September 5, 2024 • 20 mins
In this episode, Janey chats with lifelong gardener Sam Niemann. Sam’s love for gardening started early - he’d sneak out to visit the local garden center and would read every horticulture book he could get his hands on cover-to-cover. At 14, when he wasn’t hired at his local garden center because they doubted his expertise, Sam just started helping customers on his own! Tune in to hear how it all worked out and how his love of gardening continued to shape his future career and the creation of Bleume.
Bleume is a houseplant fertilizer and was started with the goal of bringing the joy of houseplants to everyone and will be released this fall! Sam is a lifelong gardener whose passion for plants and nature has been the driving force behind his extensive knowledge and expertise in horticulture. Sam is the founder of Grown by Design, a Chicago-based landscape design firm and Bleume, a high-quality home and gardening brand aimed at inspiring people to connect with nature.
For more about Sam and Bleume:
https://growbleume.com/
https://grownbydesign.com/
https://www.instagram.com/growbleume/
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Make sure to check out more from Janey:
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Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
Bleume is a houseplant fertilizer and was started with the goal of bringing the joy of houseplants to everyone and will be released this fall! Sam is a lifelong gardener whose passion for plants and nature has been the driving force behind his extensive knowledge and expertise in horticulture. Sam is the founder of Grown by Design, a Chicago-based landscape design firm and Bleume, a high-quality home and gardening brand aimed at inspiring people to connect with nature.
For more about Sam and Bleume:
https://growbleume.com/
https://grownbydesign.com/
https://www.instagram.com/growbleume/
Love what you’re hearing?
Make sure to check out more from Janey:
Store
YouTube
Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Callarogashock Media.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome back to my garden and
welcome back to the Dig Plant, Water Repeat Podcast. I
have such an interesting guest on the podcast today. I
want to introduce you all to Sam sam Nieman. Did
I say your name right, Sam?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yep?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
So, Sam is a lifelong gardener.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You started off in San Diego and you founded the
boutique landscape design firm Grown by Design, and now you
want to tell us about Bloom.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So, Grown by Design has been my passion project over
the last few years, and then for the last two
years or so, I've been developing Bloom, which is a
brand of specialty house plan fertilizer that is launching this fall.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Yay, it's really really exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So I've kind of seen Sam, you know, in and
out of the garden world, but then I checked out
the Bloom website and it's just I love it. You
guys have to check out the testimonial section. It's just
the cutest thing. He has his mom and his dad
give testimonials.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
It's just fabulous.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So, Sam, how how did you get into gardening? What's
your like, what's your gardening background.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, so I'm really fortunate in that I found my
kind of lifelong passion at a really early age.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I started gardening.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know, kind of the earliest memories that I have
are being out in the garden and you know, messing
around with the plants, and so it's been something that
I have honestly never not been doing. I've never not
been gardening. So I started at a really early age.
And fast forward a few years and when I was
towards the end of middle school early high school, I
started riding my bike to the local garden center. I
(02:27):
would actually sneak out of the house, which I'm sure
is where all of the kids were going when they
snuck out of the house was to the garden center.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Totally normal, but.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
That's the only place that I wanted to be. And
I had a little backpack that and a little debit card,
and I would fill up the backpack with as many
plants as I could squeeze in there.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Menored that for a few years.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, and then eventually I decided to apply for a
job at the garden center. And so I did. And
then I waited and waited and waited, and eventually I
kind of heard through the grapevine that they didn't actually
believe that I knew what I was talking out or
knew about plants and gardening.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
So how old were you, I mean, sixteen something.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Oh fourteen at the time.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Fourty Sam, What.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Are you doing? Oh yeah, I was a baby.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Oh my gosh, I love that, Like, you're not kidd
You started early?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, and even before this, when I was in like
third grade, my mom would take me to the public
library during the summer and I would check out horticulture
reference books and I would read them, no kidding, from
cover to cover. I just wanted to know everything there
possibly was to know about plants and gardening.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I couldn't get enough of that.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So how come they didn't They didn't They didn't trust you,
They didn't believe you at the garden summer.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, so I decided to take matters into my own hands,
and I rode my bike down there one day and
parked it, locked it up out front, and I walked
in and I just started helping customers.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
I vividly remember.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
It was it would have been January, because there was
bear root fruit trees, and fruit trees were something that
I knew like the back of my hand. I'd been
special ordering like specific varieties and rootstocks and all that
fun stuff for years at this point, and so I
just started helping customers and answering questions, and looking back,
I am admittedly a little embarrassed that I did that.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
No, it's so great that. I mean, how you didn't
get the cops called on you?
