All right.

As we continue our journey in the Near Northwest neighborhood.

This is one of my favorite spots here.

And if you love plants or if you don't, now you will.

We're at the botany shop and we are in the lot next door, which I just love.

This is a fantastic space since you guys have here.

Yes, this is our very first season for this space.

It really is a second store.

It's sort of the realization we had.

It's not just an expansion.

It really is a totally different space and different experience from the indoor space inside the shop.

What makes them different from each other?

Well, the biggest thing is probably the plants themselves.

So of course, indoors we're featuring, you know, indoor plants, things that want to be in your windowsill out here.

These are things that want to be in the ground.

They want to go through a winter.

They're hardy, but we're really focused on trees and shrubs and perennials.

So things are going to come back every year.

I love that, and you guys have such a great variety here.

What goes into making the decision on what you want to offer.

So we really try and keep it changing and moving throughout the season.

So we're focused on bringing in things that are going to be looking good in this moment.

So if you have a hole in your garden, say in June or July, the plants that we're featuring should help you to fill that hole with some flowers, some interest, things like that.

So really trying to time our availability to what you might want to see in your garden as well.

Now you guys have had some space before for the past couple of years.

Tell me what went into making the decision to bring it this lot next door?

Yeah.

So we've been piloting this idea in our parking lot for a few seasons, doing, you know, just like a pop up plug sale here and there.

And then the response and reaction has been great.

And so now this is sort of our way to have them available on the regular for folks who want to do sort of their own little native plantings, their own, you know, long conversion work.

And then in the process, there's also sort of, you know, we brought in this community aspect to the space as well.

So that was the community aspect involved.

So our biggest, our two biggest things this year are the Portage Farm stands, which is our neighborhood farmer's market that's been running for several seasons just up the street.

We sort of adopted it into this space this year.

You know, we have power, we have Wi-Fi.

We take care of all the tents and all the tables.

So we really just need to sort of encourage our vendors, you know, focus on your product and focus on your customers.

So that's the only thing you have to worry about for an outdoor market, which takes a lot of the burden away from other outdoor markets, which, you know, we've also participated.

So we know.

Right.

Exactly.

So how many vendors do you guys have here?

So between 8 and 10 is typically what we have.

And it's a pretty good mix between, you know, produce and eggs.

The only thing we don't have yet is dairy.

So if there's anyone listening who maybe knows a local dairy or cheese vendor, we'd love to connect.

But otherwise we sort of have all the bases covered.

Yeah.

Awesome.

And that's happening just on Saturdays, right?

Most Saturdays.

And there's one Saturday month usually that, more offer sort of alternating with our Linden Av Farmers market.

But yeah, pretty much every Saturday between now and October.

And we have the full schedule on our website.

I love that you guys have other markets kind of popping up throughout the year, too.

We do.

So we also are hosting our own maker markets, and these are full day events rather than the Portage farm stands, which is mostly just a half a day.

So these are a different and rotating, curated selection of vendors throughout the year.

Our next big one is Plant Pride for our anniversary, which is July 19th.

Awesome, awesome.

All right, let's take a little tour.

Sure.

Yeah.

It's cute little.

Yeah.

So here's our our camper.

This has become both like a photo op.

And it has tons of beautiful, wonderful merchandise inside.

And the kids love it.

We've got some games in there on the weekends.

All of our plant selection of course.

So these are some of our I call this the Last chance Plants shelf.

So they're not on sale, but they are sort of the lowest of the stock.

So like we probably won't be getting them back in for a minute.

I have a couple of these in my yard.

Yeah.

Yeah it's horrible.

They are.

Yeah.

This is great for shade.

Adds a little pop of color for shade.

The crimson of course are great for sun and full sun conditions as well.

So when people come here because this to me looks like a succulent.

It is.

Yeah, it is, but I can go outside.

Yep.

This is a hardy succulent.

Yeah.

So it's going to want to go outside and we'll come back every year for you.

So will you help folks who are coming like me, who are completely clueless when it comes to blue?

Oh, absolutely.

Yes.

We like to say it's just matchmaking.

