By B.C. Manion
Eve Johnson had an early introduction to the world of botanical beauty.
“When I was a child, we lived about 15 minutes away from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. They had a beautiful display of bonsai,” she said.
Her parents would take her to the garden and drop her off, and she would help there for the day. She was 8.
Johnson’s love of art also began when she was small.
“My mother was an art teacher, so I learned how to do pottery at a very young age. We had our own kiln and potter’s wheel,” she said.
When she was young, however, she had no idea she would combine those interests to create Eve’s Garden Inc., a company that has a retail garden and gift shop in Land O’ Lakes and sells wholesale nationwide to nurseries, gift shops, large grocery chains including Publix and Winn-Dixie, drugstore chains including Walgreens and CVS and to Disney, including the Chinese and Japanese pavilions at Epcot.
Patrons dropping by at the retail shop at 5602 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. will find bonsai specimens and lucky bamboo plants, as well as gift items such as wind chimes, incense, scented candles, plant containers, vases, bonsai kits, fountains and garden benches.
To the uninitiated, the art of bonsai may seem intimidating.
But Johnson said it’s easy to learn. And, she’s quick to share her love for this ancient art, which uses shaping, trimming and wiring to develop a plant specimen that is a miniature version of what’s found in nature.
“You want the bonsai to look like a natural tree in the landscape,” Johnson said. “The more it looks like a tree in the natural landscape, the more value it has.”
Eve’s, which has one of the largest bonsai nurseries in the nation, offers customers an enormous selection.
Indeed, with so many choices it may be difficult to decide which bonsai is the best one to buy.
Johnson offers her customers this advice: “Walk out there, look around for the tree, see what catches your eye.”
Choosing a bonsai is strictly a matter of personal preference, she said.
For the uninitiated, caring for bonsai may seem a bit intimidating.
Johnson said there’s nothing to fear.
She offers this advice for trimming a bonsai: “Envision yourself sitting under your tree and looking at the shape and the style of the bonsai, and then you can trim away.”
For those who want to learn more, the shop offers demonstrations on Saturdays and employees are always willing to answer questions posed by customers, Johnson said.
Bonsai lovers can derive enormous satisfaction from the same plant for decades, said Johnson, noting that as a tree ages, its value increases.
“In ancient traditions, bonsai were passed down from generation to generation,” Johnson said.
Items at her gift and garden shop range from a dollar for a stalk of lucky bamboo to $15,000 for a Chinese juniper bonsai that’s more than 100 years old.
“When people think of bonsai, they (often) think of the Japanese juniper,” Johnson said. That’s a simple specimen to manage because it only requires water and light.
Beyond junipers, she offers golden dewdrop, gardenia, cherry blossom, bougainvillea, star cypress and ponytail palm bonsai, to name only a few.
The shop also offers lucky bamboo, in single stalks or in arrangements.
“Lucky bamboo came to this country because in the Orient they would give lucky bamboo as a gift of good luck and good fortune,” Johnson said. The plant was often bestowed at the birth of a child, at a wedding or other special occasion.
Caring for lucky bamboo is very easy, she said.
“If you have a room that’s very dark, it’s almost impossible to kill,” she said. “All it needs is water.”
Besides a wide variety of plants, the shop also has a huge selection of containers – with or without plants.
“We have over a thousand different shapes and styles,” said Johnson. “I design all of my own containers and my own arrangements.”
She makes prototypes of the containers and sends pictures of them to her manufacturer in China.
Sometimes, the design she intends to produce gets lost in translation. So Johnson sends it back to China, for another attempt. That process continues until she is satisfied with the result.
The plants and gifts aren’t the shop’s only attraction, Johnson said.
“We have a beautiful koi pond,” Johnson said. “We have a gazebo, where people can sit. Sometimes we’ll have people sit and have their lunch there. Or, they’ll sit and read a book.
“It’s very serene.”
For more information about Eve’s Garden Inc., call (813) 996-5012 or visit www.evesgardengifts.com
Customer Appreciation Day
When: Saturday, May 7, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
What: Event will include informational sessions on bonsai and lucky bamboo, free food, free drinks, free gifts.
Why: The event aims to thank existing customers and to welcome new ones.
Where: Eve’s Garden Inc., 5602 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
For more information: (813) 996-5012 or visit www.evesgardengifts.com
