Do you own a flower business or dream of starting one? Are you looking for practical floral design tips? Ever wonder how other florists run their businesses? Or maybe you're a farmer florist building a flower farm and floral design business at the same time? You've landed in the right place! At the BB Podcast, we serve floral designers, farmer florists, flower shop owners, and aspiring florists by diving into practical tips and insider information from real working florists, floral educators, flower growers, and floral industry vendors to help you find the tools you need to start, run, and grow your flower business. We like to mix it up! Do you prefer hearing real-life stories or diving into specific flower business topics? Either way, we've got you covered. Listen to our storytelling episodes featuring floral professionals sharing the details of starting and running their flower businesses. So many stories just waiting for you to dig in and learn from those who are doing what you want to do! Browse our topic-specific interviews where you can expect everything from conversations on marketing, staffing, and floral software to pain points like finding your mojo or listening to your intuition in business. Amy McGee, Botanical Brouhaha founder, brings years of relationship building with floral designers, farmer florists, and floral professionals to the table and invites you to pull up a chair for the conversations where you'll learn and be inspired by the nitty gritty transparency of the questions she asks. The BB Podcast is co-hosted by Natalie Gill, owner of Native Poppy.
We're back with Semia Dunn who first joined us on the BB podcast back in Episode 35, sharing how she bought a flower shop at 22 and later launched Flowers by Semia (which was later rebranded as SEMIA) and then The Floral Reserve, a wholesale flower company (built by a florist, for florists!). In this catch-up episode, Semia returns to reflect on what's changed and what hasn't. She talks candidly about growing her team, breaking into destination weddings, building a new e-commerce system for the wholesale business, and holding onto the values that got her here. It's a grounded, honest look at what scaling a floral business actually takes, and what stays the same no matter how big things get.
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 episode, we sat down with Bloom Trust Co and Circle member Shelley O'Neill, a former fourth-grade teacher turned florist who recently added a retail shop called Oyster Flower Co. to her existing wedding flower business in Annapolis, Maryland! Shelley walks us through what pulled her into CIRCLE (we talk more about that in the episode), what's kept her in Bloom Trust Co. for three years running, and together we break down exactly what's inside: the resource library, Office Hours, meetups, a private podcast called The Back Room, and the Flowering with Purpose grants.
If you're a florist (and it doesn't matter if you're a retail florist, wedding/event florist, or farmer florist), we built the BTCO community for you! We're in no hurry to expand it beyond the point where we know your name and your business model. We thrive on the connections and relationships built slowly with an attention to trust and accessible floral resources.
When you succeed, we all succeed! We firmly believe that. It's why we do what we do.
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 part two (Ep. 151) with Alex Vaughan of FLWR Shop in Nashville, Tennessee we dig into the real, tactical side of her decision to step away from wedding florals. Alex opens up about the politics and power dynamics of working with luxury wedding planners, the financial reality of pivoting to retail and corporate events, and how she and her husband Quinn split the business responsibilities between them. She also gets specific about staffing, delivery logistics, website headaches, and what it actually means to lead a team well.
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.
Alex Vaughan of FLWR Shop in Nashville built her shop with her partner Quinn from nothing — no family money, no connections, just a rented house, a second mortgage, and a vision for what a flower shop in Nashville could be. In Episode 150, she traces the wild, winding path that took her from a hippie commune in the forest to a flower shop in Boston to celebrity orchid maintenance in LA, and eventually to the city she now calls home. We talk about what it actually took to open a shop, survive a tornado in March 2020, and come out the other side with a business — and a life — she's genuinely proud of.
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.
We've waited so long for today's episode to drop (Ep. 149)! We're chatting with Sophie Felts, Founder and CEO of Sophie Felts Floral Co, along with her President and Director of Operations, Erica Gamble. We're thrilled to introduce them as the newest CIRCLE Weddings facilitators — and we think it'll be clear within the first few minutes of the interview that this was worth the wait.
Based in the Washington DC area, Sophie and Erica have spent a decade building a wedding floral business with a team of 15 and a hard-won philosophy around profitability, sustainable staffing, and doing work they're genuinely proud of.
In this conversation, they talk about how they built the business from the ground up, why they said yes to CIRCLE Weddings, and what they're hoping to give back to the floral community that poured into them when they were just getting started.
CIRCLE Weddings isn't a traditional mastermind or course, but rather a small group of ten people that will learn together in real time every Tuesday in July and August 2026. After years of hosting CIRCLE sessions, we believe in building a safe space where confidentiality within the group allows for vulnerability and open discussions about the realities of running a wedding/event flower business. We'd love for you to join us if that sounds like the space you've been yearning for.
Registration is open for the 10 available seats in 2026
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.
Walt Krukowski didn't set out to become a flower grower for life — he just wanted to grow something, make a little money, and have the winters free to ski in Vermont. Nearly three decades later, Mountain Flower Farm has become a thriving operation across 10 acres, known for its organic peonies, hydrangeas, and the idea that growers and floral designers succeed best when they're genuinely connected to each other. In this conversation (Ep. 148), Walt shares the honest, unhurried story of how the farm evolved, what he's learned about building something that lasts, and why the relationship between farmers and florists matters more now than ever.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.