About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2020)
Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com She (Times gainesvilletimes.com Friday, January 24, 2020 Neat threads, new location Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Taylor Wilson, owner of Gypsy Threads Boutique, is moving her clothing store to downtown Gainesville in the former Rooster’s Perch location on Bradford Street NE. The business is currently at 1175 Thompson Bridge Road. Below: Gypsy Threads Boutique offers clothing with a boho vibe and other unique items that owner Wilson said will help the shop stand out when it moves to its new location just off the square. ‘Funky clothing boutique owner is moving her business to Gainesville s square BY LAYNE SALIBA lsaliba@gainesvilletimes.com Making her own clothes as a little girl, Taylor Wilson always knew she wanted to be in the fash ion industry. Even after graduating from the University of North Georgia with a marketing degree, fashion was calling her name. So she answered. “If I could go back and tell my younger self, I think I could definitely see myself doing this,” Wilson said. “But I never really expected it. I just never expected the events to play out the way that they did.” Wilson owns Gypsy Threads Boutique on Thompson Bridge Road after working there for two- and-a-half years. She bought the business from the original owner, Suzanne Doty, almost a year ago. Now, the 27-year-old is making the place her own, moving to the old Rooster’s Perch space off the Gainesville square at 210 Bradford St. NE. “I think it will be cool because I’ll get to put my own touch on things because it will be com pletely renovated,” Wilson said. The move brings yet another clothing boutique to the square — a crowded space with Dress Up, The Bee’s Knees, Image Boutique and even Fashion Ten. So Wilson said as a newcomer, she’s hoping to stand out, just like she said the business has since it opened in 2015. “I think that we kind of pride ourselves on being a little bit dif ferent,” Wilson said. “We kind of have the high school girl cus tomer, we have her mom and we have her grandma. You just have to have a little bit of a different — a little more funky style. We’re pretty boho, and it’s just a little bit different than some of the other places around Gainesville for that reason.” She said they “don’t do a lot of basics” at Gypsy Threads. Their clothes are “just a little more out there.” “I think that everything we carry, all of our pieces, are special in a way,” Wilson said. “We don’t just want to be mainstream. We try to stand out a little bit more.” Besides the clothes for sale, Wilson tries to stand out by offer ing help to customers however she can. She said every now and again, someone will walk into the store with a pair of their shoes or a pair of their pants and ask for her help finding something to go with it. “It’s more of a personal touch,” said Leslie White, a Gypsy Threads customer. “I’ll get a phone call saying they got a new shipment in and to come by and see them. Or she’ll text pictures saying she thinks I’ll look great in something. It’s more of a one-on-one shopping experience.” White owns Resource Brokers and Resource Property Man agement in Gainesville, and the company’s office is right beside the new Gypsy Threads location. White said she’s excited but a little nervous, too. “I really may go broke going shopping,” White said, laughing. “The temptation is next door now. ” White said Wilson is “one of the best-dressed girls in town,” and it’s all because she truly loves what she’s doing. “I’ve always loved clothes. I’ve always loved fashion,” Wilson said. It not only shows through the clothes she wears — they often come from the store — it shows through the clothes she offers at Gypsy Threads, too. “I feel like it kind of has a dif ferent edge that nowhere else in Gainesville has,” said Kristin Barrett, another Gypsy Threads customer. “I feel like it’s a little bit more trendy than a lot of the stores that are in and around Gaines ville. And I just appreciate that it’s local.” She could shop online, but she said she likes being able to try something on in person and get someone else’s opinion before she buys it. “I like that I can get stuff that’s kind of more retro but still has a modern flair to it that I don’t think you can find anywhere else around here,” Barrett said. The new space is a little bit big ger than what Wilson has now, but there are walls that need to come down. When she’s done with it, it will be “a very open floor plan,” with plenty of room to show off the clothes Gypsy Threads offers. “I just think it will be good to be up there, and I think me being able to renovate completely, it will feel more like mine,” Wilson said. “I get to put my own touch and my own spin on things there.” Everything you need to know to help local pollinators Times file photo A bee lands on native plants on Thursday, June 13,2019, at the Linwood Nature Preserve. Plants have a remarkable mech anism to guarantee reproduction. Unlike animals, which are free to roam about and seek mates, plants are rooted to one spot in the ground and need help to repro duce. Pollination is the process that allows plants to reproduce sexually with other plants over large areas. Pollination is where the sub stance of pollen is transferred from the male parts of a flower to the female parts of the same flower, or to a different flower of the same species. Some plants are self-pollinated or wind-pollinated, but