We recently connected with Jasmine Rodriguez-Wagner and have shared our conversation below.
Jasmine, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
As a former overwaterer of house plants, I decided to dive deeper into the health and composition of the soil, which I had learned was essential in growing an outdoor garden. When I first started out with bringing plants indoors, the only care I knew how to provide was watering, and I could tell I was missing something. My goal was to have a beautiful, lush and thriving collection. I did the research and conducted various experiments to determine the premium mixture for our soils! This methodology carried on into finding, sourcing and formulating all of our plant essentials. Being a plant parent means you’re on a continuous journey of learning and we aim to continue to build that community so we can grow together!
After finding the recipe that worked, we realized that others could benefit from these essentials. Most products need to be ordered in bulk, but what if you only had one or two plants that needed assistance? What if you don’t have the ability to store all of these amendments or a space to mix them yourself? Or what if you have many plants and want one less step of mixing your own soil? That’s where our products come in to help your plants thrive!
I wanted to share the experience and knowledge I had cultivated with others and contribute my passion with the plant community. That is the ultimate goal for our small business and we build it little by little with each interaction!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Jasmine, but most people call me Jazzy. I’m a Virgo so I am earth child by nature. To be honest, I didn’t grow up ever thinking I’d own my own business, it seemed very cold and cutthroat from my naive point of view. When I decided to start Roots of my Soil, it grew from a tiny seed with the desire to help plant parents thrive.
The products we offer have all been tested using our own plant collection and if you’ve seen Jazzy’s Jungle Room, the proof is in the pudding! Our first product was our Chunky Soil Mix, which is great for most tropical aroids. We also have a selection of clear pots so that you can easily monitor the health of the roots in the soil and determine the care that the plant needs. As a means to mimick how climbing plants grow in the wild, we offer clear, stackable and reusable moss poles. Our Cactus Soil Blend is best for succulents, cactus, money trees and Aralia Fabian Stump trees. After going through a severe thrips infestation, and having less than satisfactory results from store bought sprays, we decided to make our very own, nontoxic, non-stinky pest prevention and treatment spray.
In growing my plant collection, I’m always performing experiments with my plants, which means lots of propagation. Propagating, successfully propagating that is, turns into more plants which I am then able to offer for sale.
The services we offer are workshops for repotting, learning about pet friendly plants, succulent arrangements and more. We also offer private plant care services like assistance with repotting, adding moss poles for structure or even an extra hand for catching up on plant chores. In this journey, I’m always growing. It brings me such joy in sharing the knowledge I’ve cultivated with others, whether through social media, events or workshops!
We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our audience that they really like our logo, so we’ve recently added printed wearable merchandise. We listen to our customer’s needs, and if we don’t have the answer, that’s where our work is rooted!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn was that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to plants & life situations. In the literal sense, plants don’t all need water at the same time every week. Get to know the origin of each plant, what conditions do they prosper in? By conditions, I mean amount of sunlight, temperature, humidity, soil type and access to water/hydration. When you understand this, you can better determine how to recreate those conditions in your home to help the plant grow happily. In a sense, this can be applied to life situations like interacting with different people, jobs, projects, etc. In other words, what works in one situation may not work for the next, so let’s take a step back to ask questions and realize the full picture before moving forward with a solution.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Keeping in touch with clients is a multi-faceted effort. While we are at events as vendors or workshop leaders, we connect with the plant community in-person, one connection at a time. We also offer stickers and QR codes to connect with us via social media. If a person isn’t on social media we do offer our email address. On social media, we connect with followers for questions about plant care, support through trials and triumphs as well as informational tips and tricks for plant care. When customers place an order for delivery, we always include a personalized, hand written thank you card. Any support of our passion is a means for a happy dance and if you follow me, you know I love a good dance break! ;p
Contact Info:
- Website: http://roots-of-my-soil.myshopify.com/
- Instagram: @rootsofmysoil
- Facebook: Roots of my Soil
Image Credits
These are my own photos taken from my phone.