Alta Tingle opened The Gardener in 1984 in a small storefront in Berkeley. Another store was opened in the Ferry Building in 2003.
Alta, a former garden designer and lecturer on landscape design, is an avid gardener and photographer. The Gardener is a collection of all the things that Alta, through her talents and interests, has learned to enjoy and appreciate in her life - a great pair of Japanese scissors for cutting flowers, the purest bar of lavender soap, a big ceramic bowl for the kitchen to hold the season's offerings - things that before had required trips to nurseries, hardware and specialty stores. When The Gardener opened 23 years ago, there had never been a collection that recognized that even the most avid gardener lives indoors.
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