Expanding from selling plants, Deku Tree owner plans tranquility garden for personal retreats

On a recent beautiful Sunday afternoon, more than a dozen people came to a last-minute, cash-only, pop-up houseplant seminar at The Deku Tree in downtown Sioux Falls.

Maybe it’s surprising that a shop specializing in rarer plants can drum up that kind of quick business. But once you meet Joshua Cooper, you know why.

He makes you want to grow plants. He makes you want to nurture them and love them and learn about them. He makes you feel like you definitely are not going to kill this plant by accident.

Cooper, who owns The Deku Tree in the Jones421 Building downtown, has created a serene, peaceful retail shop for rarer plants. Succulents and cacti and jade plants and things you’ve never heard of line shelves, hang from the ceiling and sit in big, fat pots on the cracked concrete floor.

Everything about it, including Cooper himself, makes you feel a little bit like you’ve wandered into an urban oasis. And that is 100 percent by design.

“I’m in this for the joy of it,” said Cooper, who opened his business 2 1/2  years ago, starting from a greenhouse at his home in Humboldt. “When people come in and say, ‘I did that thing you said with the plant, and now it’s going well,’ that’s what I live for. That is bringing them joy.”

Starting a business right when the pandemic hit was dicey, but Cooper said moving to Jones421 a year ago helped. “I didn’t know Phillips was such a hot spot,” he said. “The Levitt (across the street) gets 52 concerts, so we get a lot of traffic.”

He credits the pandemic a bit for changing people’s perspective.

“People have turned inward, and they want beautiful things around them,” Cooper said.

With that in mind, and The Deku Tree thriving, it’s time for Cooper to create more beautiful spaces. “The artist in me has struggled here,” he said of the retail space.

What do you create once you’ve mastered the urban oasis? A tranquility garden.

Cooper plans to convert his greenhouse in Humboldt to a retreat, with waterfalls and meditation rooms and a place for yoga. “It’s really the opposite of a sensory deprivation tank,” Cooper said. “I want to fill up all the senses out there.”

He’ll start with the four elements, which he said he is obsessed with. “It makes everything make sense to me,” Cooper said. He also plans to add eclectic architecture, with nods to Celtic, Japanese and Norse traditions. “They come from this ancient place, and that speaks to me.”

The garden and additional space will take up half the yard and greenhouse. Visits will be by appointment-only to start and will allow for guests to enjoy a peaceful, solitary time in the space, which he plans to call The Kokiri Forest, after the same video game The Deku Tree comes from: The Legend of Zelda.

It’s an odd combo – all this love of nature all named after a video game. Yet, from Cooper, it doesn’t seem weird at all.

“I want it to be something where people can get whatever the need from it,” he said. “I’m not interested in taking any pieces off you. I’m interested in helping you be your best, and a space like this is an incubator for that.”

He plans to open either later this winter or in early spring.

It doesn’t mean he’ll abandon his retail work. He’s looking for someone to help run the shop, and he’s starting to offer sort of a plant consignment. It’s hard to explain – but once or twice a month, Cooper plans to buy and sell used plants.

“Sometimes a plant becomes a chore, but it’s still a healthy, thriving plant, and people want to pass it on,” Cooper said.

“Once a month, I’ll have a two- or four-hour window,” he said. People can send him photos of the plants they want to “audition” to be sold at The Deku Tree. He won’t commit to buying it, but it does put them in a fast-track line for it to be evaluated. Walk-ups also will be welcome.

He recommends sellers research what The Deku Tree sells and then offer plants that are healthy and vigorous with new growth, no pests or disease. And it helps if it’s a little unusual.

“I’m not going to buy your plant from Sam’s Club,” Cooper said.

It all began as Cooper kept talking with other local growers. Plus, he sees it as a way to continue to invest in the community – offering a new market for growers and a new source of wholesale-priced plants for buyers.

Picture it this way: The plant that started Cooper on his journey is the operculicarya decaryi, or elephant tree. He found one when he was in Los Angeles and brought it home. The plant is native to Madagascar, and it grows to have barrel-sized trunks with small leaves and small red flowers in winter.

“I was charmed by this plant,” Cooper said, and customers have been too. He can order four dozen and be sold out within weeks. So imagine if a local grower was able to provide that, he said.

“You can get an idea of what kind of side hustle this can be” for growers, Cooper said, noting he’s willing to pay above wholesale costs for local plants.

It’s all part of a true love of learning and nurturing for Cooper. From providing a peaceful place for people to connect with themselves to patiently explaining how to take care of a cactus to an 11-year-old in his shop, Cooper is passionate about what he does.

When you leave an encounter with Cooper, you can’t help but walk away with something rare and wonderful and full of meaning. Maybe it’s a tiny jade plant that reminds you of your mom. Or a cactus that promises to look like a sunrise for part of the year. Maybe it’s practical advice about how to make sure you don’t kill your bonsai by loving it too much. Tip: They need to rest!

Maybe it’s just the conversation and the feeling that he’s tending to you too.

“I want to set people up for success,” Cooper said.