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I don't know. They must have thought that I was nuts,
for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Nuts.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
So did you get the job after that? Then?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I did. They called me like two days later and
offered me the job.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I love that, and I ended up Congratulations. That is
a way. That is a good way to get a job.
Just force yourself in there.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, I said, I'm working here whether you like it
or not.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So yes, yeah, all right, So how many how many
years were you at that garden center?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
So I ended up working there all through high school,
about four years, and the only reason that I left
was because I was leaving to go to college. And
so once I was done working at the garden center,
I found myself in a busin where I didn't have
the opportunity to garden anymore, and it honestly left avoid
in my life.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
It was something that I really missed doing.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And so I started finding family and friends and people
that we knew closer to my university, and I just
started gardening for them and like doing it for other people.
And then that eventually blossomed into Grown by Design, and
we eventually started doing projects for people that I didn't know,
and we really found our niche and the kind of
(05:30):
like boutique, high end, smaller scale projects in San Diego,
projects that were a little bit too small for a
lot of the bigger companies to take on, but were
perfect for my small but mighty team and containers and
some in ground work, but on the smaller scale, and
we really found our niche there. And then just recently
(05:51):
I moved to the business to Chicago, where we are
working on.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Finding our niche here.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
But we're doing a lot of like restaurant containers and
that sort of thing in the city.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Oh how fun. I am obsessed with Chicago. I love Chicago.
I love all the restaurants. My husband and I were
seriously like, do we need to move to Chicago because
it's so amazing. So you're doing containers like like on
the outdoor patios and stuff for restaurants.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Yeah, exactly amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And I'm sure since you know, we were both California gardeners,
like the plants here are just so much, so interesting
compared to so different than a lot of what we
can grow in California.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And the stuff that grew, like with the humidity that grows,
Like it's just crazy how fast everything.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Grows and then it dies, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's just it's just so cool, so seem like it's
like I'm talking to an old soul, like and you're young.
It's just just so amazing. I'm looking at the video
here and I'm going, wait a minute, how old.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Is this guy?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Because you act like you're I don't know, my age,
you're older, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Has it always It's just always been like that.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yes, I am. I have gotten that ever since I
was a kid. And in fact, Bloom, the brand that
we're launching now, really feels like an extension of me.
And it feels like the brand that I would have
started both when I was a kid riding my bike
to the garden center equally as much as it feels
like the brand that I would be starting now.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Yeah, so tell me about Bloom.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Bloom is a house plant, Well, you tell me about it.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So we are starting with a liquid house plant fertilizer,
and our entire goal is to get more people to garden.
Gardening is something that I obviously really enjoy has brought me,
you know, a ton of joy in life, and so
I want to help as many people garden as humanly possible.
And so our first product is a liquid house plant
(07:46):
food that you can use at every watering. It's very
gentle and it's designed to take a lot of the
guesswork out of fertilizing and maintaining your plans. You don't
have to remember, you know, when the last time you
fertilized was, and that sort of thing, and we are
selling it in a pump bottle so that you don't
have to measure. You don't have to worry about getting
like your your kitchen measuring spoons all day withsor and
(08:12):
so it's really designed to be as user friendly as possible,
and we have really taken a very thoughtful approach.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Everything.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Every touch point of the brand is meant to be
thought out and considered. Everything from like the shape of
the pump and the way that the pump pump pops
up when you open it, all the way down to
like the tissue paper that's in the packaging when we
send it to you. Everything is meant to be a
really beautiful experience. I love the process of doing something
(08:44):
as much as I love the end result, and so
I wanted to make the process of fortilizing your plants
really really beautiful.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Oh I love that. I love that. Love that.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So when you went to university, and when I mean,
obviously you live in Chicago proper, so I'm assuming you
have an apartment, right, and so so house plants are
your access to gardening in your home. Is that kind
of what steered you in this direction or have you
always been obsessed with house plants, just like all the
other plants too.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, So my interests in gardening have honestly changed through
the years. When I was a kid, I only wanted
to grow things that I could eat. I saw no
purpose of growing like flowers or pretty things or house plants.
