The Daily Dig

In 1976, Nancy Davis, Michael Rothenberg and Bruce Rothenberg leased a bit of property with a large greenhouse above the town of Pacifica, CA and named it Shelldance Nursery because of the beautiful shells of the area, which were reminiscent of the exotic headpieces worn by Carmen Miranda when she danced. At the time, the revived nursery specialized in bromeliads. Eventually, the trio was privileged to meet Herb Hager's widow, Gladys, and learned the history of the original nursery. They were also able to acquire some of Hager's orchid specimens. Charmed by orchids, they sold most of their bromeliad stock, about 20,000 plants, to the government of Singapore to be placed in their National Botanical Gardens. Davis and Rothenberg traveled with the plants to Singapore, helped identify and catalog them, and gave lessons in the care of bromeliads to local gardeners.

Whether hanging from the air or suspended on bits of wood, plants in Shelldance's rain forest jungle are alive and growing just as they would in the wilds of a tropical rain forest - a natural ecosystem of living bromeliads, orchids, cactus, ferns, African violets and succulents. Spanish moss fashioned into sea horses hang suspended in the air, while tiny baby tears grow in clusters on the garden floor.

Open to the public on weekends, Shelldance is how expanding its walk-in retail trade, in the Shelldance Gift Shop which includes sales of orchid supplies, incense, pottery, local art, garden enhancements and a custom line of homemade jams, jellies, fudges and salad dressings, created by Davis and her mother from old family recipes.

Davis works with each customer to find the right type of orchid for his or her environment and gives complete directions geared to re-blooming the plant. She has a customer wish list of rare plants and loves the excitement of the "hunt." She works with other nurseries to solve plant identification mysteries and acquire rare plants.

You can find out more about the bromeliads of Shelldance Nursery by visiting their website at shelldance.com

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