Her store is bathed in sunlight and her smile is radiant. A huge fan of urban gardening, Emmanuelle Paul-Nathou has transformed her passion into a profession. Her
shop, Pilea, opened on Rue du Faubourg du Courreau in July 2022. She sells plants and all the equipment you need to turn your home and outside space into a green space, and to maintain it.
She features common sage, bulbs, thyme, lavender, rosemary, cacti, and more. In addition to local plants, the store also offers exotic plants, such as alocasias, calatheas, philodendrons, dracaenas, euphorbias, and of course pileas. In the store, the plants enrich a warm and fragrant urban jungle created by Emmanuelle. This is a completely new experience for her, as she previously worked at an architecture firm.
“I needed a change, to move around and no longer be in an office all the time. So, I got training as a horticultural gardener,” she explains.
She happily shares her know-how with customers in her shop, giving them advice and organizing workshops. Some workshops will become regular, to be offered every Wednesday morning for children and every Saturday morning for adults. A space in the store is already reserved for people who want to re-pot their plants or learn how to do so, and customers can buy potting soil by the liter on site.
People like the concept and Pilea’s customer base continues to grow.
“New customers are coming in thanks to the nearby tramway stop and our area’s transformation into a pedestrian zone,” she observes, before concluding: “Additionally, I am well supported by Montpellier’s strategy to promote the development of green spaces. Not every city does that.”
Well-being through plants!
