Renton’s Urban Sprouts is local utopia for new and experienced plant owners

Along with plantcare advice, the shop offers a wide variety of plants, pots and gifts.

By Cameron Sheppard • November 17, 2022 1:15 pm

For many, the idea of owning and taking care of a beautiful plant is a daunting one, but the folks at downtown Renton’s Urban Sprouts plant shop are there to help both beginning plant owners and long time plant enthusiasts alike.

On its own, the Urban Sprouts shop is a unique spot to shop for indoor plants, vessels to pot them in and materials to take proper care of them. Their shelves are lined with interesting plants, accessories and gifts.

They have larger unique plants that, while not for sale, give the space character and remind visitors of what love, care and patience can do for a plant that can become something far more interesting and unique than what one might imagine a plant can be.

Creating its own canopy over the store is a small tree growing across the ceiling of the shop. Urban Sprouts founder Jen Stearns said the tree is close to 75 years old and is one of many special plants the store has adopted to take care of.

Stearns said the shop often serves as a “fire house” of sorts, where people drop off orphaned plants and the people at Urban Sprouts diligently nurse them back to health.

With an educational background in environmental science, Stearns is proud to offer training, consultations and personalized advice to plant owners about how to best take care of certain kinds of plants, and the team at Urban Sprouts is well-equipped to do so.

The Urban Sprouts team runs a plantcare clinic, for plant parents to bring in their plants for an assessment of what kind of care they may need, be it a simple watering plan or a repotting in different soil.

They also offer the same service virtually, meaning a person could make a Zoom meeting appointment to tour Stearns or another expert around each plant in their home. This way, the staff can make recommendations of care based on the plant, where it is in the home, or how healthy it looks.

“A plant doesn’t tell you when it’s hungry,” Stearns said of the challenge of taking care of a plant. “And it can be difficult to tell.”

Urban Sprouts, located at 724 S. 3rd St. B, also hosts community events and workshops such as seasonal floral arrangement classes, terrarium building events and other craft-oriented classes.

Stearns said the focus on service and community programs is at the heart of what kind of business Urban Sprouts hopes to be, and their connections and programs are only growing.