifted into the grounds, and the restoration of Ġnien Dom Mintoff in Paola.

Elsewhere the list includes a regeneration site in Birgu with a 400 square metre oval arena, a Mediterranean garden at a boutique hotel in that town, and the renovation of an outdoor space at the Ministry of Education in Floriana. Our guides to Vittoriosa, also called Birgu and the Three Cities cover the area, while the guide to Gozo is useful for the open-air theatre built at a primary school in San Lawrenz. Derek is part of the GEB Landscaping consortium, which won a five-year tender from January 2023 for landscaping and maintenance of selected areas in Malta.

The shop and how to get started

The online shop and the garden centre stock indoor and outdoor plants, bouquets, seeds, tools, watering and irrigation items, fertilisers and pesticides, pots, planters and saucers, ornaments and all-in-one packages. Prices shown on the site include €1.65 for a sowing tray, €23.00 for a Ficus lyrata and €137.00 for a giant antique-finish clay pot.

Before you visit or call, it helps to think about how the space will be used, how much shade and sun it gets and whether you need a water supply, seating or lighting. Bring a photograph or a rough sketch, and say whether you want a one-off planting job or a full design and build. Because the business combines a nursery, a contracting team and its own civil works crew, a single point of contact can carry a scheme from the first sketch to the final bloom.

Its blog carries articles on gardening, including advice on soil health and fertiliser in Malta's hot, dry climate, and on choosing indoor plants for restaurants. If you are exploring the island, our list of things to do in Malta will help you plan a day around a garden visit, and the page about Malta gives context.

To start a project or ask about plants, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to Derek Garden Centre.