Random Acts
of Blogging 

by Your Head Miniature Gardener, Janit Calvo
(It's pronounce "Janet" by the way - I changed it years ago,
just to be different. Always the artist, eh?)

"I'm sure we'll laugh about it later..."

Two Green Thumbs' office, workshop and storage room had to be torn apart and put back together due to a flood. We had 10" of rain within a 24 hour period. The earth couldn't drink it fast enough!

No, we didn't document any of the mess, Silly!

And no, you can't see my new studio either. It doesn't photograph very well and there are top-secret-squirrel things going on in there too!

Wags to Riches!

Two Green Thumbs combined efforts with a fellow Miniature Gardener on San Juan Island (off the coast of Washington State). We donated a miniature garden to a charity auction that helps out an animal rescue and adoption agency. I hope it went well! 

Look what I found in one of my miniature gardens today!

Best of Show! Again!

We wanted to do an exhibit that had some sort of water feature. We decided on the houseboat theme because it screamed Seattle. 

We'll get some more pictures up so you can see more details....

Two Green Thumbs signs up for a booth the Northwest Flower and Garden Show for February of 2007. Our biggest show yet...

With the street markets beginning to wane for the summer, we start to focus more on Internet sales through the ebay store. The store picks up more clients from all over the U.S. including conifer collectors and more railroad gardeners. 

Janit was invited to attend a Pugent Sound Garden Railway Society meeting. 

There's a distinct difference between the Garden Railroaders, who love the mini landscape aspect of railroading, and the 'Steamers', who just want a "big, flat place to run some track!" 

House parties, private classes, seminars and demonstrations bookings start to fill up the calendar. More class dates are in the works for the spring and summer months... 

It was interesting to see the response of the students. Once they were taught the basics, they would take the idea and run with it.  The style of the garden clearly reflected the personality of the maker!

Over 1200 miniature gardens sold to date. Customers start focusing on making their own. Two Green Thumbs adapts with more garden accessories and plants added to the inventory. 

The second part of the article "Gardening in Miniature" is published in the March edition of Dollhouse Miniature Magazine. 

Two Green Thumbs makes their grand debut at the Seattle Dollhouse Miniature Show and Sale. 

It seems we're turning miniaturists into gardeners and gardeners into miniaturists. Even those who are neither are enthused by the idea and want to try it!

We entered into the February Northwest Flower & Garden Show container garden display again. The display was a crowd-pleaser and huge success in demonstrating how versatile miniature gardening can be.

I enlisted the help of some friends for the other garden accessories needed to complete the look of a patio - which was the theme for the show. They gladly helped me with my duo-idea of making a half rustic, half formal set-up all in a 8' wide by 6' deep display. The show-goers loved it and again, I had to refill the postcards twice a day.

Seattle Times 'DIGS' section interviews Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center with a cover story on who we are and what we do. The insert is their handout for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show for 2006.

"Gardening for Miniaturists" article is published in The Dollhouse Miniatures. 

The calls and emails began flooding in - people have been miniature gardening for years but never had a resource for their hobby. 

We had numerous calls from people making their own - in multiples! Garden show competitors, miniature and garden club members, and some that had just been introduced to miniature gardening through my article - all were calling and emailing for ideas and products!

The decision to drop the garden art and focus on the miniature gardens was a tough one - but necessary.

When art turns retail, something is bound to be lost. The garden art is now my hobby and my hobby, miniature gardening, is now my job!

'The Garden Shed', a 3' x 4' miniature garden is entered in the fall Seattle Dollhouse Miniature Show. Wins Best of Show ribbon!

Sales continued to flourish, over 300 more gardens sold again this year. More products and ideas were introduced as the idea caught on. 

'The Fairy's Fairy Garden', a double-sided miniature garden, is entered in the display competition at the spring Seattle Dollhouse Miniature Show. It has a smaller garden on the other side - there's a path through the garden bed from the front side to the back. We win the honorable mention ribbon.

I entered Two Green Thumbs into the Northwest Flower & Garden Show container garden competition. The display was situated between two industry heavyweights, Molbak's (A big nursery out here) and Sunset Magazine.  The wee miniature gardens held their own and we had to replenish the postcard handouts twice a day during the five day show. Not bad for a first timer!

Two Green Thumbs enters competition at the Fall Seattle Dollhouse Miniature Show with three small miniature gardens. We win third place ribbon.

More success! Over 300 miniature gardens were sold at open markets in Seattle this first year. I did the Edmonds Saturday Market and Steve helped with the Fremont Sunday Market - which made for a very long weekend! The sales numbers made it worthwhile though. I was able to improve the look of our booth since Christmas.

'Two Green Thumbs' became a legal business on Ocotber 31, 2003. I started doing art and craft markets in November to 'test drive' the product - just in time for the holiday sales. Success! People loved them!

This is a picture of our first booth set-up. 

I eventually sourced out a good selection of plants and garden accessories that I could use. I started gearing up for the holiday season with the name of the business, logo and promotional material. 

I first included my garden art and assorted eclectic containers in my inventory - not entirely confident that the miniature gardens could carry me.

I turned to my local dollhouse store where I often went for props for the dioramas. A wonderful woman by the name of Joyce Clifford, who owns Dolly's Dollhouse here in Seattle, helped me out with the miniature end of things.... my main criteria was that the miniature garden accessories had to hold up to the weather - something the dollouse industry does not have to contend with...

I spent the summer doing even more research, going to the libraries and every garden center within reach. I explored the Internet extensively and picked people's brains every chance I got - not much was found about the miniature gardening that I wanted to do.

• Bonsai
• Fairy gardening
• Garden railroads
• Terrariums
• Windowsill gardens
• Trough gardens
• Sink gardens
• Rock gardens
• Gardening for small spaces.

My husband, Steve, and I, got ourselves into creating small-scaled scenes for a line of greeting cards. I made an experimental miniature garden as a back drop for one of the diorama projects. Not only was it a lot of fun to do, it was easy - once I had accumulated all the ingredients.