Tara Heibel, Sprout Home

What inspired you to open your store?
"Before I opened Sprout Home I was a corporate art consultant by day, rehabbed buildings in West Town by night, and was a painter at heart.   Gardening quickly became an overriding passion and I realized that I couldn’t wait to get my hands dirty every day, and my thoughts drifted to what newly planted gardens would look like from year to year.  When I would go on the hunt for plants in which to materialize my garden design concepts, what I found around me were the 'standards and basics' and I desperately wanted something different.  Even the non-living goods at other garden centers didn’t resonate with my design palette.  I knew that there were other people like me that have similar design views out there, and so began the process in developing a home for us."

Who is the coolest customer you’ve ever had?"There’s no way that I can narrow that down to one person! All of our customers are cool on so many different levels.  Clients and Sproutsters (sprout employees) are on first name basis and all are part of the family.  At any given moment we will have a client in the store that simply stops by to say hello and give us a pictorial update of family including their plants.  Yes, some people even name their plants (which we completely encourage)."

Sprout, 745 North Damen Avenue (between Superior and Huron streets); 312-226-5950.


Photographed by Heather Talbert