The Bush’s

Ian Bush taught school for four years until he decided to switch to a less hazardous profession—working as a prison guard. The corrections facility eventually closed and, today, Bush’s most daredevil activity is appearing in public wearing silly hats.
As do many good things, Bush’s Nursery started serendipitously. Everyone knows how well teachers are paid. No wonder then, in 1975, in the midst of his teaching career, Bush was picking up various jobs for extra cash. While working on one of those odd jobs in Mill Creek, he realized that he could sell plants door-to-door to homeowners competing for the nicest yard. That is exactly what he did, and so began Ian’s interest in growing and propagating plants. The nursery has been his sole business since 2000.

Before helping his brother deliver plants, Stuart Bush used to deliver people as a Community Transit bus driver. For ten years he piloted buses but had to stop when he developed a degenerative disc disease. In 2000, Stu moved his trailer and himself to his brother’s property and now works in the family business. Stu calls himself the “water boy,” irrigating while Ian delivers. Stu also does necessary pinching and transplanting, and helps with growing native plants.

For Anne Bush, Ian’s wife, work in the Bush nursery is her rest and relaxation. You’re not likely to see Anne at the summer market because she works full time as a nurse supervisor in the Monroe corrections facility for mentally ill offenders.

Anne does 98% of the propagation of fuchsias and other plants the nursery sells. She became interested in hardy fuchsias 25 years ago when a friend gave her a ricartoni magellanica. She planted it and then forgot about it for years. When she rediscovered it, it was full and lush (if only raising children were that easy). The Bushs now offer over 60 varieties of fuchsias.

The Nursery

Ten greenhouses of various shapes and sizes, some hand-made wooden things, arranged—to use the term loosely—on a portion of a 17-acre parcel of land, make up the site of Bush’s Nursery in Arlington, Washington. Bush’s Nursery specializes in native plants of the Pacific Northwest. Salmonberry, elderberry, bunchberries, huckleberries, wintergreen, and salal are some of the native edibles they carry. Bush’s also produces red twig dogwood, vine maple, conifers, Pacific vine bark, and of course their beautiful fuchsias.

Umbrella hats

These hats, besides adding a lot of fun to our market presence, were actually introduced as an accessory. Both brothers are taller than their hair, so the umbrella hats provide a cool breeze as well as the added advantage of preventing painful sunburn. They are, as we’ve discovered, a wonderful photo opportunity and we’ve had our pictures on the front pages of local and regional papers. Visitors to our booth have also requested the “brother sandwich” for a photo opportunity, and we’re happy to oblige. We’ve received pictures from folks from Japan, Australia, England, Russia and Germany. There’s no charge for the photo op, just a hug from the ladies and a handshake from the fellas.

Karma

As most gardeners know, most plants do respond to good karma as well as good care. Because gardening is mostly relaxing, therapeutic adventure, our karma when around plants is generally wonderful. There are times when we are “stressed to the max” for whatever reason, so it’s a good idea to de-stress a little before merging with our fauna. Try a short browse around the garden or greenhouse with a cup of your favorite tea and experience the colors and fragrances of your plants to start the relaxation response. Then ease into whatever strikes your fancy, rather than working from a to-do list. My own belief is that because we are the only species that wears shoes, we are not well-grounded to the earth and therefor are short-circuited. Gardening bypasses this shortcoming by allowing us contact to our ground, thereby providing an energy path that has otherwise been denied to us by becoming insulated to earth’s natural ground.