Midnight Thoughts…

The War Room in Seattle has become the new Hunter Gatherer Lodge, and we just completed a 21 foot long wall of pothos behind their booths.  Pothos are amazing plants, easily overlooked, but perfect for beginners!  NASA studied houseplants to see which ones were best at filtering air, so that they would know what to put in the space station…and pothos was one of the BEST!  We have a few living walls installed at our store using woolly pockets, which are, so far, the easiest way to green a wall that we’ve found.  You can buy these at our shop to try one at your space!  Works great with herbs and edibles on a kitchen wall.  OH YEAH.  I’m making spaghetti, and I walk over to the wall and pick some fresh oregano for the sauce

Local company, Rotoluxe, is creating some amazing indoor and outdoor containers that LIGHT UP!  They have a soft glow, not in-your-face bright, more subtle like a bit of moonlight.  Nice   We have a few different shapes now available in the store, and can custom order any piece to suit different spaces.

So,  I’m at the store, a week until valentine’s day, wondering where the tradition comes from.  I found the history channels’ website to have an amazing story that traces back all the flower and gift giving.

Fascinating, really…

http://www.history.com/content/valentine/history-of-valentine-s-day

Interesting how different pieces of traditions and myths come together to create our modern day festivities.  I love the fact that part of the reason February 14 is the “official” day is because of a belief that this is when birds begin to mate.  Too sweet

It’s not just about sending red roses because you have to, but bringing flowers to your honey to celebrate love and the beginning of spring.  What could be better?

This year, I’ve designed a dozen red roses in a tall rectangular vase with hand collected stones at the base and a single sprig of jasmine winding up and inside the glass….

oh la la…looks like a forest of roses.  It’s just pretty AND different than the usual.  Yum.

Our new woolly pockets just arrived…hooray!  I am so excited to plant these guys up and create some beautiful green walls with them.  It’s an amazingly simply system that consists of felt pockets lined on the walls.  Really user friendly   They are ready for sale in our gorgeous urban botanical oasis here in industrial Ballard.

Little ecosystems…it’s like having a piece of the forest in your house.  What could be better?  Living, green things just make me smile.

We’ve been working on creating some interesting terrariums using Roost glass pieces, terrarium happy plants, and hand collected fun stuff–pebbles from the beach, a piece of bark found after a storm…all combine to make lovely indoor gardens that are easy to care for.

When you walk into our shop, you’ll find a collection of different ones, different sizes and shapes, and all ready to go to good homes.   These are my little babies this week

I have been enamored with these little guys since I saw them ten years ago at a now closed plant shop in Pike’s Place Market in Seattle.

The tumbleweed-looking ball on the left is the plant in it’s “dormant” state.  All you have to do is put that ball in a bowl of water, and it explodes into the green, living plant on the right.  They can live for 50 years with no water, just sleeping, and once they hit water again they come alive.  Hence the name…

We’ve been selling these with cute, black bowls shaped like palms.  An awesome gift, if you ask me!

I think these are really special, and can have great significance for particular times in someone’s life.  When I first discovered these, a great friend of mine had just passed away, and I bought one for everyone close to her.   I thought they made sweet little symbolic gifts, and most of those people still tell me they have their plant, and pull it out every so often to remember…

On a lighter note

Many people get a resurrection plant simply because they feel like they don’t have a “green thumb”, and this is the easiest of easy plants to care for.

Hooray, resurrection plants!  Can you tell I am just a little excited about these guys?

While on the topic of easy to care for plants, I wanted to mention our tillandsia collection.  Their common name “Airplants” just doesn’t do them justice.  Sounds like some cheesy thing glued inside a shell painted with the name of your vacation destination.  But there are so many varieties, and interesting textures and colors to these lovely little plants.  Oh, and did I mention, they are another EASY plant to care for?  Matt’s been working in the woodshop all day to create little homes for these guys, and I think so far he’s come up with some really pretty wood pieces that incorporate them in interesting ways.   We’re brainstorming lots of fun ideas along these lines…

I will talk more about tillandsia in my next blog… for now, I need to get some lunch!

so, just before the store opened, we thought it would be fun to figure out how to build a green wall.  After exhaustive online research, we tried a few prototypes, and came up with one that is WORKING and BEAUTIFUL!

Matt made a white oak frame for the grid system that we developed, and the watering top and catch pan are hidden in the frame.  There are rare earth magnets holding the catch pan “hiding” piece, so all you have to do is water and wait, then click off the bottom frame piece to empty the catch pan.  super simple, super pretty…we are so happy to see our little science experiment on the wall at the shop.

Wow, after 3 and half months, we have managed to go from our small studio to our new retail shop.  Serious blood, sweat, and tears…and all so totally worth it.  I think matt and i are still in shock, sort of, to get to spend our entire days doing what we love–it’s a dream, really…

I will post some pics soon

I am trying to upload photos, so this is all a test!

It’s hard to believe…we are so close to opening our beautiful space in Ballard!  Since we signed our lease in September, we have torn out walls, ripped up carpet, put in lighting, painted…and it looks truly amazing.  Matt and I are both super excited for this new adventure to unfold…

I have a few photos from before the remodel, so that we can see a fun, before-and-after view of our progress.  I will post them once I figure out how to do so

In the meantime, our living wall project is moving right along.  It is going to be a gorgeous combination of science-fair persistence and botanical design!