Michael Lanier, owner of The Bosque plant shop inside MonOrchid, said he is set to open another plant shop “for people who like weird plants” in the Garfield neighborhood this weekend.
Pueblo will be on the corner of 10th and Pierce streets and will focus on specialty and landscaping plants, unlike The Bosque, which features plants that can be easily maintained in apartments.
Pueblo’s soft opening will be held this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with its official grand opening the following Saturday, February 11.
Lanier wants Pueblo to be a “plant museum,” and he said he is not looking for a certain customer base.
“My clientele will be people within the neighborhood,” Lanier said. “It will be the artists, and the old residents, and everyone in between.”
Garfield resident and artist Andrew Pielage said he is excited about Pueblo’s opening because it is a sign that the Garfield neighborhood could be as promising as Grand Avenue for entrepreneurs and artists.
“I think this could be a new little artist cove,” said Pielage, who is set to open his own gallery in the Garfield neighborhood this year.
Pueblo’s patio includes a greenhouse, a horse trough for carnivorous and water plants as well as rows of cacti and ferns.
A 10-foot tree inhabits the indoor space, which Lanier said is not actively up for sale because he likes the aesthetic it adds to the store. Maps of Phoenix from the early 1900s dot the walls as a reminder of the locale’s history.
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Lanier also plans to use Pueblo to improve the streetscape of the community. Looking back on his childhood in the Valley, Lanier remembers an intense desire for more trees on his block to play under and hopes his store’s plants will fill that role for the next generation of children.
Beginning in either March or April, Pueblo will give away mesquite and palo verde saplings to local residents at market cost, or for however much he can get it from the grower. He estimates this cost will end up being around $20 per tree. The only catch is residents must sign a pseudo-contract promising to plant the trees within five feet of a city sidewalk to help with the city’s walkability in summer.
The Bosque employee Taylor Geiss said she is looking forward to the opening of the new shop and working under Lanier.
“He was gracious and took me in and taught me everything I know,” Geiss said. “I feel comfortable working under Michael and I trust him completely.”
Geiss and all The Bosque employees will work in both locations, but she said she is excited about working in Pueblo because the residential location feels more authentic than Roosevelt Row.
More information on Pueblo and The Bosque can be found at thebosque.life or on the shop’s Instagram.
Contact the reporter at rachel.banks@asu.edu.
