LAUGHLINTOWN -- Terry Coyne sowed the seeds for her new floral and gift shop while working as a nutrition researcher for 13 years at the University of Pittsburgh during the late '80s and 1990s.

Amaryllis and colorful Cape primroses, which are members of the African violet family, crowded her office, thriving behind floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that faced east.

"Before long, it was like a nursery," she recalled, adding that for years, she divided pink and white Cape primroses and gave them to friends.

No wonder her new business, which opened this year in a converted two-car garage on Route 30, is called The Conservatory -- Plants and Gifts for Gardeners. Here you'll find herbs and specimens not seen at big-box stores -- bromeliads, succulents and air plants.

Customers will also love the setting, just a short walk away from Ms. Coyne's restored 1797 log house next door. The freshly painted white brick building is trimmed with contrasting black shutters and a black door, both of which came from Construction Junction in Point Breeze. Inside, there's a large skylight and nine double-hung windows.

Among the most inventive items are bird feeders made out of colorful tea cups. Mounted on copper piping, the feeders are created by Chris Kapitan of Jenners, Westmoreland County, which is just over the mountain. Rub petroleum jelly on the copper pipe to keep squirrels from climbing up and stealing the bird seed.

Ms. Coyne restored her 18th-century log house with help from friends and by studying "The Old House Compendium." Converting a two-car garage was easier. Work began around Labor Day of 2008 and was finished by Thanksgiving of that year.

"I wanted the ceiling high and insulated," said Ms. Coyne, adding that a high ceiling allows her to hang flowering baskets during spring and summer. A ceiling fan helps keep things cool.

Rainwater from the building's gutters flows into a large, 150-gallon black rain barrel; overflow goes into a soaker hose near large rhododendrons. Rob Marshall installed the rain barrel, redid the ceiling shingles and installed the skylights, windows, ceiling insulation and propane heater. Pat Scanlon did the exterior painting and suggested that Ms. Coyne hang plants from exterior pipes.

Outside the shop, which opened in May, stands a gorgeous yellow buckeye tree. A local gardener suggested that she root the buckeyes in dirt, wait until they sprout and sell the seedlings in the spring.

"They are a little bit particular about where they want to grow. They like really nice soil," Ms. Coyne said.

The shop also carries distinctive gifts. Bridget Mayak of Somerset creates the colorful ceramic birds and ikebana dishes. Dave Armstrong of Irwin makes the birdhouses and garden benches. Handmade cards with dried flowers are by Eileen Stoner; watercolor greeting cards are by Carole McCray and Patricia Loughren.

Ms. Coyne became besotted with all things botanical in the 1960s, an era when nearly every American kitchen held a spider plant or maiden hair fern hanging from the ceiling in a bead-encrusted macrame holder.

Her passion for unusual plants intensified while she lived in the South Pacific and Australia. After earning her doctorate in nutritional epidemiology from Pitt's School of Public Health in 1998, she spent a year working in New Caledonia, a French island in the southwest Pacific between Fiji and Australia.

"It was a 'Some Enchanted Evening' kind of place," she said, adding that she played tennis, studied French and sampled good French and Australian wines. She was there to update a report she wrote 20 years ago on islanders' nutritional habits.

When she finished, an offer came to teach nutrition at the University of Queensland in Australia. She retired in 2006 and returned to Laughlintown that year.

"Bromeliads were practically weeds in Australia," Ms. Coyne said, adding that in Queensland, she had a license to grow 'Goldfinger' bananas, which are a lot sweeter than the supermarket variety.

The Conservatory's last day of business this year is Oct. 18. The shop reopens on May 1. Information: 724-238-2288.

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.