In 2022, this former hairdresser decided to leap into a new venture — she and her husband transformed an old gas station and auto shop on Taylorsville Road into a plant store for hobby gardeners. Above the Dirt specializes in house plants and landscaping with native and non-invasive perennials and shrubs, as well as spring and fall annuals. The store also offers plant lovers a place to shop for new additions and learn more about plant parenthood in various classes. Get to know this plant-lady-turned-entrepreneur and this month’s FACE of Louisville, Paula Henson!
How did Above The Dirt come to be?
Well, I have a 20-year history in the beauty business. I’m a hairdresser by trade and did hair behind the chair, but I also got into manufacturing, distribution, and product procurement. I also did a lot of adult education for hairdressers. My career took a turn into product distribution, then COVID changed that to warehouse management. There was less and less education, which is what I really loved. I was part owner of a distribution company, and when they bought me out, I did more education within the hair industry.
But I’ve always been a weird plant lady. I like growing a vegetable garden and having houseplants. I’d talked about wanting a greenhouse for years. I wanted to be like the old lady at the farmers market, selling her asparagus and telling way too many stories about it!
This old gas station and auto repair shop was empty, and I drove by one day and thought, “That could be a plant store.” That same day, my husband drove by and thought, “That could be a plant store.” He knows everybody in J-Town, so that night, he made some calls and figured out who owned the place. We impulsively rented it and turned it into a plant shop.
What can people expect to find at Above The Dirt?
We do houseplants all year; that’s kind of our staple. We also offer specialty plants, like annuals. In spring, there’s the hanging baskets and the pretty blooming plants. In the fall, it’s mums. In the winter, it’s poinsettias.
We also do some specialty bonsai, and we do a lot of classes. We offer classes like Beginner Bonsai, Propagation, Houseplants 101, and Neighborhood Friendly Native Plants. In regards to landscaping, we do all native or non-invasive — so you can come here and shop for all of your perennial needs and know that none of the plants are ever going to escape into the wild and do bad things. We ship plants to other states, too!
Where do your source your inventory?
We bring in our plants from about 14 different vendors. We support a lot of local businesses and farms. Aside from the tropical plants, which come from Florida, about 80% come from within 150 miles. And there isn’t a vendor we buy from that isn’t family-owned.
What do you recommend for houseplant newbies?
The first step is to learn your plant parent style, which our Houseplants 101 class teaches. Plants are often labeled as “easy” or “difficult,” but I disagree with that. It’s kind of like parenting children; some people say babies are hard, but I think babies are very easy. So it’s all about your parenthood style and how we align that with the best plant for you.
For example, succulents, cactuses, and snake plants require long dry periods, so people call them easy plants. But really, they’re for the “set it and forget it” plant parent. There are also helicopter parents who want to love on their plant; they want to water it, pet it, and play with it. That’s just a different category of plant parent, and they’d do well with calatheas and begonias. For people who fall somewhere in the middle, we might suggest pothos, philodendron, or dracaena.
What’s a useful plant fact you’d want people to know?
Everybody plants in spring, but fall is the best time to plant a perennial, shrub, or tree. That’s because the plant will spend time and energy working on a deep and meaningful root system first. Then, it goes dormant over the winter and explodes in spring. So, if you plant in the fall, you’ll be ahead of the game.
What are your favorite places to eat and play in the area?
The quality of food at Gaslight Diner is just so good. They recently switched ownership, so if you’ve been there before, forget about everything you experienced and try it again. It’s good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The best dessert place is right next to Above The Dirt — Sweet Savannah’s. It’s a yogurt store, but they don’t charge you by the pound. And to play, we love RecBar. We’re there about three times a week.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever given or received?
This is in a good way: nobody cares! I think we get really stuck in our head about what people are going to think, or whether they’re going to like it, or if something is going to sell. But nobody cares! You do you, and the people who like it will be magnetically drawn to it. Obviously, “doing you” is about being nice and an overall good person. But if you’re being you in a good way, that’s all there is to it. Just do that.
Aside from faith, family, and friends, name three things you can’t live without.
Getting my nails done — if you’ve seen our Instagram, you know my nails are always a part of the show. Also, coffee and nice purses.
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