Friday, March 29, 2024

Search for the proper plant led to garden business

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It was the search for suitable trees that prompted Angela Tareen to start A-Scape Gardens, the weekend garden shop she operates next to the Rest Awhile Country Store.

"I've been working with plants all my life. But the idea of the nursery came up last year," when she was looking for suitable landscaping plants. "There is nowhere around here to get trees," she said. Tareen was sure other people were looking for suitable landscape plants for their property, and she saw the opportunity to help them out and start her own business at the same time. "Mostly we have trees and shrubs. Native and ornamental." In the spring she sells bedding plants too; most of them are gone now, but she still has a number of landscape and house plants for sale. Plants like being transplanted best in the spring and fall, she said, but they will survive on summer days if they are watered sufficiently, she said.

Along with the perennials she has dish gardens, "we call them instant gardens," planted with annual flowers and grasses that will bloom all summer. Next spring customers can bring the dish back and get the garden replanted, she said.

She likes to help people pick out the best plant for their property, she said, and has a library of reference books to help in those cases where there's uncertainty. She can also help people make the best choices among plants that are native to the North Central Washington desert, "because they're well suited for the conditions we have here." For homeowners who have a brand new site and want it to look natural, "I can even get the native flowers."

Tareen said she will take requests, whatever plants people are looking for, "I do my best to find it and get it for them." Her daughter lives in Seattle and helps her find stuff that's not so available around North Central Washington, she said.

Tareen is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio; she lived in Seattle for a number of years before moving to Pateros six years ago. "This was all new to me." But she was tired of the clouds and rain. "I needed the sunshine."

Her garden shop is located directly outside Rest Awhile, and she does the flowers and landscaping for the fruit stand. Last summer she did very good business with about three times as much space; this year she decided to go smaller, getting a late start due to the cool spring. As people get to know her and her business, she will have more variety to choose from, she said.

A-Scape Gardens is open Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and during the week by appointment. Tareen can be reached at (509) 630-6904.

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