We were lucky to catch up with Olivia Heil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Olivia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

The story of how we came to acquire our business is a bit wild—but in the most fulfilling, heartwarming way.
It all began in 1998. My mom was a stay-at-home mother raising three kids: my older siblings, ages five and seven, and me, an infant at the time. Once the older two went off to school, she found herself with a little extra time and an itch to do something more. Craving a bit of purpose outside the home, she decided to apply for a part-time job at a small local garden center just down the street from our house.
To her delight, not only did she get the job, but the owner even welcomed her to bring me along. So there she was—watering flowers, pruning plants, and soaking up all the knowledge she could, all while I sat strapped to her chest in a BabyBjörn. It was her happy place. She worked there for several seasons and fell completely in love with gardening.
Eventually, as we kids got older and needed her more, she stepped away from the job. But her passion didn’t fade. She brought everything she had learned home with her, pouring that love into our backyard garden—and into me. With a significant age gap between my siblings and me, I spent a lot of one-on-one time with her. Our summers were filled with barefoot adventures through the yard, chasing dogs, watering flowers, and picking ripe tomatoes from our garden.
That love for gardening never left me. When I was old enough to get my first job, I didn’t have to think twice—I went straight to the same garden center and applied. A few weeks later, I was behind the register, learning how to tend to flowers and getting to know the regular customers. I ended up working six spring seasons there, forming friendships with the staff and deepening my appreciation for gardening.
As I entered my second year of nursing school, juggling two other jobs and intensive clinical hours, I knew my time at the garden center was coming to an end. I said goodbye to what had been my favorite job and stepped into a new chapter as an emergency department nurse.
Then COVID hit. I spent long, emotionally exhausting days caring for critically ill patients. Gardening became my escape. After most shifts, I would retreat into my garden to decompress and find peace. It grounded me. And I continued this act of self care into many years moving forward as a nurse.
Even as life moved on, I continued my yearly visits to the garden center—catching up with old friends and buying plants to fill my garden. Then one spring afternoon, I ran into the owner. We chatted, and she mentioned that retirement was on the horizon. She asked me to let her know if I heard of anyone who might be interested in taking over the business.
Driving home that day, I thought, Whoever ends up with that business will be the luckiest person alive.
A year later, I stopped by again—and the topic came up once more. But this time, she asked me directly if I would be interested in taking it over. I laughed and told her I was too young, had no business experience, and certainly didn’t have the money. She smiled and simply said, “We’ll figure it out.”
And we did.
Eight months later, my husband and I signed our names on the dotted line. Three months after that, we opened the doors as the new owners. The emotions during those four months leading up to opening day were unlike anything I’d ever experienced—fear, joy, hard work, doubt, excitement, and relentless determination. We worked in the snow, stayed up late preparing orders, learning operations, rebranding the entire business and sent more than a few prayers up that it would all somehow come together.
And it did.
The most special part? My very first employee was my mom. She stood beside me on our opening day, just as she had stood decades earlier, with me in a baby carrier, tending flowers at the same garden center. Life had come full circle—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Olivia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As I kind of already queued you into how we acquired the business, a little bit about our selves and what we do.
Our business was formly known as The Flower Bed. A very well respected, well ran business for 40 years. The owner, Kimberly, is a real life Martha Stewart. A fierce business woman, a stellar horticulturist and a generally lovely human. She taught myself, my mother and hundreds more about gardening and more information about running a garden center that I can fit into my brain in four months. She has been an great mentor and advocate for my husband and I.
My husband and I are high school sweet hearts, married this past June after being together for 9 years and diving headfirst into this business endeavor a month after our honeymoon ended. As I started prior, I am an ED nurse and have spent the last 7 years in the local ED. My husband is an project manager/electrical engineer for a utility company. Clearly, there isn’t anything to do with flowers in either of our career titles but that has not held us back from our journey.
Something I am wildly proud of is our partnership in our business. We truly couldn’t make this work without eachother. It has been incredibly challenging learning all the new things- operations, finances, managing employees, taxes, laws about small business, etc. All while meeting new customers, getting the word out and being knowledgeable about the inventory we carry. I am always so proud to tell this to people but my husband, a 27 year old, spent every saturday and sunday working at a garden center. Carrying orders to cars, greeting customers, helping in any aspect he could and he never, ever complained once. He knows how much this place means to me and although it has been challenging physically and mentally, he has never let that dull his positivity or willingness to be involved.
As a husband and wife ran business, we are proud of our story and find that it sets us apart. We proudly tell our story to anyone that asks . We emphasize we are new, we are learning and we are challenged to continue to make this business great, maintain the integrity of what kimberly built and implement new ideas. One of the challenges we have had is rebranding the business. We renamed our business, Petals Off The Pike. The business is nestled alongside Ohio Pike and we loved the play on words but it has been a challenge to rebrand. Many customers challenging/questioning the change and concerned with how it will end up but we’ve stood tall against this doubt.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

It’s a big challenge to source new clients. We have a loyal customer base but we also have many great garden centers in a 15 mile radius that provide local consumers with many option to shop.
We have attempted to create a social media presence which we haven’t had a huge response on but a good way we found to create new customers is pop up markets!
We have attended a few small business markets around the city that has been a wonderful way to get our name out and create new customer relationships.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

touched on this with honesty, upfront response from new customers. who are doubting or questioning the rebrand/ change of business name/ change of ownership.
Being upfront about our story- people have been excited and showed a lot of respect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.petalsoffthepike.com
• Instagram: @petalsoffthepike
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Petals-Off-The-Pike/61573747926671/#

Image Credits

rebecca carmel photography