The Greenhouse Odyssey By Lorraine Miller: Introduction
It’s hard to believe I started in the houseplant business nearly 50 years ago.
The key words here are ‘houseplant’ and ‘business’ because I knew nothing about either. It was simply this; in 1975, I had a college degree. I’d done some stuff, but I was absolutely lost about where my life was going. I needed a direction.
The idea of opening a plant shop came to me, not like a slow sprouting seed but like a Giant Sequoia falling on my head.
When it hit, I knew I had to act fast before I got cold feet. I had a few thousand dollars. I borrowed a few more from my Dad. I found a boarded-up building not far from the University of Utah. In the next two months I took the soap off the windows, refurbished (to the best of my budget) the interior, struggled to find wholesale plant suppliers, painted and hung my sign and ran a $2.50 classified in the University Chronicle, Wandering Jews looking for a Home. On July 5, 1975, The Grass Menagerie opened the door. I was on a path, a garden path you might say, with no idea where it might lead.
I hope to tell you the story of how Cactus & Tropicals grew to be the business that it is. In an odd way, growing a business is very much like raising a child. It is of you but it is not you. All the people who touch it help shape It. Customers, vendors, employees, contractors, friends and family alike contribute to its personality, its essence, it’s course. If a list were made of all the people who helped Cactus & Tropicals through its growth spurts, learning curves and anxiety attacks, it would reach to the moon. Some of their initials are embedded in the concrete sidewalk in the greenhouses.
I’m thinking too, about the people who touch and shape it today.
In 2002 Scott and Karin Pynes purchased Cactus & Tropicals. I have watched, with such great parental pride, as they continue to nurture and grow it. More than 20 people who worked for me work there still to this day. They boast that they have worked for Cactus & Tropicals longer than I did. The manager, Kathy Harbin, was my manager. She was my sidekick in wondering what to do next. We had a phrase, ‘think of everything’ and we really tried. I know she still does. Click here to learn more about the Cactus & Tropicals team.
The very word ’business’ implies making a profit. And of course, it must, in order to keep going. But a business can be so much more. It can create culture, values, community, caring, learning, aspiration and inspiration – a whole bundle of life affirming qualities.
From a fuzzy, impulsive idea, Cactus and Tropicals has grown to a dream come true. In the coming months I hope to tell you how.