Botanical Brouhaha Podcast

Sarah Donjuan didn't set out to become a florist. In 2018, fresh out of business school and looking for a creative side hustle, she landed on a 1967 Volkswagen flower truck — and accidentally started a floral business with staying power in Atlanta. In this episode (Ep. 147), Sarah walks us through the full arc of JJ's Flower Truck and Shop: from a curtained kiosk at Ponce City Market to a 1,500-square-foot Dunwoody dream shop, and from a one-woman operation to a full, talented team. She's honest about the highs, the lows, and everything in between — including what it really takes to build a business that can run without you.
Join us as we chat with Sarah about:
Starting a business with no industry experience and a "figure it out" mindset
Growing from a pop-up model to a brick-and-mortar shop
Listening to customers to decide what to offer next
Building and sustaining a team — hiring, firing, and building culture
Launching national flower shipping
Competing with large floral brands in the online marketplace
Balancing entrepreneurship with marriage and children
The long-term vision: satellite shops in Chicago, LA, NYC, and Austin
 
Connect with JJ's Flower Shop:
Website
Instagram

You can find show notes and more episodes of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast at botanicalbrouhaha.com, and you can find Amy on IG at either @botanicalbrouhaha or @bloomtrustco and Natalie at @hey.nataliegill or @native_poppy
This episode of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast was produced by Joel McGee. Original music by Landon McGee.

Building a Sweet Pea Seed Brand
In this episode (Ep. 146), we sit down with Colleen Raney, founder of Songbird Seed Co and Diadem Flower Co. If you love a great story, this one's for you. Colleen's path into the flower world is anything but conventional. From studying aerospace engineering and training as a professional actor, to performing Irish music internationally, to building a flower farm in Maine, to moving the farm to Washington—and ultimately launching a specialty sweet pea seed company—Colleen's story is full of pivots, curiosity, and entrepreneurial strategy. And don't even get us started on her sense of humor!
Colleen shares how a season of burnout and big life shifts led her to the garden—and how a simple fascination with sweet peas slowly grew into a thoughtfully built seed company. Our conversation wanders through topics like creativity, business strategy, and the realities of building something in the floral world, all anchored by the sense of wonder that keeps pulling us back to flowers.
Join us as we chat with Colleen about:
Starting a flower farm in Maine and building a thriving local floral business
Moving back to the West Coast and adapting to a different flower market
Why sweet peas became the foundation of her seed business
The process of researching and launching a niche seed company
Branding, packaging, and storytelling as marketing tools
Growing seed stock and preserving rare varieties
Identifying your ideal customer and staying focused on a narrow market
Managing comparison, visibility, and self-doubt as a creative entrepreneur
Shifting away from "content creation" toward documenting real work on social media
Building authentic community around a niche product
This episode of the Botanical Brouhaha Podcast is brought to you by:
Bloom Trust Co. Circle Retail 2026
Simple -- Soulful -- Connection.  Click here to learn more.
You can find show notes and more episodes of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast at botanicalbrouhaha.com, and you can find Amy on IG at either @botanicalbrouhaha or @bloomtrustco and Natalie at @hey.nataliegill or @native_poppy
This episode of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast was produced by Joel McGee. Original music by Landon McGee.

Linda D'Arco returns to the Botanical Brouhaha podcast nearly five years after her first appearance to share what's changed since we last spoke. Based in northern New York, Linda is the founder of Little Farmhouse Flowers and Ampersand Bulb Co., and she brings a valuable, behind-the-scenes perspective on importing flower bulbs, ethical sourcing, and sustainable supply chains. Drawing from firsthand experience as a bulb importer, Linda breaks down how tariffs work, why they've dramatically increased costs for small farms, and how these policies affect the future of local flower production in the U.S.
This conversation goes far beyond bulbs. Along the way, we explore what it means to let go of offerings you love, build businesses that reflect your values, and take responsibility for the ripple effects of your work.
Join us as we chat with Linda about:
Letting go of offerings to make room for more aligned work
Building a wholesale flower bulb company
Ethical sourcing, sustainability, and supply-chain transparency
How flower bulbs are grown—and why they take years to produce
How tariffs affect American flower farmers and florists
The environmental tradeoffs between importing bulbs vs. cut flowers
Frozen agricultural grants and their downstream impact on farms
Using your business as a vehicle for values and advocacy
Choosing your audience—and being okay with who opts out
Parenting, boundaries, and designing a business that supports real life
Connect with Linda D'Arco:
Little Farmhouse Flowers
The Tulip Workshop
Ampersand Bulb Co.

