The fiddle leaf fig was her greatest challenge.

“A builder hired me to keep the 25-foot, fiddle leaf fig alive during a three-month remodel, in the middle of winter,” said Lori White of Baskets of Beauty in Silverdale.

The plant was 20 years old, the owners’ pride and joy. It grew three stories tall, from the basement to the second-story entryway.

White usually works alone, but she needed help this time. Her husband rigged a pole that maneuvered plastic around the whole plant. The plastic kept the plant warm, while outside doors were left open. However, the plant had to be unwrapped when it got too hot, due to heaters drying the sheetrock. She and her husband wrapped the plant at night and unwrapped it during the day.

White has operated a plant maintenance business from her home for ten years.

“I try to liven up the world,” she said. “I buy or lease plants and maintain them on a weekly basis.”

She buys indoor plants at Pacific Tropicals in Sumner and at Cascade Tropicals in Snohomish. She buys outdoor plants at Gardenville in Sumner.

White divides her time between outdoor and indoor plants. Indoor plants have to be repotted, fertilized and groomed.

Outdoor plants need the same care, but may be planted into landscape or in pots. She maintains the pots in front of Circuit City and Office Depot in Silverdale.

She plans work according to the weather, maintaining outdoor plants when the weather is good. When the weather is rainy and cold, she maintains indoors plants or does paperwork and taxes.

Her workday has no set hours. She rises at 5:30 a.m. to get the children off to school and feed the horses. She is usually home by 2:30 p.m., to pick up the children at the bus stop. She lives on two acres in Silverdale and maintains her own flowers, shrubs and lawn.