The Plant Odyssey has been saved.....

18 years ago

I spoke briefly with Libby today and she told me that the "City of Birmingham" came to her yesterday and told her that whatever it was she needed to keep afloat they would provide without hesitation. I'm still crying tears of joy (really).

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Comments (5)

Dave_from_the_Hills
18 years ago
Great!!! That is incredible news. I went to both places on Friday after work, and they were packed with people. I only managed to buy a few herbs at Plant Odyssey... I needed more time at the Plant Odyssey Nursery.

I wonder what ultimately will happen, now. Hopefully Libby's pleas brought in some new customers who will now return regularly to both places. Unfortunately, as the banker told her, she would probably be doing much better business if she wasn't on Southside. Not many people are in that area on the weekends when most people are out shopping for plants. And it's hard to shop there during the week, because the closing time is 5:30pm. Even if you scoot out of work early, that barely leaves any time to browse. Also, not opening on Sunday cuts into potential time for shopping as well. I know it's hard for these smaller nurseries to compete with the mega-stores that can stay open all of the time.
john_trussville
18 years ago
Wonderful news, Nelson. But I have to wonder what exactly the city can do to help her. I don't think they're in the business of providing loans or tax breaks to small businesses. Am I wrong? I just hope that whoever this city representative was really knew what they were talking about. Libby has been an institution on Southside for so many years...it just wouldn't be the same without her.
I was at the nursery yesterday afternoon & had to park about a block away....lots of buying folks there. The paths that are normally just wide enough to squeeze through are now four to five feet wide. Lots of stuff gone, but still plenty of good buys. Hope everyone continues to support her businesses.
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I spent my lunch break there. A reporter was interviewing Libby for a newspaper (I assume, because there were no tv cameras). A guy was taking pictures of the grounds(of the 6th Avenue South location) to go with the article. Of course I had to buy some plants. Normally I don't let myself buy peonies, but I had to make an exception this time. Then at the Nursery I saw some shrubs that struck my fancy so......I am thinking about going back after work to finish going through the Nursery, since I had to check out and get back to work before I had gone through the whole place. She has such a lot to choose from! While in the Nursery, I saw someone I once knew. (The fact that I noticed someone who was not a plant is amazing in itself, lol.) Only now, reading back over these posts, have I started to wonder if it was you, Mimi Carol, there on your lunch, too. Are your (maiden name) initials C.A.M., you have a wonderful singing voice, and have a brother whose name begins with "A"?
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Nelson, I'm so sorry to hear about the nursery. I am in Huntsville, and within the past year, we have had two main nurseries close, and a third basically "sell out" to a garden furniture company. Each one said they simply couldn't compete with HD and Lowe's. Sad, because all of my favorite plants have come from nurseries, and not from "chains". Anyway - I'm sure those that bought from you appreciated you, and will miss you... Will you please provide directions from I-65, north of Birmingham? I've never been south of Cullman, but I might be able to make a "speed run" this weekend. Thanks... and best wishes... Meadow Lark
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Its hard to say WHAT is up with this thing, or where it is going ! hahhhaahahahha It will be interesting to see what the future leaves look like on this thing. It does tend to have larger leaves than the Undulata in the past. And the plants it was with get fairly tall. It was also not this weird last year..It just had a white stripe down each leaf. Thats one of the main reasons I left the flowers on the plants and let them seed last year, I thought maybe some other strange volunteer may show up.. However I can't say I see any tiny seedlings anywhere else. Possibly they would be later to show...
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Oh well, town and gown being a million miles apart, it is unlikely we would have met. Truly though, in 35 years of living here, i know a scant handful uni types (but only because they stayed on in Cambridge) and only 2 actual students. Two completely different worlds, only colliding in the event of gate-crashing a May ball or (in my case) making use of the bathrooms and laundry facilities during my Cambridge squatting days. I did, however, run a little side business for a few years with a photographer friend of mine - we used to photograph all the rowing events from the riverside at Fen Ditton - I had a colour key and a cheap dictaphone to record each crew as they whizzed past. We would rush home, stay up all night to develop the film and get the proofs out then I would mount a print onto some card and using my very best calligraphy, would fill in the title, crew name, bow, stroke, cox etc. Despite every race/boat/event looking absolutely identical, most of the rowers ordered a few copies of every single race across the whole season (we did Henley and Tideway Head as well). It was an easy and lucrative money-spinner for me, enabling me to go globetrotting for months on end (which is how I got to Greece for a summer).
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Dave_from_the_Hills
18 years ago
It could be Operation New Birmingham. They are fairly aggressive about keeping businesses open downtown, from what I understand. My friends own an Italian restaurant on 20th Street, and ONB pays for all of their customer parking validation in nearby garages. Of course, that's a far cry from bailing out a failing business, but they may have programs for that as well.
ken_waites
18 years ago
They would do better by staying open later in the evening during the week during the warm months when days are long, opening on Sunday and closing on Monday.
roseyp8255
18 years ago
Yes, I agree. Speaking from experience, there are numerous shops in Montgomery, including a couple of nurseries, that I have never visited, b/c they close right around 5 or 5:30 - which is the time i get off every day.

If anyone is passing on these ideas to her, i would think the change in hours for warmer months is something she should definitely look into. Particularly since the way i understand it, she is an area that is mostly business now (I don't know a whole lot about Bham, obviously).

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The Plant Odyssey has been saved.....

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