Botanical Brouhaha & Bloom Trust Co.
MawMaw held my hand as we picked vegetables from the garden and then lifted me onto the kitchen counter to watch as she prepared fresh-picked beans, okra, and tomatoes alongside homemade buttermilk biscuits just before the farmhands arrived for their lunch break. Nanny clipped gardenias and held them up to my nose. “Smell this!”, she’d say. She introduced me to muscadine grapes (‘scuppnins’, as she called them), fresh peaches on ice cream, and boiled peanuts while educating me on how the plants grew and produced the food we enjoyed at family gatherings marking memorable occasions from birthdays to funerals. And from time to time, she elicited a giggle from the grandkids with her nature tricks: bending down, picking up a cicada shell from the grass, and standing back up while balancing it on her nose or trying to lure doodlebugs from their funnel-shaped sand homes by stirring the holes with a thin stick so we could sit in the grass watching them crawl on our fingers.
In elementary school, I didn’t much care for the tumbling days in PE, but couldn’t wait for the Fernbank Science Center field trips and the chance to walk the forest trails listening to the guide identifying the plants and trees. When I close my eyes I can still remember the feeling of being both miniscule standing in the shadows of the towering forest trees and also safe in the peaceful cocoon of lush foliage, damp earth, beds of pine needles, and fresh air. In nature, there was peace. People seemed calmer and kinder there. Worries dissipated even if only for a moment. Now that I think about it, I suppose that feeling is the gift I’ve been focused on sharing with others through the years.
As an adult, my career in the flower industry unfolded both quickly and unexpectedly. Initially I split time between caring for patients as a dental hygienist and working in my home flower studio. Transitions seemed to unfold organically with each passing year. I’m grateful for the experiences flowers have offered me: gardening, designing, blogging, podcasting, mentoring, collaborating, giving. Every season of my life has been marked by a new opportunity to serve, love, and encourage others through the medium of flowers ー just as my grandmothers did for me.
Age naturally begs the questions: How will you be remembered? What difference did you make in the lives of those you encountered along the way? With each passing year, I feel a mounting urgency to become laser-focused on considering these questions. Personally, I’ve found each year brings opportunities for growth and service through the medium of flowers that I couldn’t have imagined at the start of this journey. The most profound lesson so far being this: the opportunities to serve, encourage, and impact people, for me, have been directly correlated to the openness of my heart and mind to the personal experiences of others ー especially those with experiences different from my own. Nature has a beautiful way of reminding us of our common origin and the way we must care for one another accordingly.
I can still remember with surprising clarity the day I spent as the young elementary girl standing under the canopy of vegetation on a school field trip feeling enveloped by nature for the first time ーnot quite understanding what it meant yet, but knowing for sure I wanted more of it. As an adult, life experiences have provided me with a better understanding of the power of encouragement, healing, and peace found in nature. As a result, I spend my days trying to pass it on through our mission at Botanical Brouhaha and Bloom Trust Co. ー both created with deep conviction to support our community through the beauty of flowers. I believe Nanny and MawMaw would be proud. Mostly, I hope one day my own grandchildren will enjoy remembering the moments we spent in the garden together. And they will feel loved.
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Amy McGee has a broad range of experience in the floral industry. She entered the profession growing and selling cut flowers from her first home-based business in 2000. Her love of floral design grew in tandem with the requests of her clients eventually landing her in the wedding and special events flower business. At Bliss Flower Studio, she focused primarily on weddings and events, but also delivered custom arrangements and operated a floral subscription service. After closing Bliss Flower Studio in 2008 to spend more time with her family, Amy founded Botanical Brouhaha in 2009 as a way to stay connected to the flower industry through providing education, encouragement, and inspiration to floral designers and hobbyists. The Botanical Brouhaha Podcast was added in 2017 to highlight the stories behind the floral industry. Amy enjoys the enlightening podcast conversations with guests alongside co-host Maggie Bailey. Building off her years of experience providing resources to the Botanical Brouhaha community, Amy joined forces with her husband Joel in 2020 and founded Bloom Trust Co., an online resource membership site making it simple for floral designers and hobbyists to log on, find the resources they need, and go out into the world to Flower with Purpose. In keeping with the mission behind the business, a portion of the net profits is used to meet needs and create opportunities in Amy’s community and beyond. Amy has two grown sons and currently lives and gardens in Texas with her husband.