At Takata Nursery, the Plants Age Gracefully
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The plants at Takata Nursery — a small greenhouse on the roof of founder Taryne Messer’s apartment building in Ridgewood — have a homespun, almost wise presence to them. That’s the distinct character Messer was seeking after years of working in floristry: “Cut flowers are basically marching toward death, whereas a plant, it’s alive.” She cultivates houseplants like the lacy-lookingPelargonium denticulatumand the spindlyAdenia glauca,which often sell out quickly in small drops. Messer is also crafty with her sourcing. “I buy weird clippings off eBay, then I propagate them. I’ve had friends give me a cactus from New Mexico and three years go by and it has 20 limbs on it,” she says. That aging and replanting process is what gives Messer’s plants, which range in price from $50 to more than $750 (purchase attakatanursery.com), the unconventional look that has earned them a following; she has supplied interior designer Michael Bargo’s Christmas tree for the past two years and did Brock Forsblom and Jeremy Heimans’s indoor garden. While the nursery is still found largely by word of mouth, Messer has hosted in-person pop-up sales in her studio and is planning another in the spring.
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