I only wanted things that like I wanted to be
able to eat the strawberry at the end of the season.
Fast forward a couple of years, and then I got
really into growing like outdoor things, and then you kind
(09:36):
of hit the nail on the head that I found
myself living in apartments and living in the city, and
house plants were really my outlet for gardening and health
plans are something that you know, a lot of people have,
especially younger generations, are investing in house plants at really
strong rates, and so it was something that I felt
was really approachable and like to the mission of helping
(10:01):
as many people garden as possible, I thought that house
plans were the best way.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Absolutely, Sam, we got to take a quick break to
hear a message from our sponsor.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
We'll be back in just a second.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
All right, everyone, we are back with the Dig Plant
Water Repeat podcast and We're back with Sam, a lifelong gardener,
founder of Grown by Design and soon to be released
fertilizer Bloom. Sam, When is Bloom? When is Bloom going
to be available to us?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
So we're still a couple of months out. We are
targeting the beginning to mad October of this year.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Although to that.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's probably a good thing that I didn't realize this
before I started the brand. But there's a ton of
regulation and just hoops to jump through when it comes
to fertilizers. The label actually has to be registered in
all fifty states before I can sell it in a state.
The process for that and the requirements are different than
just about every state, and it is largely done by paper. Still,
(11:09):
I never thought that I would be writing this many
paper checks in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Boy oh no, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
It makes my mom very happy though, because when I
was a kid, she forced me to learn how to
write a paper.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Teck and I was like, Mom, I do this, don't
need be.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Good job mom, Good job mom. She was right.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
She was right, But I mean it just kind of
goes to show, like, you know, obviously they want you
to jump through hoops because they want you know, to
weed out the people who are or don't have a
good reason for doing it. But for you and your
passion for bringing gardening to the masses, I think that
that is. I mean, I'm glad you're going through all
this because I think it's fantastic and I really do
(11:49):
think house plants are the gateway.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
Drouke for gardening.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I mean, for me, when I was renting, all I
did was I started off with house plants, and at
the time, it wasn't as big as it is now.
So the fact that it's even bigger now just means
you're getting way more gardeners in. You know, you're catching
everybody with that gateway. Drug absolutely send them to my
YouTube channel after. Okay, so, so.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Can you tell me?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I mean, I know you, like, you have a blog
on your website, you have tons of great information on
your Instagram. Tell me about you know, you always talk
about some really good places to buy house plants, and
I know that that quality is super important to you.
What have you learned about buying house plants, like from
your years of working at the at the Garden Center
in San Diego.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, so this will show my bias a little bit,
but I'm very much biased towards independent garden centers and
local stores, so one one hundred percent of the time
I would suggest starting there. There's something like being able
to pick out your house plans in person yourself and
inspect them for insects and damage and all that sort
(13:01):
of thing. So I always say start at your local
garden center, and if that fails you, the next place
that I normally look is other in person shops like
you know, big box stores. Or at the same time,
there's a ton of really great e commerce sites where
you can buy plants online and get them.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Shipped to you.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
A lot of the ones that you can see, like
in my background here in my office are ones that
I bought online.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Really yeah, I think I Actually I've never actually bought
plants online. I've always done independent garden centers. But I
did get some off Facebook Marketplace. I've gotten cuttings off
Facebook Marketplace before.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Gotten.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I've got a lot of antherium seed lengths off of
Facebook Marketplace, which I don't know what the ethereum seedlings
on Facebook Marketplace in San Diego, but there is, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
There's everything on Facebook Marketplace. Yes, So I agree independent
garden centers absolutely, one hundred percent, that's where you should go.
