We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenna Fowler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jenna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

One of the biggest trends currently emerging in the botanical industry is the desire for effortless plants and flowers. Gone are the days of the fussy high maintenance plant. Big, bold and easy to care for are the new requirements. Clients are interested in making a statement without having to alter their lifestyle. This desire has pushed the botanical industry to find new offerings meeting both style and lifestyle. Preserved branches styled in oversized floor vases to look like a tree. Low light plants styled in tall vases bringing effortless green to any space. This opportunity allows more clients to bring plants into their homes even if they aren’t there all the time to water.
Covid brought the desire for green in peoples homes. People had nothing but time at home to care for their new green obsessions. As we moved away from lock down people started to travel more. Leaving their covid green babies alone and thirsty while they enjoyed life. Our clients realized they still wanted to the look of the green plants but without the care. This has sparked a whole new botanical movement not only effecting plants but the floral industry as well. Dried and preserved botanicals. Drought tolerant plants and arrangements.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Vagabond Botanical is a luxury botanical studio specializing in oversized trees, vessels and arrangements. What started as a tired mom making succulent arrangements while her baby napped. Turned into a thriving botanical business with a retail location and 13 employees! I am a botanical artist. Not formally trained, but full of passion and creativity. Vagabond is not only a plant shop… we design custom preserved floral arrangements, drought tolerant succulent arrangements, artisanal seasonal outdoor containers, host workshops & parties and create large holiday instillations. I created something that was missing in the floral industry… dark, funky, interesting arrangements full of personality. We source our products from all over the country with a focus on small regional growers and women owned businesses. We are botanical vagabonds rambling across the country looking for the coolest plants to work with. A full service boutique offering delivery, instillation and maintenance of all of our trees. We even have a plant doctor on staff for house visits if your plant gets sick. Large gorgeous plants are hard to find. Large stylish pots to house the plant are even harder to find. We are a one stop shop for all things botanical for your curated home or business.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

It was early on in my career. I was new to plants, but not to getting my clients what they wanted. And my clients were asking for olive trees. Big oversized olive trees like in the photos of the magazines. I asked my wholesalers if they could find olive trees for me. They laughed and gave me the nickname Ms.Olive. They told me Olive trees don’t work in Midwest homes. But my reckless optimism made me continue my search. I finally found a grower that was willing to ship to me. So I ordered 6 olive trees from Florida. It was the most money I had ever spent on product. But I just had a feeling. If I could bring what no one else was willing to try… I could make a name for myself. When they arrived they were huge! I had no idea how I was going to deliver them. But I quickly sold them all. That first shipment of olive trees was a huge gamble. Something everyone told me no. But a move that really helped get my business the attention it needed. To this day if there is something unusual someone wants they know who to call.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I started my hobby business as Vagabond Terrarium right after my second baby was born. I was home with post partum blues and looking for a creative outlet. I decided to make the terrarium kit I bought my ex husband while the baby napped. I loved it! Photographed it and put it on Instagram. The rest is history. That was 2015. I started making terrariums for friends and neighbors. Then I did Dose market in the city and sold out. I knew I was onto something with my little quirky succulent arrangements. Our family moved from the city to the western suburbs where I continued to make succulent arrangements for our new friends. I renamed the business Vagabond Botanical because no one could spell terrarium.
One day I decided to plant succulents in my west facing front porch planters that I could keep alive in our hot dry Midwest summers. I hadn’t seen succulents used outdoors… but I knew they didn’t need a lot of attention indoors… so I gave it a shot. And guess what… it worked. The planters flourished. They looked gorgeous at the end of August when all my neighbors planters were dead. My friend noticed and asked me to plant hers. She posted online and the orders started rolling in. This continued for a couple years until I got divorced. That’s when I decided I needed this hobby business to support my little family. Every day I focused on growing the business like it was my full time job. Word got out and more requests for large indoor trees, drought tolerant arrangements, large creative event displays and photo shoot styling. I did it all… if it had to do with plants… you called Vagabond. I think people really liked my creativity. And I continued to find and make the coolest botanical arrangements around. I’m an artist at heart. Plants + flowers just happen to be my medium. I got divorced. Built a studio in my basement. Asked my best client to come work with me to help grow the business by getting us organized. Then Covid happened. Our business exploded. My little house was busting at the seams. Then the basement flooded. We were busy. We needed to keep working. But it was official we needed a bigger space. We found a gorgeous store front with floor to ceiling west facing windows and knew it was meant to be a plant shop. That was almost 3 years ago. Retail is a whole other animal that we were not prepared for. The business continued to grow. We kept making our space work until we needed more space. We currently have a warehouse space in Burr Ridge for our large outdoor projects and trucks. Although most of our business happens outside of the shop… our little botanical haven in downtown La Grange will always hold a special spot in our hearts. This year as we continue to grow we are looking for more warehouse space and more full time employees. We have grown from one tired mom making an arrangement while the baby napped to a thriving botanical business in downtown La Grange.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shopvagabond.com
• Instagram: @shopvagabond
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-lee-fowler-0213a255?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits

Jenny Grimm