most depend on insects, birds, bats and other organisms, collec tively referred to as pollinators, to transport the pollen for them. Successful reproduction in more than 90% of the 250,000 flowering plant species relies on pollination. More than 100,000 varieties of insects, including bees, moths, but terflies, beetles and flies, serve as pollinators, as do at least 1,035 spe cies of vertebrates, including birds, mammals and reptiles. The availability of native polli nators is as important as moisture, sunlight and soil fertility to the reproductive success of nearly half the world’s flowering plants. Ani mals can transfer pollen from one flower to another more efficiently as they search for food. Insects are the most common animal pollinators. They have physical characteristics that make them extremely efficient at locat ing flowers and transferring pollen from one flower to another and then pollen from the male parts of the flower to the female parts. The male parts of a flower are called the stamens and at the tip of them are anthers. During breeding season, the anther releases pollen and it is picked up by the wind or an animal and delivered to the female parts of the flower, called the pistil. The pollen fertilizes the female and produces fruit, which produces the seed. So how does this microscopic pollen get to the correct place? That is what is so fascinating about pollination. I like to think of it like my 8-year- old playing in the mud. How is it possible to get mud inside your underwear, ears, nostrils and boots and then bring it in the house to spread to unimaginable loca tions? As pollinating animals are out doing their daily routine, they get pollen all over themselves and spread it everywhere they go. The more the animals are out spreading, the more likely the pol len will end up in a tiny spot called the pistil of a flower. Of course, the animals that are pollinating spe cific plants usually have a symbi otic relationship with that plant. The nectar the plant produces may be a food source or the struc ture of the plant will be a good place for shelter. That relation ship keeps the pollinating animal hanging around that specific plant, increasing the chance for pollina tion to occur. Why does Augusta turn yellow in the spring? Pine trees. Because pines are only polli nated by wind, and we are loaded down with pine trees, there are a lot of seed to be fertilized. Pine trees produce copious amounts of pollen to increase their reproduc tive odds. The March winds help this process, much to the delight of our local car washes. Other wind pollinators are corn and in the fall the super-allergen ragweed. All of our grasses and a lot of our common weeds are also wind-pollinated. Insect pollinators play a signifi cant role in producing more than 150 food crops in the United States including apples, alfalfa, almonds, blueberries, broccoli, cucumbers, peaches, soybeans, strawberries, kiwis, melons, onions, pears, plums and squash. Healthy pollinator populations increase the amount and quality of the fruit produced and help make fruit larger as well. The annual value of all pol linators (exclusive of managed honeybees) to U.S. agriculture is estimated between $4.1 and $6.7 billion. To say pollinators are vital to agriculture would be an under statement. Every third bite of food we eat comes from a plant that depends on insect pollinators. There is increasing evidence that the health and populations of many pollinator species are in decline. This poses a significant threat to biodiversity, global food webs and human health. You can create pollinator-friendly gardens to preserve native pollinator popu lations and enjoy the beauty and interest they provide. When planning a pollinators’ garden, include a variety of annu als, perennials and shrubs. Plant a wide variety of nectar- and pollen- rich flowers. Choose plants with a diversity of colors, shapes and sizes. Some native pollinators are attracted to flowers of certain col ors or shapes. A wide variety of colors and shapes will attract more pollinators and encourage them to make your garden their home. Planting large groups of flowers of the same color or kind together attracts pollinators much better than single, individual flowers scat tered through the garden. Annuals would include cos mos, impatiens, marigolds, petu nia, basil, dill, fennel, zinnia and sunflower. Perennial would include aster, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, mint, milkweed, salvia and verbena. Pollinator hosts for pollinators in shrubs would include abelia, butterfly bush, lantana, buckeye, Virginia sweetspire, beautyberry and yaupon holly. Some of these plants provide food and overwintering places for eggs and larva. Providing water for your animal helps. Pollinators such as butter flies will gather and sip at shallow pools, mud puddles, shallow bird baths and saucers filled with water. Avoid using broad-spectrum herbi cides, insecticides and fungicides. Your pollinators’ garden should be a pesticide-free space since many pesticides will kill them. Herbicides that eliminate weeds will also eliminate many food sources, hiding places and nesting places for native pollinators. The pollinators’ garden is a good place to let the garden go wild. Your garden may look messy to some, but to the pollinators it looks like home. Campbell Vaughn is an agriculture and natural resource agent with the University of Georgia Extension in Augusta. He can be reached at ecvaughn@uga.edu.
