Cha-ching! (11-11-11)

Small is HUGE for this Seattle garden center

The world’s smallest retail nursery, Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center in Seattle, Wash., turns 10 years old this month and is leading the new miniature garden hobby into the most popular trend to hit the garden industry in a while. Industry professionals, garden center owners and growers are quickly discovering this huge surge in interest in the smallest of plants and the tiniest of gardens.

“Miniature gardening is the perfect blend of the two most popular hobbies in the world: gardening and miniatures. There is nothing else like it,” says Janit Calvo, founder of Two Green Thumbs.

The Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center was formed in 2001 after discovering that the art of gardening small was just too rich of an idea to let go. The miniature garden hobby is not new, but the staff's approach to it is. With the power and reach of the Internet, Two Green Thumbs has supplied quality products and services to new hobbyists, crafters and gardeners throughout the world, and the trend shows no signs of stopping.

These miniature, magical gardens are made of slow-growing plants that are “dwarf” and “miniature,” terms that describe the growth rate of the plant. The plants are combined with miniature accessories and in-scale patios to make real, living mini garden scenes - that can last for years in a container with minimal care. When planted correctly, the plants and trees stay in scale with each other to create a sustainable, true garden in miniature.

The company’s Mini Garden Guru blog and the Mini Garden Gazette newsletter are deeply saturated with all things miniature garden, and are sent all over the world, inspiring thousands to garden small.

And, in this case, small leads to some very big "Cha-Ching!"

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