Plants a labor of love at North Oakland’s Crimson Horticultural Rarities
By Lou Fancher
Crimson Horticultural Rarities owner and entrepreneur Allison Futeral opened her rare and unusual Oakland plant shop 13 years ago. To this day, the sight of an unexpected flower in bloom or a variation on a plant leaf causes her to shout with joy. “I get pumped,” she says in an interview. “I scream with excitement, and everyone at the flower market laughs with me.” The enthusiasm carries over into the shop she first opened in 2011 in the city’s Temescal Alley before adding a second location and recently consolidating the outlets into one 1,700-square foot location on North Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue (crimsonhort.com). There, the entire store is filled with plush and lush indoor greenery, artisan-made pottery and goods for the home and body such as candles, cards and soaps with botanically-inspired origins and compositions. Crimson Horticultural offers complete services that bring Futeral’s individually customized approach to wedding floral design; functional interior plant designs for homes, offices, galleries or retail spaces; and floral and styling services determined on a case-by-case basis for everything from corporate events to intimate anniversary celebrations. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, special, limited-edition floral arrangements come in “Grand” or “Petite” sizes that overflow clay vessels with a riot of colorful blossoms, wild texture and plush greenery. Incidentally, the terms “riot” and “wild” are not objectionable in Futeral’s lexicon, which also favors terms such as “organic,” “unleashed,” “impulsively abundant” and others. “I love it. The entire time I just heard those words, I had a gigantic smile on my face,” she says. “My home is the same. Let’s say I’m not a minimalist — and that’s funny because I don’t like over-processed, shiny things.” Evidence of her aesthetic is found not only in the plant-filled Oakland home she shares with her husband, Ben Sizemore, and Sooke Doggu, their 16-year-old “wiry gremlin-looking fur-baby dog,” but in the vessels prominently displayed in the shop. Highly curated with an admitted bias for local artisans, the natural clay and matte-glazed vases, planters and stands closely resemble the earth-based materials from which they were formed. The items closest to shiny arrive in gently glowing, warm-toned brass bowls and plant pots. “The vessels I’m attracted to have a personality and speak to me,” she says. “I like things that are unique but also versatile. A shop can fall into patterns, so I think about things that will suit both an eclectic house and a modern company office.” Futeral insists that plants also have unique voices and add warmth to interior spaces. “Even a structural plant adds warmth. And as it grows, if you care for it, it’s immensely gratifying. It’s learning by doing and inexact: Even after going to horticultural school and years of running the shop, I still kill plants.” She says this means nurturing a plant teaches a person to pay attention and brave the possibility of grief but also to grab onto potential joy. “There’s no recipe, and each plant is a different, living thing. I can plant five plants, and four succeed while one dies. It can be the soil, the roots, many things. I find joy in making people happy and encouraging them to feel good about caring for a plant.” Possessing and practicing the nurturing philosophies most often associated with parents and especially attributed to mothers or caretakers filling that role is surprising to Futeral — as are her tight bonds with plants that now fill her life and work. She grew up in a one-bedroom apartment run by one woman (her mother) in inner-city Baltimore. Her mother struggled with addiction to various substances, as did Futeral. “I have no shame about that,” she says, having achieved sobriety in 1995. “My mom and I are nothing alike: Her constitution was not strong, whereas I came into this world as a fighter. I persevere and will battle the odds, so it’s ironic I went that direction. I grew up in a volatile environment, and the lack of boundaries made it easy to follow that path even though I always wanted to be sober. “Once I got a taste of being sober, it’s occurred to me how wild it was that my day-to-day life had gone to addiction. I found a whole new life. A month in, I knew: ‘This is who I really am.’ ” Although her mother adored and filled their tiny home with indoor plants, Futeral’s journey to becoming an indoor plant shop owner was improbable. Now 58, she says she didn’t become skilled with plants until about age 35. While working as a public health researcher with UC San Francisco in programs addressing HIV prevention and involving mostly unhoused and incarcerated people, she happened to live with someone with extensive gardening knowledge. She says she learned to care for plants and found herself replacing her childhood attitude of “oh, that old thing” with excitement toward each plant. A “side venture” she’d held while managing a tattoo shop and running her own business for more than a decade refined her customer service practices and philosophies. “I learned people are complex and that I’m gregarious. Drop me anywhere, I’ll make a friend,” she says. “Customers want my undivided attention — and answers, although there’s no perfect science for plants. “You have to have a relationship with your plants. Create and follow care schedules, feel the soil. I even talk to my plants. You have to meet them where they’re at.” During the pandemic, housebound people bought more plants in an effort to enliven their homes. Now that many people have returned to workplaces, Futeral says she hopes their focus on the environment, harm reduction and appreciation for nature won’t fade. “Our environment is in a sad state. Unfortunately, we did the damage. You can try to persuade people to care about the Earth, shop local, not throw trash in the street, respect nature and humans, but you’ll never convince everyone, so it’s really up to people who care to just do their best. “For me? I always want to bring more green into spaces. When people are excited to have plants in their restaurant, home or office, they’re happy and I’m happy.” |