But then the e commerce sites, you know, that's pretty
you know, I feel like it's getting more and more,
you know, to be established for buying your house plants. Yeah,
do you have any other tips about for people who
(14:10):
are just getting started in the houseplant field, Like, you
know how often I mean, I guess you're fertilizer. You
fertilize every single time. I was going to say how
often do you fertilize? But you kind of made it easy, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, And that's a lot of the reason that we
decided to design a product that you can use it
every watering because I know for myself, when I'm fertilizing
with products that I can only use once a month
or every six weeks, I couldn't tell you the last
time I did it, And in my head it's always like, oh,
I did it two weeks ago, But then if I
actually go back and look at my calendar, it's always
been six plus months. And so I know that if
(14:42):
I can't remember, then other people probably can't either.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
And been on.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Like other advice that I have, the biggest thing, like
the biggest piece of advice that I got when I
was starting out gardening is to grow what you love
and find plants that really speak to you. It's for
their leaf shape or the color or the flower, whatever
it may be. I think it's it's much very exciting
when you're growing plants that you really HAVEO.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
I agree, I completely agree.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Whatever floats your boat, whether it's edibles like you started
off when you were a kid, or you know, or
houseplants or whatever. You know, whatever it is, airplants, cac
die whatever, you know, you got to find what floats
your boat. And until you find that one thing, I
think it's hard to understand how life changing gardening can
be for you. But once you find that thing, it's like, oh, yes, yes,
(15:33):
So I can't believe you found it so young, Like
it's just isn't Your story is incredible?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
I consider myself incredibly incredibly fortunate. I don't know how
I got so lucky to find something that I'm so
passionate about at such a young age, but I did.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Growing up in San Diego doesn't hurt. I mean, now
San Diego is pretty darn nice for gardening and plants.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
So that's that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So Sam, you you are going to be big, Like
you're up and coming, like you are going to be
somebody in this gardening world. And I'm I'm super excited
for you. Like, so, what's next? We have a couple
months until Bloom goes live? How can we find you?
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Like?
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Where can we find where? Where can people stock you online?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So I have just about every social media platform and
it's all grow bloom, just grow and then.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
B l e U M e h where bloom? Where
did where did that bloom come from? By the way,
just wondering.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
So it's I was really inspired by when I was
in college, I got the opportunity to go and spend
a semester in France, and after I did that, I
was really inspired by France and you know, the entire
country and I love blue cheese and so and I
love the color blue, and so I kind of mixed
(17:07):
blue and French with bloom as in you know, flower blooms, and.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
That's how we settled on the name.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And it made all of the packaging design and branding
and stuff a lot easier because everything is blue.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, and it's beautiful and it's like you, it's Sam.
It's just so fun. I love watching this. I cannot wait.
I'm just going to be watching you and see your
whole you know, your whole journey. It's going to be
so much fun. I feel really lucky that I got
to talk to you before Bloom launched, because you don't
often get to talk to people before, you know, before
it goes crazy.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
So what's the next big thing for you?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, So our kind of chief focus right now is
getting our first product, you know, shipping out the door,
and then I'm going to see if I can actually
sell this thing. We If not, everybody that I have
ever met will be getting bottles of Bloom.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
For every birthday and holiday the rest of their eyes.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Put my name on the list.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Okay, So that's really our main focus now is just
like getting the product launch and getting it in the
hands of gardeners and then and the idea is to
build an entire brand for Bloom, not just fertilizers, but
other home and garden products that you know, help people,
help people garden, and to make the process of whether
(18:25):
it's gardening or pruning or whatever the whatever the process
may be, to make the process a little bit more beautiful.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yes, I love that, I love you know, just like
really focusing on what you're doing and meet and being
mindful of you know, watering or fertilizing. That's part of
gardening is just being super mindful. So I mean you
hit it on. You hit the nail on the head
for sure. So Sam, a huge thank you for being
on the podcast today. I appreciate you so much, and
(18:53):
again I cannot wait to watch and see how things go.
