To say Mary Machon has a green thumb is an understatement. She spends every day tending to the wonderfully untamed plant life in her Bensell Greenhouse in grass-stained pants and thick-rimmed glasses, wielding a hose with the authority of a firefighter. She stars in delightful video tutorials on her website, resembling a sweeter version of Batman botanist Pamela Isley, as she instructs the public on how to plant amaryllis bulbs or to choose the right gardening container. And she does it all in a space where she was a passionate customer, that she ended up buying the business herself.
"A friend jokingly told me it was for sale and I should buy it, because he knew I loved gardening," Machon says. "And then I actually did it." When she and her husband, Keven, talked with Bensell's former owners they learned that other prospective buyers were more interested in tearing the greenhouse down to make space for an apartment building or energy farm. Machon and her husband made a commitment to the owners to carry on the tradition and continue to operate the greenhouse, which was established in 1926. They use "very minimal" pesticides, and rely instead on biological pest controls like ladybugs, preying mantises and wasps. ("You may see the occasional hummingbird here," Keven says.)
Four years ago, they began the Toledo Bonsai Club, a geeky-cool gathering of about 35 people from pre-teens to seniors drawn together by their love for the Japanese art of growing miniature trees. "Everybody brings a tree, and they talk about everything bonsai," Machon says. They meet every third Sunday of the month at 1 o'clock at the greenhouse, and sometimes invite celebrities of the Bonsai world to speak. (Like the self-proclaimed world's youngest Bonsai master, Italian Marco Invernizzi. "He is crazy wild … and arrogant," Machon says, smiling.) The Machons could talk Bonsai all day, but they've got to run. After they close up Bensell for the day, they've got other life to tend to, of the huma
n variety — and they don't want to miss her fourth-grade recorder concert.
Curious Sounds
Music can be heard wafting from the blue ranch house in front of Bensell Greenhouse. It's the nondescript location of Firefly Studios, a recording studio started in 2003. Greenhouse visitors curious about the jam sessions they've eavesdropped on can read regular studio updates at www.firefly419.com
Bensell Greenhouse, 5720 Dorr St. 419-536-3992. www.bensellgreenhouse.com Open Mon. thru Sat. 9am-6pm; Sun. 12-5pm.
