What started as a simple desire to teach others and create beauty has resulted in a sweet, small sanctuary of simplicity by way of plants.

Small business owner and all things plant enthusiast Jessica Thompson, began Plant Patience in 2021 with a mission of helping others beautify their gardens and more.

“I started that with the hopes of designing and building gardens for people and teaching them how to grow food,” she shared of her now thriving business. “That was how this whole baby started.”

Now located in the log cabin on the north side of Oakdale, Plant Patience is more than a “plant shop.”

According to Thompson it was her invitation to be a vendor at the Oakdale Morning Market in 2023 that helped spark the growth of her business into a brick-and-mortar destination.

Each week, Thompson would take vegetable and herb plants to share with the Saturday open air market shoppers. With a large request for house plants, she refocused her inventory and quickly recognized the trend which had emerged.

“Morning Market was fruitful for me all summer long, so I just decided to open a shop,” she said.

With the help of her husband Preston, a portion of the Thompson Woolley Builders, Inc. base office was transformed into a new retail space in August of 2023. Located at 654 N. Yosemite Ave., as one heads north out of Oakdale, the log cabin structure is hard to miss.

Plant Patience shop hours are Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The small business/shop also has a website: plant-patience.com

Yet it is perhaps the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote which inspired the business name that best sums up Thompson’s overall vision: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

“I think patience is such a good quality and just that play on words,” the business owner said. “And just that little play on words, we need to plant patience and let our patience grow.”

On Mondays, Thompson spends time outside of the shop helping clients with outdoor garden space or tending to existing clients who use her services. Tuesdays she restocks her inventory ensuring the shop maintains a variety of plants for her various clientele.

“Some people need a little advice, some need seasonal coaching, some need once a week visits,” she said of the foundation of the business which started in 2021.

“The other part of this that just kind of worked out, without intention,” she continued, “I take care of several local residents’ pots in front of their homes. I go every other week and just keep them pretty.”

While the business is relatively new, Thompson’s passion for growing and educating is not.

“I grew up knowing how to grow things,” she said. “I have a love for plants.”

As a homeschool mom to daughters Hayden, 13 and Taylor, 12, Thomson shared her passion for growing as well as sharing that passion was sparked during the onset of COVID in 2020. Teaching her daughters, as well as helping friends with their own spaces was quickly identified as well as encouraged as a gift which should be shared with others.

“We built boxes and then I taught people how to grow food,” she said of her early start with the help of her husband Preston.

The first year-and-a-half to two years Thompson spent putting in gardens for community members, schools and residential gardens.

“I got my nursery license right away because I wanted to do everything legit,” she stated. “That was going well and I got invited to the Morning Market. The Morning Market, I would really credit to the store starting.”

Now with a permanent location to share her passion, Thompson does more than simply “sell plants.”

The shop filled with greenery, pottery, as well specialty gifts is both beautiful as well as inviting.

Thompson also does gifts. She will deliver for free anything over $50 in Oakdale. On any given day people call and say this is my price point, I need a gift put together and delivered here.

“I wanted it to be a place that people walked in and felt that they could take a deep breath and feel at home,” she said of the shop space. “Like that Cheers feeling that everybody knows your name. That’s what I wanted. I didn’t want anyone to walk in and feel I’ve only got ten bucks, I can’t walk into that store. I hate that feeling.”

Thompson also hosts story time events at the shop, reading books to children and serving them tea grown in her garden.

“They sit and I read a couple of stories and they drink tea from my garden,” Thompson said. “Kids are excited about that. Drinking something that came from just leaves.”

As for the house plants, Thompson is committed to helping her customers find just the right plant for their space, a gift or even the novice just trying to grow something for the first time. Even offering a “plant ICU” in the space for clients whose plants need some TLC and proper attention.

“It’s so fun because really I get to do what I want all the time,” she said.

“It’s so good for us. That’s what drew me to help people grow food was it’s good for you,” she stated of her passion. “It’s not just good for what you’re eating, it’s good to put your hands in the dirt, being out in the soil, being outside and getting the Vitamin D. Working hard, getting a little sweat going. All those things, then seeing the fruits of your labor, it’s all so healing.”

It all adds up to a fulfilling calling for the plant specialist.

“I really try to help people succeed because it’s good for them,” she said of her passion.