I will put all your links in the description down below,
include was it grow bloom dot com. Everybody go there
and check out his testimonials because it's really important. So anyway,
huge thank you, Sam. I hope you all enjoyed listening
to this and I hope you all have a chance
(19:14):
to get in your garden today. Thank you so much
to my podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your local garden
center today and look for the white containers featuring the
Proven Winner's logo. There's a reason they're the number one
plant brand that gardeners like me trust the most. Visit
Proven Winners dot com for tips, ideas, and so much more.
(19:39):
Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association with Calaroga
Shark Media. It was written and hosted by me Janie
Santos with marketing and production assistants from Courtney Clark. Please
consider subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow us
on your favorite podcast app of choice to get alerts
on all new episodes. And hey, if you you liked
(20:00):
the show, give us a review and hit those five
stars on Apple. Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott,
and Janie Santos
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Calaroga Shock Media
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Callarogashock Media.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome back to my garden and
welcome back to the Dig Plant, Water Repeat Podcast. I
have such an interesting guest on the podcast today. I
want to introduce you all to Sam sam Nieman. Did
I say your name right, Sam?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yep?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
So, Sam is a lifelong gardener.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You started off in San Diego and you founded the
boutique landscape design firm Grown by Design, and now you
want to tell us about Bloom.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So, Grown by Design has been my passion project over
the last few years, and then for the last two
years or so, I've been developing Bloom, which is a
brand of specialty house plan fertilizer that is launching this fall.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Yay, it's really really exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So I've kind of seen Sam, you know, in and
out of the garden world, but then I checked out
the Bloom website and it's just I love it. You
guys have to check out the testimonial section. It's just
the cutest thing. He has his mom and his dad
give testimonials.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
It's just fabulous.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So, Sam, how how did you get into gardening? What's
your like, what's your gardening background.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, so I'm really fortunate in that I found my
kind of lifelong passion at a really early age.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I started gardening.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know, kind of the earliest memories that I have
are being out in the garden and you know, messing
around with the plants, and so it's been something that
I have honestly never not been doing. I've never not
been gardening. So I started at a really early age.
And fast forward a few years and when I was
towards the end of middle school early high school, I
started riding my bike to the local garden center. I
(02:27):
would actually sneak out of the house, which I'm sure
is where all of the kids were going when they
snuck out of the house was to the garden center.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Totally normal, but.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
That's the only place that I wanted to be. And
I had a little backpack that and a little debit card,
and I would fill up the backpack with as many
plants as I could squeeze in there.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Menored that for a few years.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, and then eventually I decided to apply for a
job at the garden center. And so I did. And
then I waited and waited and waited, and eventually I
kind of heard through the grapevine that they didn't actually
believe that I knew what I was talking out or
knew about plants and gardening.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
So how old were you, I mean, sixteen something.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Oh fourteen at the time.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Fourty Sam, What.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Are you doing? Oh yeah, I was a baby.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Oh my gosh, I love that, Like, you're not kidd
You started early?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, and even before this, when I was in like
third grade, my mom would take me to the public
library during the summer and I would check out horticulture
reference books and I would read them, no kidding, from
cover to cover. I just wanted to know everything there
possibly was to know about plants and gardening.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I couldn't get enough of that.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So how come they didn't They didn't They didn't trust you,
They didn't believe you at the garden summer.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, so I decided to take matters into my own hands,
and I rode my bike down there one day and
parked it, locked it up out front, and I walked
in and I just started helping customers.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
I vividly remember.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
It was it would have been January, because there was
bear root fruit trees, and fruit trees were something that
I knew like the back of my hand. I'd been
special ordering like specific varieties and rootstocks and all that
fun stuff for years at this point, and so I
just started helping customers and answering questions, and looking back,
I am admittedly a little embarrassed that I did that.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
No, it's so great that. I mean, how you didn't
get the cops called on you?
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I don't know. They must have thought that I was nuts,
for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Nuts.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
So did you get the job after that? Then?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I did. They called me like two days later and
offered me the job.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I love that, and I ended up Congratulations. That is
a way. That is a good way to get a job.
