A Cool New Place On 1st Street In Dubuque

I don't have a green thumb. I actually kill most of the plants I come in contact with.

Yesterday, after our Father's day meal at Breitbach's Country Dining in Balltown it was starting to look like rain. My sister, Carolyn, and her husband, Pippin, had come up from Marion to join us for the meal.

Carolyn is a huge plant aficionado. I had been driving by this new place called Planted. on 1st Street for some time and kept telling Carolyn the next time she's in town we have to stop by and check it out.

There were actually two reasons I wanted to stop by... one was to see the store, and the other was to see the store. Basically, in the late 80s and early 90s, my dad had a retail produce store in the same spot called The Produce Market.

I have many great memories of joining my dad during the summer months or on Saturday mornings and helping him fill the apples and oranges, writing specials on the windows and rolling the outside shade to the storefront in and out with an old fashioned crank.

Stepping in on Sunday it looked totally different. They've obviously done quite a bit of updating. New floors, windows and paint. It was totally different from what I remember, but they did a really nice job on updating the space.

Carolyn looked like a kid in a candy store. She was pointing out this plant and that plant...

Planted. has a nice variety to choose from, like little succulents to larger, more exotic plants.

Jacob got a kick out of the Venus fly traps. There was really a lot of neat stuff.

I thought one of the neat things about the store was they had some inexpensive smaller plants for a plant-newbie, and some larger, more exotic plants for the person with a really good green thumb.

I had a minute to chat with the owner who told me about her schooling in Iowa and her recent adventure to Florida where she brought back some unique plants for the store. I asked her about the most expensive plant in the store and I couldn't believe my ears... but I think you should stop in and ask her for yourself!

Planted. also features plant-themed art and gifts, custom potting services and a DIY potting bar.

My sister Carolyn said there were two other things that she really appreciated about the store. One was they include a handy card in each plant, so you know exactly what you're getting.

The other thing she liked was the folks at Planted. also included a 'care card' in each plant, so you know exactly what you need to do to take care of it properly.

Needless to say, I learned a lot. Carolyn and my wife both left with new plants and we all had a really nice experience in the store.

If you'd like to learn more, I'll include a link HERE TO THE PLANTED. WEBSITE.

It's a pretty cool store... if you're in the neighborhood I'd suggest you check it out.

~Chris Farber