This episode of the Botanical Brouhaha Podcast is brought to you by:
BLOOM TRUST CO.
A curated collection of floral resources you can trust.  Click here to learn more.
 
You can find show notes and more episodes of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast at botanicalbrouhaha.com, and you can find Amy on IG at either @botanicalbrouhaha or @bloomtrustco and Natalie at @hey.nataliegill or @native_poppy
This episode of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast was produced by Joel McGee. Original music by Landon McGee.

In this bonus episode, Amy and Natalie take a deep dive into Bloom Trust Co. CIRCLE—what it is, why they started it nearly five years ago, and how it's evolved since that very first session in 2021. They reflect on how CIRCLE grew from just an idea about how to connect with other florists into a trusted, small-group community for florists who want a safe, candid space to talk about the real work of owning a flower business. They cover how CIRCLE works (and why it's not a course), the importance of community, transparency, and talking about numbers. And they discuss the unexpected impact it's had helping businesses develop systems strong enough to allow them to sell when the time was right. Whether you're thinking about opening a shop, wanting to take the next step to expand and grow your retail business, or just curious what CIRCLE really is, this episode gives you an honest look behind the scenes. If you are interested in joining either CIRCLE Retail or CIRCLE Weddings, you can contact Amy directly through email or DM to find out more. 
You can find show notes and more episodes of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast at botanicalbrouhaha.com, and you can find Amy on IG at either @botanicalbrouhaha or @bloomtrustco and Natalie at @hey.nataliegill or @native_poppy
This episode of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast was produced by Joel McGee. Original music by Landon McGee.

Redefining Success as a Florist
In today's BB Podcast episode (No. 144), we're visiting with Evelyn Krebs, a Swiss florist, shop owner, and creative entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience in the floral industry. As founder and owner of Stil & Stiele in Zurich, Switzerland, Evelyn shares what 25 years of shop ownership taught her about growth, courage, and building a business that actually supports your life.
We talk about her unconventional path—from apprenticing in the late 1990s to owning a long-running flower shop in Zurich, launching a concept-driven retail store, and reimagining what a sustainable, values-aligned floral business can look like. This conversation explores courage, redefining success, and building a business that truly serves your life—not just industry expectations.
Whether you're a florist questioning traditional shop hours, dreaming of a different retail model, or simply craving permission to do things your own way, this episode offers thoughtful perspective and real-world insight.
Join us as we chat with Evelyn about:
her journey into floristry and opening her first flower shop in Zurich
using farmers markets as a high-end marketing and client acquisition tool
balancing creative work, management, and personal health
the impact of staffing, scale, and "growth at all costs" thinking
why fewer employees can sometimes mean higher profit and less stress
building a second, non-floral concept shop with higher margins and fewer demands
flexible staffing models using shared calendars and trust-based systems
selling emotion and experience rather than just products
redefining success over a long career
courage, boundaries, and opting out of the hamster wheel
self-service flower shops and retail models in Switzerland
Links mentioned in this episode:
TimeTree App – Shared scheduling tool
Poschtilädeli – Evelyn's second shop
Connect with Stil und Stiele:
Website
Instagram
Evelyn's second shop, Poschtilädeli
This episode of the Botanical Brouhaha Podcast is brought to you by:
BLOOM TRUST CO.
A curated collection of floral resources you can trust.  Click here to learn more.
 
You can find show notes and more episodes of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast at botanicalbrouhaha.com, and you can find the BB Podcast co-hosts on IG @botanicalbrouhaha and @hey.nataliegill.
This episode of The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast was produced by Joel McGee. Original music by Landon McGee.