So, you know, it's sort of aligning the plant with your conditions and how you want to garden and care for plants.

So simply that's what I like.

This is well, there's some people who like more intricate and more colorful.

Absolutely do.

Right.

Yeah.

Most definitely.

What kind of options do you have for those folks?

So we have some of the show your perennials like this, digitalis here, which is still has a few buds left but is going through its bloom, some cone flowers that are just about to break into.

But flower, is that the Indiana state flower?

I'm not sure.

To tell you the truth, I think it is awesome.

We love that.

We've got some of our native mountain mints here as well, which are also some of my favorites.

Oh, And.

Oh, yeah, give it a rub especially.

It's got a really wonderful sort of like, herby mint fragrance.

It is edible.

Yeah, but it won't take over your garden the way that most culinary mint will.

So people, a lot of times you'll hear mint and sort of like freak out and back away for years to get mint out of my garden.

That will not be the case with this one.

Okay.

Yep.

And it's much stronger for pollinators as well.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

And talk about the importance of pollination right now.

Yeah.

So I know that's a big deal.

It is.

So I mean basically without pollinators we don't have food.

I mean that's sort of the short version of the story.

And so what we can start to do in a lot of our gardens is offer them respite and food and habitat so that, they have places to live out their lives and have a great, prosperous life cycle.

And again, our lawns represent one of the best opportunities to make that switch happen.

And it also is just a way for us to feel empowered and enabled when everything else feels out of control, we can plant plants in the ground.

We will have bees come to our lawn, we will grow tomatoes like it's just there's so much, agency that comes with gardening.

Yes, absolutely.

So yeah, I like this.

Yeah.

We've got the yarrow here, some more akin to some salvia.

That's just, on its tail end, Wild Kleinen, which is one of my favorites.

This is not the quinone that you would make in the drink, necessarily, but it is one of our, again, native prairie plants and deeply rooted, really just durable plants.

One of the important to note to everything that you have here is appropriate for the area, right?

So everything is hardy.

Yeah.

So they will come back every winter.

Not everything is native, necessarily.

But we tend to lean more towards those native species.

Okay.

But something like this.

Salvia, it's safe to plant here.

Exactly.

Same here.

Okay.

Nothing that will escape your yard and do harm in other places.

Yeah, that's all right.

That's our focus for sure.

And then you guys also have some other garden stuff happening around on the edges.

Talk to me about what you're working on here so you can kind of see, behind our shelves here and along the edges of the lot.

We're starting to work on some demonstration gardens.

And so the idea with this is that, you know, if you're interested in taking home a plant that we have on the shelf, but it's maybe not blooming yet or it's a smaller plant like one of our plugs.

This will let you know what to expect.

This will sort of help you know, what it's going to do when you get it home.

Because to sell something that's just cute and tiny, you don't know what that's what's going to happen.

Exactly, exactly.

And I love using like the app I have like the C app.

So you can scan something and figure out what it might look like that good things like that too.

Okay.

And for those folks who want to come into the shop, let's talk indoor plants.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, Ari, inside the shop, she is our plant care wizard and plant expert.

She can do custom plant, orders as well.

So if there's something really specific you're looking for, you know, I want a big bird of Paradise or a big palm for the corner of my house.

She can hook you up with those.

Okay.

But she keeps our plants in great condition, tries to keep the stock, you know, moving and grooving and different things coming in all the time.

But, you know, we have everything for the plant parents that I kill everything.

Or that needs to thrive on neglect or for the plant parents that, you know, want to baby their plants and want to just love on them a lot.

Yeah.

And and people like me who just don't know what they're doing.

Absolutely.

Yep.

We're here to help in both respects.

Yeah, I love it.

Okay.

Where can people get more information about your hours and how to visit you?

Visit botany dot co.

It's our new website.

Okay.

Awesome.

Well thank you so much.

It was great seeing the new space out here.

You guys got to come out.

How many days a week?

I mean you can come on any day week but for the weekends.

Yep.

So for the self is open Friday through Sunday.

But the markets.

Yeah the market days are Saturday.

Oh perfect.

Okay.

Well we'll see you guys out here