Just force yourself in there.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, I said, I'm working here whether you like it
or not.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So yes, yeah, all right, So how many how many
years were you at that garden center?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
So I ended up working there all through high school,
about four years, and the only reason that I left
was because I was leaving to go to college. And
so once I was done working at the garden center,
I found myself in a busin where I didn't have
the opportunity to garden anymore, and it honestly left avoid
in my life.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
It was something that I really missed doing.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And so I started finding family and friends and people
that we knew closer to my university, and I just
started gardening for them and like doing it for other people.
And then that eventually blossomed into Grown by Design, and
we eventually started doing projects for people that I didn't know,
and we really found our niche and the kind of
(05:30):
like boutique, high end, smaller scale projects in San Diego,
projects that were a little bit too small for a
lot of the bigger companies to take on, but were
perfect for my small but mighty team and containers and
some in ground work, but on the smaller scale, and
we really found our niche there. And then just recently
(05:51):
I moved to the business to Chicago, where we are
working on.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Finding our niche here.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
But we're doing a lot of like restaurant containers and
that sort of thing in the city.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Oh how fun. I am obsessed with Chicago. I love Chicago.
I love all the restaurants. My husband and I were
seriously like, do we need to move to Chicago because
it's so amazing. So you're doing containers like like on
the outdoor patios and stuff for restaurants.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Yeah, exactly amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And I'm sure since you know, we were both California gardeners,
like the plants here are just so much, so interesting
compared to so different than a lot of what we
can grow in California.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And the stuff that grew, like with the humidity that grows,
Like it's just crazy how fast everything.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Grows and then it dies, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's just it's just so cool, so seem like it's
like I'm talking to an old soul, like and you're young.
It's just just so amazing. I'm looking at the video
here and I'm going, wait a minute, how old.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Is this guy?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Because you act like you're I don't know, my age,
you're older, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Has it always It's just always been like that.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yes, I am. I have gotten that ever since I
was a kid. And in fact, Bloom, the brand that
we're launching now, really feels like an extension of me.
And it feels like the brand that I would have
started both when I was a kid riding my bike
to the garden center equally as much as it feels
like the brand that I would be starting now.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Yeah, so tell me about Bloom.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Bloom is a house plant, Well, you tell me about it.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So we are starting with a liquid house plant fertilizer,
and our entire goal is to get more people to garden.
Gardening is something that I obviously really enjoy has brought me,
you know, a ton of joy in life, and so
I want to help as many people garden as humanly possible.
And so our first product is a liquid house plant
(07:46):
food that you can use at every watering. It's very
gentle and it's designed to take a lot of the
guesswork out of fertilizing and maintaining your plans. You don't
have to remember, you know, when the last time you
fertilized was, and that sort of thing, and we are
selling it in a pump bottle so that you don't
have to measure. You don't have to worry about getting
like your your kitchen measuring spoons all day withsor and
(08:12):
so it's really designed to be as user friendly as possible,
and we have really taken a very thoughtful approach.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Everything.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Every touch point of the brand is meant to be
thought out and considered. Everything from like the shape of
the pump and the way that the pump pump pops
up when you open it, all the way down to
like the tissue paper that's in the packaging when we
send it to you. Everything is meant to be a
really beautiful experience. I love the process of doing something
(08:44):
as much as I love the end result, and so
I wanted to make the process of fortilizing your plants
really really beautiful.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Oh I love that. I love that. Love that.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So when you went to university, and when I mean,
obviously you live in Chicago proper, so I'm assuming you
have an apartment, right, and so so house plants are
your access to gardening in your home. Is that kind
of what steered you in this direction or have you
always been obsessed with house plants, just like all the
other plants too.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, So my interests in gardening have honestly changed through
the years. When I was a kid, I only wanted
to grow things that I could eat. I saw no
purpose of growing like flowers or pretty things or house plants.
I only wanted things that like I wanted to be
able to eat the strawberry at the end of the season.
