Erda is not a place one typically expects to find plants with names like trailing sapphire, Japanese wisteria, Persian fruiting mulberry and Himalayan cedar.

However, it's names like these that Wade and Regina Anderson of Stansbury Park have built their livelihood on. The couple's Tooele Valley Nursery has bloomed in the midst of a highway, a car lot, barren fields and some storage units.

Although the Andersons opened their nursery on Cimmarron Way and SR-36 last year, it has grown exponentially this spring. What was a small tree lot with a cash register under a tarp awning has become a two-acre forest of hundreds of varieties of trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables. The register is now inside a large greenhouse used for growing more sensitive plants.

Wade said driving around neighborhoods in the valley, there are usually only about half a dozen different trees because people think that's all they can grow.

"We probably have about 60 varieties of trees that will grow at certain locations here that people don't normally think about," he said.

Drought-tolerant plants are also widely available at the nursery, as is a good selection of specialty annuals for baskets and containers, Wade said.

The business opened its expanded facility April 1, but will hold a grand opening this Friday and Saturday to coincide with Arbor Day, which is on Friday.

The business has been Wade's longtime dream. He grew up on a family farm in Minnesota and spent every weekend farming.

"I guess that's where I got the dirt under my nails," he said.

Wade attended the University of Utah, although he graduated in psychology, not botany. He spent a half dozen years working at Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City, which he said was a good learning experience.

"I started as a gardener pulling weeds then became head gardener and had pretty much every job other than management there," he said.

He also worked at Mitchell's Nursery in Sandy for six years and at Mike's Yard and Garden in Tooele for a few years.

Wade said the nursery "just fell together" so the couple decided to go for it.

"We figured this place was big enough to support a nursery and if we don't do it someone else will," Regina said.

Regina, who was raised in Roosevelt, made maps for the forest service for 20 years. She has now acquired the green thumb as a byproduct of being involved in her husband's passion for all things green.

In addition to Wade and Regina, there are eight employees at the nursery. Wade estimates start-up costs for the business add up to at least $200,000.

"I don't think we could've done it for any less," he said.

Wade said he tries to be pretty competitive with prices, especially with the larger nurseries, although big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot will likely be cheaper.

Regina added, "Anything you find in Salt Lake you can probably find it here."

The Andersons plan to stay open until somewhere around Thanksgiving, although that depends on the weather.

The nursery is at the mercy of Mother Nature and unfavorable weather can wreak havoc on plants. Wade said there were some tree losses last summer because of the drought. Regina said the fickle springtime weather has also kept them on their toes, bringing tomato plants in and out of the greenhouse depending on the weather.

But despite the risks, Wade said this line of work is what he enjoys.

"I like trees, shrubs, flowers -- all of them," he said. "And I like being outside, even when it's cold like today."

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