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Post Falls gardener's flowers bring smiles to local residents

by Brian Walker
| September 22, 2010 9:00 PM

POST FALLS - Today marks the last day of summer, but Stacey Bishop is still seeing the bright side of things.

All she - and anyone exiting westbound Interstate 90 at Spokane Street - has to do is look at her yard on Sixth Avenue to see a magnificent display of color.

Bishop, who formerly owned Petal Pushers Nursery in Coeur d'Alene, has transformed the visible landmark Post Falls home into a flower garden paradise.

"I'm a flower freak," said Bishop, standing among the 300-plus flats of annuals and perennials she planted in her first year at the residence. "I have hundreds of hours into it, but this is what I love. I've had a fascination of growing things since my grandma taught me to propagate at 8."

Bishop said she tries not to think about how much she has spent on the beautification project and wasn't interested in saying the amount, either.

"I could've spent money on far worse things," she said.

The 105-year-old home was formerly owned by sisters Elsie and Jenny Lindberg. Elsie was a longtime Post Falls school teacher, while Jenny worked from home for the former Post Falls Tribune.

Bishop said locals have commented about how the Lindbergs would be proud to see the place filled with color and how it's nice to look at when they exit the freeway or walk by.

"The response of people taking pictures and stopping by has been overwhelming," she said. "It's not just for me, but for everybody to enjoy. The flowers inside the fence are for me and the flowers outside the fence are for Post Falls. It makes me feel good."

Petal, Bishop's "fat cat" named after Petal Pushers who was the mascot at the nursery, also seems comfortable with her new surroundings. She formerly weighed 31 pounds and has trimmed down to 21. Petal is at home on the front porch, where Bishop relaxes some evenings with a glass of wine after her job at a retail nursery in Spokane Valley.

The situation is a turnaround for Bishop, who formerly wrote a garden column called "Petal Talk" for The Press and is former president of the Coeur d'Alene Garden Club.

Bishop lost Petal Pushers during a divorce. When she bought the home on Sixth Avenue, her plan was to build commercial greenhouses on the two lots next to the house and start over in the nursery business while having great freeway exposure. However, the city's zoning regulations thwarted the idea.

Living beside I-90 isn't ideal, but the home garden, Bishop said, has taken away a lot of pain of the past.

Her plan is to re-plant where necessary and start the lawn next week to complete the transformation.

"This has helped me make the best of things," Bishop said. "I think it looks pretty good for a first-year garden. I love flowers, growing them, giving them away and the beauty of them."