Our Story

I wanted to take a moment to briefly tell our story. In June of 2020 when the world slowed down and we didn’t have swim team or vacations I began thinking I should return our garden to more food production. I had spent the previous three years growing and learning more and more about cut flowers and selling flower subscriptions to my friends. If groceries did become scarce, flowers weren’t going to feed us.

I started researching Victory Gardens of WWII. Then I found the book Kitchen Garden Revival, by Nicole Burke. I ordered it, and one hot June afternoon I laid on the couch and read it. I was inspired to redesign our space, but what I didn’t expect to find was the Gardenary community that Nicole had created. She had a program teaching gardeners how to set up their own garden coaching business. After a week or so, I decided to sign up for the program.

I spent July and August 2020 doing “garden business homeschool.” I joined the Garden Coach Society and had weekly zoom meetings with garden coaches all over the world. FridayBlooms, my flower service, became Learn to Bloom, my kitchen garden design and coaching service. In my mind, I was trading one “jobby” (job hobby–hobby that pays for itself) for another. I’d help some friends and neighbors, and any money I made I could use to improve my personal gardening hobby.

Also during this time, Learn to Bloom Hubby, aka John, had a few months where he got to work from home. We really enjoyed this! It opened our eyes to how much time he had missed out on with our boys just commuting back and forth to work in Houston. It gave him the opportunity to have lunch with us or do a quick bike ride around the neighborhood between meetings. He had more time in the mornings and evenings to enjoy the garden. We cherished this bonus time.

At the beginning of 2021, John’s TV station was sold. In April 2021, we found out that most of the services would be done from an out of state station, and they would almost completely close the Houston station. John had a decision to make. Would he work at another station, or after almost 25yrs of TV, would he “retire” that hat?

To my surprise and almost everyone else’s, without hesitation, he fully owned his title as Learn to Bloom Hubby! In July of 2021, John pivoted. We decided to take the risk. We decided we wanted more time together. We wanted more flexibility. Learn to Bloom became our full-time family business!

John is the number one Learn to Bloom fan. He wholeheartedly believes in the mission that we are changing lives when we install and teach our neighbors the art of gardening. He and our sons have been making the garden beds and sometimes hauling soil and blackstar gravel. We are making memories and spending time as a family, and we are creating spaces and growing gardeners for other homes in Houston.

Maybe one day there will be a Learn to Bloom book telling all your stories about how you bloomed into a  gardener and how our family bloomed into a business. What I do know is that right now every garden in someone’s backyard makes a difference. We are all growing together and making a long-term impact. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!