TLC Floral's Dream of a Little Shop

I've discovered in my 50+ years that life, or I should say, living, is all about taking risks. Some of us are bigger risk takers than others. Here at TLC Floral, we are low on the Richter scale of risk taking. I wish I could jump out of an airplane. Such freedom. But I can’t even trust a roller coaster to safely return me to the good old terra firma. I am grounded to the earth like a rock-no, a boulder- which may partially be why I love digging in the dirt. I can explore that independently later.

Because of my conservative nature, I hesitate to “go for broke”, as I have no desire to go broke. I would love to open a shop filled with unique plant and floral designs. Terrariums, not just your grandmother’s old fish bowl anymore. Nature-inspired home décor and more! Spend my days creating original oil and acrylic landscape paintings between customers, and pastel watercolors enhanced by exquisitely matted frames. Display prints of flowers and butterflies taken with my own camera. Note cards made from handmade recycled paper and adorned with pressed flowers grown from my garden. And, of course, Gardener’s Gift Baskets! With bulbs in the fall, seeds in spring, with cute floral gardening gloves, a trowel, a kneeling pad. A beautiful bow to top it off on the hand woven basket handle. Seeds procured from my own plants.  And of course, the latest rage-Fairy Gardens in my handmade hypertufa containers! Conduct monthly workshops on various gardening subjects. I am in heaven when my nails are dirty from designing an herb garden. I’m not hard to please.

Oh my, and Bonsai! I become absolutely immersed in crafting a bonsai tree from a bushy shrub. That tree will (potentially) outlive me, and be passed down from generation to generation until the gnarly trunk is thick, with roots exposed and beautifully aged as any tree out in the landscape. Some people consider the art of Bonsai cruel to the plant. I disagree. Adopting it gives it a chance at longevity that most shrubs will never have. My guess, most shrubs end up as foundation plantings which will be yanked out within 10 years, possibly by attaching a chain to it, the other end to a truck’s trailer hitch, and pulling it out with roots hanging on for dear life.

I have my ”roots” firmly entrenched into the ground like that foundation shrub. Well-grounded has been considered a compliment, but now I believe it to be more of a hindrance to growth. The passion to share my creations of all things horticultural has been pulling at me like I am attached to that trailer hitch, but the driver is scared to hit the gas. Unless I win the lottery (since I don’t waste money on tickets where my chances are slim to none, that is highly unlikely), I will never gamble on trying out my little shoppe.  

Enough of the metaphors (or similes?), here are the facts: Only 47% percent of (retail) small businesses are still operating after four years. Stats like that scare me more than a parachute failure…well, almost.

I applaud those who try. They are brave souls that live their dream.  They score high on the Risk Taking Richter Scale. Win or lose, they made the attempt, no matter how short-lived. They must have a passion that overrides odds and statistics, and push forward. Bravo! You are a braver wo-man than me, Gunga Din.

So, until the “T” of TLC Floral wins the lotto (he does spent a few bucks on it here and there), you can check our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/tlcfloral to find out where our one-of-a-kind designs and the aforementioned gift baskets and bonsai are sold.  We just opened an Etsy “shop” for our silk and dried floral arrangements that are postal friendly-http://www.etsy.com/shop/tlcfloral.

We did a show at The Metrolina Expo Marketplace in Charlotte, NC last weekend. My customers and all the wonderful fellow plant enthusiasts there made it a (albeit small), risk that was well worth taking.                                            

                           

You will find us safely tucked into a booth at Metrolina again, December 5^th-8th, in Building C. You can call it my “Portable Shoppe.”  If you do, I’ll give you 10% off your purchase.

TLC Floral, Indian Trail, NC                                                                                                        tlcfloraldesigns@gmail.com