Exotic plants and steaming plates of food that both arrived on the North Kitsap business scene in 1989 were lost this week. Corporate decision-making and negligence that led to a fire are to blame in the respective demises of Heronswood Nursery and Mitzel’s American Restaurant.

And while the latter might rise from its Poulsbo Village ashes, the former is being uprooted for good and moved to Pennsylvania by one of America’s largest seed companies, Burpee. Executives at Burpee, who deemed it a good idea to buy Heronswood about six years ago, are now deeming it a good idea to move the entire business back East.

Take heart local plant lovers. Because as George Ball, president of Burpee and Heronswood, explained, “We’re not moving away from the Pacific Northwest, we’re moving to Pennsylvania.”

Now, we’re no geographers, but last we checked Pennsylvania wasn’t exactly nestled in between somewhere Oregon and Idaho. Perhaps Mr. Ball has a new map of the United States. Or perhaps he’s full of the same stuff his company uses to grow its plants.

Either way, the impact to the region’s gardening community is huge and translates into more than a loss of unique plants but international recognition as well.

Not as prestigious but surely rivaling Heronswood’s popularity with locals on the level of good food at a fair price, Mitzel’s destruction has left a gaping hole in the Poulsbo eatery scene. The fire marked the second such loss North Kitsap’s business community has endured in the past year as the Kingston Inn burned to the ground last September. While that blaze should have served as a wake-up call for area restaurants to upgrade their fire prevention systems, the loss of Mitzel’s should have the effect of placing a steaming cup of strong, black coffee in front of them — something that regulars at the Poulsbo Village destination were accustomed to and will no doubt be missing.