Growing Business With Plants

Sara Trickett tells how she went from being a chef and trend forecaster to her dream job, owning the plant shop Saint Verde Botanicals. 

- Glynis Horning

Sara Trickett studied to be a chef, but during her first job, at the Cellars-Hohenort in Cape Town, she found herself ‘fantasising about working in the gorgeous kitchen gardens more than in the kitchen.’ Her love of plants goes back to her time growing up on her parents’ farm in the KwaZulu- Natal Midlands, where her mother collects rare succulents and cacti.

When Sara put her new cooking skills to work in her parents’ restaurant, Saint Verde, in Durban, plants dominated the décor, and she began stocking botanical room fragrances and aprons.Exploring them on the Internet pulled her in a new direction and in 2006, she became a trend forecaster.

But Sara’s passion remained rooted in plants and early this year she launched what instantly became Durban’s coolest plant shop: Saint Verde Botanicals in the buzzing new Station Drive Precinct. How did she do that?

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