Fast forward a couple of years, and then I got
really into growing like outdoor things, and then you kind
(09:36):
of hit the nail on the head that I found
myself living in apartments and living in the city, and
house plants were really my outlet for gardening and health
plans are something that you know, a lot of people have,
especially younger generations, are investing in house plants at really
strong rates, and so it was something that I felt
was really approachable and like to the mission of helping
(10:01):
as many people garden as possible, I thought that house
plans were the best way.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Absolutely, Sam, we got to take a quick break to
hear a message from our sponsor.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
We'll be back in just a second.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
All right, everyone, we are back with the Dig Plant
Water Repeat podcast and We're back with Sam, a lifelong gardener,
founder of Grown by Design and soon to be released
fertilizer Bloom. Sam, When is Bloom? When is Bloom going
to be available to us?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
So we're still a couple of months out. We are
targeting the beginning to mad October of this year.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Although to that.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's probably a good thing that I didn't realize this
before I started the brand. But there's a ton of
regulation and just hoops to jump through when it comes
to fertilizers. The label actually has to be registered in
all fifty states before I can sell it in a state.
The process for that and the requirements are different than
just about every state, and it is largely done by paper. Still,
(11:09):
I never thought that I would be writing this many
paper checks in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
Boy oh no, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
It makes my mom very happy though, because when I
was a kid, she forced me to learn how to
write a paper.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Teck and I was like, Mom, I do this, don't
need be.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Good job mom, Good job mom. She was right.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
She was right, But I mean it just kind of
goes to show, like, you know, obviously they want you
to jump through hoops because they want you know, to
weed out the people who are or don't have a
good reason for doing it. But for you and your
passion for bringing gardening to the masses, I think that
that is. I mean, I'm glad you're going through all
this because I think it's fantastic and I really do
(11:49):
think house plants are the gateway.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
Drouke for gardening.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I mean, for me, when I was renting, all I
did was I started off with house plants, and at
the time, it wasn't as big as it is now.
So the fact that it's even bigger now just means
you're getting way more gardeners in. You know, you're catching
everybody with that gateway. Drug absolutely send them to my
YouTube channel after. Okay, so, so.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Can you tell me?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I mean, I know you, like, you have a blog
on your website, you have tons of great information on
your Instagram. Tell me about you know, you always talk
about some really good places to buy house plants, and
I know that that quality is super important to you.
What have you learned about buying house plants, like from
your years of working at the at the Garden Center
in San Diego.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, so this will show my bias a little bit,
but I'm very much biased towards independent garden centers and
local stores, so one one hundred percent of the time
I would suggest starting there. There's something like being able
to pick out your house plans in person yourself and
inspect them for insects and damage and all that sort
(13:01):
of thing. So I always say start at your local
garden center, and if that fails you, the next place
that I normally look is other in person shops like
you know, big box stores. Or at the same time,
there's a ton of really great e commerce sites where
you can buy plants online and get them.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Shipped to you.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
A lot of the ones that you can see, like
in my background here in my office are ones that
I bought online.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Really yeah, I think I Actually I've never actually bought
plants online. I've always done independent garden centers. But I
did get some off Facebook Marketplace. I've gotten cuttings off
Facebook Marketplace before.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Gotten.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I've got a lot of antherium seed lengths off of
Facebook Marketplace, which I don't know what the ethereum seedlings
on Facebook Marketplace in San Diego, but there is, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
There's everything on Facebook Marketplace. Yes, So I agree independent
garden centers absolutely, one hundred percent, that's where you should go.
