Marissa Engoy’s plant business became rooted in resilience

Twelve years in the past, Marissa Engoy, proprietor of the plant enterprise Good Morning, Cactus, suffered a miscarriage. For days, she struggled to get away from bed. That’s when a pal introduced her some succulents as a present. She’d by no means seen a succulent earlier than that day, however was drawn to their lovely, chubby, cartoon-like look.

“I by no means actually cared about crops earlier than, however abruptly I cared about these ones with all my coronary heart,” says Engoy, 42. “I wanted them to outlive.”

Caring for these succulents and figuring out they had been depending on her to outlive helped her by that tough time in her life.

She quickly started to develop her assortment of succulents, she says, making “too many” journeys to House Depot to purchase extra. She began researching crops and testing books from the gardening part of her native library when she got here throughout a few of Debra Lee Baldwin’s books on making residing artwork utilizing succulents. Engoy says she was impressed by the work of the San Diego-based gardening creator and horticulturalist who makes a speciality of succulents, so she started making her personal preparations as a interest. She additionally traveled to Portland, Ore., to review underneath Françoise Weeks, a Belgian artist recognized for her residing botanical artwork.

“The crops had been a present from God to usher me out of that darkish season,” Engoy says.

She started posting pictures of her preparations on social media. Her posts gained some traction, and the Torrance resident discovered herself immersed within the on-line plant group. For a few years, she bought crops and preparations on Etsy and at native markets in Los Angeles and Orange County.

That’s when the previous third-grade instructor named her enterprise Good Morning, Cactus. She says the identify got here organically.

“I used to be one in every of my cactuses in the future and I used to be similar to, ‘Hey, good morning, cactus! Good morning, you little prickly punk!’ And it caught.”

Immediately, she has partnerships with two storefronts in Lomita, that are situated throughout the road from one another: Hall Circulate, a espresso store recognized for its Spanish lattes, and the the Golden Triangle, a sustainability-focused boutique. She has additionally partnered with the Aloha Bungalow, a beachy reward store in Redondo Seaside. Engoy, her husband Derrick and her three youngsters like to surf, so the Aloha Bungalow’s location makes for a perfect day.

“I’ll go surf within the morning, get cleaned up after which water my crops at that store,” she says. “It’s been such a candy celebration of life.”

Good Morning, Cactus sells a wide range of crops at these shops together with maranta lemon lime prayer plant, philodendron, watermelon peperomia (peperomia argyreia) and anthurium. She additionally sells preparations together with small succulents in classic teacups, succulent wreaths, terrariums and kokedamas. Engoy, who’s Filipina, says Filipino prospects typically are available in asking her for crops that aren’t “maarte,” the Tagalog phrase for “dramatic” or “excessive upkeep.”

She additionally hosts plant workshops and informational talks on subjects comparable to succulent wreath arranging, terrarium constructing and plant upkeep within the Lomita retailers.

Engoy says she has had workshops with nonprofit organizations together with Altering Tides, a corporation working towards ending the stigma round psychological well being within the Asian American group. She says it brings her pleasure to see folks changing into related and empowered by her workshops.

“My favourite factor is to attach with the group throughout workshops,” she says. “As tacky because it sounds, the reward of group retains this small enterprise going.”

Engoy’s path to changing into the girl who prospects now affectionately name “the plant woman” wasn’t straightforward. She says she needed to hustle each step of the way in which, crediting her sturdy work ethic to how her dad and mom raised her.

Engoy’s dad and mom obtained married of their house nation of the Philippines of their early 20s and immigrated to the U.S. quickly after in 1975. They began a catering enterprise in Gardena when Engoy was in elementary faculty. Engoy remembers serving punch at weddings and placing toothpicks in fruit and sandwiches along with her siblings to assist out with the household enterprise.

“I bear in mind watching my dad and mom and having a lot respect for them,” Engoy says.

As for gardening, she says her mom has all the time been an avid gardener, and it’s a interest that brings her unimaginable pleasure. The backyard in her mom’s yard is stuffed with hummingbirds and the occasional bunny or raccoon. Individuals — and animals — like to go to the backyard as a result of Engoy’s mom has made it into an oasis.

“It’s her remedy,” Engoy says, including that her maternal grandfather was additionally enthusiastic about gardening, creating makeshift waterfalls and tending to crops within the yard of his house within the Philippines. She says she remembers seeing his outside house as a secure haven when her household visited.

When she found crops as a way to heal from her miscarriage, Engoy says one thing clicked in her head about her mom and grandfather. She realized that, though they had been on completely different sides of the world, they each wanted the identical factor for his or her psychological and bodily well being: to domesticate a stupendous place to flee.

“I used to be like ‘Oh, so for this reason they did it,’” she says. “I do know now that for this reason I do it too.”