138 GOODS & SERVICES BEST NURSERY SUMMERWINDS NURSERY 17826 N. TATUM BLVD., #2 602-867-1822 AND OTHER VALLEY LOCATIONS SUMMERWINDSNURSERY.COM/AZ “The summer wind came blowing in from across the desert,” and right into Summer- Winds Nursery. Customers looking to build a Zen garden, add to their garden gnome collection or just buy a fresh houseplant will find what they need at SummerWinds. Walking into one of their three Valley loca- tions is like visiting a botanical garden where everything is for sale. Shrubs, succulents, annuals, perennials — the store stocks flora galore as well as the tools, soil, fertilizer and decorations they demand. Keep your front yard simple with a few cacti and aloe plants, or go wild and invest in some fruit trees. Even if your apartment already feels like a greenhouse, there’s always room for more indoor plants. You can even grab a bag of native Arizona wildflower seeds to make the natural garden of your dreams. i i i BEST PLACE TO BUY A BAMBOO TREE HONG KONG GIFTS MEKONG PLAZA 66 S. DOBSON ROAD, #129, MESA 602-328-0969 LUCKY88PANDA.COM Need some luck? Bamboo is traditionally known as a symbol of luck, resilience and flexibility. You won’t have to drive far to pick up the bamboo plant in pottery to christen your home or office. Hong Kong Gifts in Mekong Plaza has plenty of bamboo plants for sale, and they even give you fertilizer to help your new acquisition grow at home. For even more good fortune, a tiny Chinese luck symbol is attached to one of the bamboo shoots. It’s a comfort to watch the light shine between the stalks as the plant brightens the space. And who knows, maybe it’ll bring some luck into the house. i i i BEST PLANT SHOP PUEBLO 1025 GRAND AVE. 602-695-0834 PUEBLO.LIFE If you ever want to experience the exquisite disappointment that Adam and Eve must’ve felt when they got booted from the Garden, visit Pueblo in the rough-and-tumble stretch of Grand Avenue’s arts district during the dead of summer. Once inside, leaving to go back onto the sun-baked streets will break your heart. Those thoughtfully curated plants in the shop’s greenhouse! The playful decorations in the main shop, where a Rauschenberg-like collage tracks evolution! Yes, and — have you seen the secret oasis in the back? A mesquite tree reminiscent of something from a fairy tale provides a canopy and fleeting relief from the hellacious heat. It’s regularly trimmed to keep its enchanting figure, and a nameless cat the store unoffi- cially adopted scampers along its roots. Beyond its wide variety of plants, Pueblo offers fanciful gifts. Choose from a menagerie of exotic insects in shadow boxes, saguaro grow kits and books like cryptid field guides. For green-thumb types, they have mushroom grow lights and aesthetic bottles of neem oil. Pueblo is a plant lover’s sanctuary. i i i BEST BEEKEEPING SUPPLIES CROCKETT HONEY CO. 1040 W. ALAMEDA DRIVE, TEMPE 480-731-3936 CROCKETTHONEY.COM Bees, the irrational terror of your childhood years, are actually swell little dudes who help plants reproduce and thereby support an obscure system called the whole damn food chain. In the Valley it’s legal to keep bees (check your city regs, naturally). Apicultur- ists know to start at Crockett Honey in Tempe. The store carries frames, smokers and those outlandish hats with the mesh veils. If you prefer your bees kept elsewhere, you can still support the bees — and a busi- ness that has been in the Valley since the 1940s — by taking home an assortment of bee products. Not to be missed: the luscious desert blossom mesquite honey. i i i BEST JELLYCAT SELECTION FOUND ARCADIA 4140 N. 44TH ST., #100 480-550-7278 FOUNDARCADIA.COM Lions and tigers and Jellycats, oh my. Tucked inside Found Arcadia, a Euro-country-chic- inspired gift shop that feels like wandering through someone’s charming home, sits a shrine to the world’s most lovable imported plushies. Neatly arranged by family, color and season, the shop’s Jellycat cabinet houses a congregation of Bashful Bunnies, Bartholomew Bears and darling Amuse- ables. Grab you a smiling coffee cup, plush