Four Arrows Garden

Linsay and Manuil Chavez, owners of the Four Arrows Garden in Corona de Tucson, Arizona, never had any intention of starting a plant nursery. 

“We started this garden about two years ago, really as a way to get our kids outside. Had no intention of starting a business or doing anything like that. We just really saw that our little ones...were really interested in succulent cuttings.”

Their four children love to help Linsay and Manuil come up with ideas for the business, inspiring things like succulent planting parties and helping create their new logo. The children have been so involved with Four Arrows from its creation that they even inspired the name. 

“I believe it's in Proverbs where it talks about having many children is like a quiver full of arrows.”

Being from New England, Linsay has always been fascinated with desert plants, since they’re so different from the native plants that she grew up with. This love for desert flora can be seen through all the cacti growing and succulent propagating that Four Arrows does. 

“You didn't have to be necessarily a professional at it or something. You could just have fun.”

Four Arrows came at just the right time in Linsay and Manuil’s lives. Between personal life events and the pandemic, it offered a meditative place for them to take a breath. 

“We'd come out, and we would just sit out here in the morning and reflect and pray...We needed that...It was something we could control when a lot of other circumstances were out of our control.”

They noticed that many others in the community felt the same way, finding an escape in gardening and simply being outside around plants. 

“You could be sad inside, or you could have a bad day...And if you come outside, I promise, it's different. And I'm not saying it immediately makes all those problems go away. But it definitely feels like it when you're there with them.”

Visit Four Arrows Garden’s website for more details.

A film by Peter Fuhrman.