But then the e commerce sites, you know, that's pretty
you know, I feel like it's getting more and more,
you know, to be established for buying your house plants. Yeah,
do you have any other tips about for people who
(14:10):
are just getting started in the houseplant field, Like, you
know how often I mean, I guess you're fertilizer. You
fertilize every single time. I was going to say how
often do you fertilize? But you kind of made it easy, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, And that's a lot of the reason that we
decided to design a product that you can use it
every watering because I know for myself, when I'm fertilizing
with products that I can only use once a month
or every six weeks, I couldn't tell you the last
time I did it, And in my head it's always like, oh,
I did it two weeks ago, But then if I
actually go back and look at my calendar, it's always
been six plus months. And so I know that if
(14:42):
I can't remember, then other people probably can't either.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
And been on.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Like other advice that I have, the biggest thing, like
the biggest piece of advice that I got when I
was starting out gardening is to grow what you love
and find plants that really speak to you. It's for
their leaf shape or the color or the flower, whatever
it may be. I think it's it's much very exciting
when you're growing plants that you really HAVEO.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
I agree, I completely agree.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Whatever floats your boat, whether it's edibles like you started
off when you were a kid, or you know, or
houseplants or whatever. You know, whatever it is, airplants, cac
die whatever, you know, you got to find what floats
your boat. And until you find that one thing, I
think it's hard to understand how life changing gardening can
be for you. But once you find that thing, it's like, oh, yes, yes,
(15:33):
So I can't believe you found it so young, Like
it's just isn't Your story is incredible?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
I consider myself incredibly incredibly fortunate. I don't know how
I got so lucky to find something that I'm so
passionate about at such a young age, but I did.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Growing up in San Diego doesn't hurt. I mean, now
San Diego is pretty darn nice for gardening and plants.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
So that's that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So Sam, you you are going to be big, Like
you're up and coming, like you are going to be
somebody in this gardening world. And I'm I'm super excited
for you. Like, so, what's next? We have a couple
months until Bloom goes live? How can we find you?
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Like?
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Where can we find where? Where can people stock you online?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So I have just about every social media platform and
it's all grow bloom, just grow and then.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
B l e U M e h where bloom? Where
did where did that bloom come from? By the way,
just wondering.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
So it's I was really inspired by when I was
in college, I got the opportunity to go and spend
a semester in France, and after I did that, I
was really inspired by France and you know, the entire
country and I love blue cheese and so and I
love the color blue, and so I kind of mixed
(17:07):
blue and French with bloom as in you know, flower blooms, and.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
That's how we settled on the name.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And it made all of the packaging design and branding
and stuff a lot easier because everything is blue.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, and it's beautiful and it's like you, it's Sam.
It's just so fun. I love watching this. I cannot wait.
I'm just going to be watching you and see your
whole you know, your whole journey. It's going to be
so much fun. I feel really lucky that I got
to talk to you before Bloom launched, because you don't
often get to talk to people before, you know, before
it goes crazy.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
So what's the next big thing for you?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, So our kind of chief focus right now is
getting our first product, you know, shipping out the door,
and then I'm going to see if I can actually
sell this thing. We If not, everybody that I have
ever met will be getting bottles of Bloom.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
For every birthday and holiday the rest of their eyes.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Put my name on the list.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Okay, So that's really our main focus now is just
like getting the product launch and getting it in the
hands of gardeners and then and the idea is to
build an entire brand for Bloom, not just fertilizers, but
other home and garden products that you know, help people,
help people garden, and to make the process of whether
(18:25):
it's gardening or pruning or whatever the whatever the process
may be, to make the process a little bit more beautiful.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yes, I love that, I love you know, just like
really focusing on what you're doing and meet and being
mindful of you know, watering or fertilizing. That's part of
gardening is just being super mindful. So I mean you
hit it on. You hit the nail on the head
for sure. So Sam, a huge thank you for being
on the podcast today. I appreciate you so much, and
(18:53):
again I cannot wait to watch and see how things go.
I will put all your links in the description down below,
include was it grow bloom dot com. Everybody go there
and check out his testimonials because it's really important. So anyway,
huge thank you, Sam. I hope you all enjoyed listening
to this and I hope you all have a chance
(19:14):
to get in your garden today. Thank you so much
to my podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your local garden
center today and look for the white containers featuring the
Proven Winner's logo. There's a reason they're the number one
plant brand that gardeners like me trust the most. Visit
Proven Winners dot com for tips, ideas, and so much more.
(19:39):
Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association with Calaroga
Shark Media. It was written and hosted by me Janie
Santos with marketing and production assistants from Courtney Clark. Please
consider subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow us
on your favorite podcast app of choice to get alerts
on all new episodes. And hey, if you you liked
(20:00):
the show, give us a review and hit those five
stars on Apple. Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott,
and Janie Santos
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Calaroga Shock Media
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