Who are Rich and Bonnie Hale?

Rich and I have been married 46 years. We have 2 daughters 43 and 39. We have one grandchild a girl, named Jasmine. Our only grandchild and probably the only one we will ever have. Jennifer lives here in North Carolina. Michelle and Jazzie live in Indiana. Our farm is also our residence and we are not open to the public in general. However we are open (call, email or text to let us know what day and approximate time) in August through January to make purchases. Our business keeps us both busy 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We also grow all of our plants in a greenhouse. So while my address is not on my website, we are real folks who enjoy the little bit of privacy we get when we have a few minutes to relax. If you show up with not prior call, text or email, you will be turned away. I realize local folks do not want to pay shipping so we are at the Charlotte Farmers market for 10 weeks from spring until early summer. We are more than willing to bring Koi or plants or supplies for you to pick up at the market. Just email or call you order to me before noon on Friday and we will have your order for you to pick up at the market on Saturday. We sold our retail nursery/garden center/pond store in Michigan in 2000 and moved to North Carolina. I had had it with the winters! And I have never looked back. While I do miss my customers, I do stay in touch with many of them via email and phone calls and many still buy their aquatic plants and pond supplies from us. Living both zone 5 Michigan and zone 7 in North Carolina I feel I can give most customers the help they need. Rich and I both love rescue dogs. If I had more time to devote to another dog or two we would have more. For now we are happy with Sammy a black and tan hound and Ginger a pit mix who is very lovable. We rescued Ginger after someone dumped her on a back road and we nursed her back to health. Rich and I have accomplished all aspects of landscaping for almost 46 Years. Everything from landscape design to planting and maintaining for customers We laid sod and planted greenery and did maintenance for many different aspects of landscapes professionally. I was also the water garden editor for Koi USA for several years. As bonniesplants.com grew I had to make cuts in my free time so I gave up the writing job. I still write occasionally on water gardens for various pet magazines. You can see photos of our pond from start to finish and the collapse and rebuild. There are photos of our fish on this page Our Pond Initially in Michigan we started just with growing and selling pond plants. Our customers asked us to also start selling Koi. It was at that point in time that I became "hooked" and addicted to first the hobby and then to the business. In 2013 we decided to phase out koi and breeding because it was way too time consuming. Update: Our goal for 2015 was to be out of koi for sale and we are almost there now in late 2015. I no longer do Koi consults unless the Koi were purchased from us! In Michigan . . . That's when the *real* learning began; I have killed lots of fish along the way and can tell you a thousand ways to 'sink' a fish. On the pages in my web site you will find many articles about fish and their health care and lots of suggestions, ideas and tips for caring for your finny friends. In addition throughout my website you will find lots of information on both pond plants as well as information on pond fish (Koi in particular). I pride myself in having the biggest selection of pond plants one will find in any one place. I love plants that are different and unusual as you can see by the colorful variety we have listed on the ever growing pages of the Plant Page. There you will find lots of pictures, growing tips, suggestions, “how-to” on these pages. Facebook page - Join us on my page for some lively conversation. I hope you have enjoyed meeting us, the folks behind the web site we call bonniesplants.com