Meet Holly Johnson of Passion Flowers in Katy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Holly Johnson.

Holly, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I was 15-16 years old, I had two best friends in Midland, TX that both of their fathers owned flower shops that I worked in seasonally/as needed. My first real job was in the floral department at Albertsons in Midland, where another friend of mine’s mother was the Floral Department manager! You could say, this set me into my destiny! I always loved the smell and feel of working with fresh florals! I had a lot of odd jobs in between, but one was Lowes outside Lawn and Garden where I learned more about plants, their requirements, and growth. After I moved to Houston, I continued my journey in the love of nature, working at Cornelius Nursery, learning more about plant and then, working for an Interiorscaping Company Texas Tropical Plants. There, I was not only a “horticultural technician ” (caring for interior plants at various commercial buildings), but I was also a floral designer for high-end commercial companies.

We created large weekly designs to be displayed in the lobbies of large oil and gas companies and the like. This is where my talent really started to blossom, as I was the protege of a very talented designer Beverly Barkalow. She taught me so many new design techniques including the art of Ikebana and the use of tropicals, shape and line, aesthetics and balance. What she also did, is giving me creative license and freedom to discover my own talents. As I was working here, I began to go to school for my Degree in Horticulture. I had SO much Fun! Horticulture encompasses everything from learning the genus species (Latin names) of 100+ plants to soil structure, greenhouse management, landscape design and entomology! Yes! We got to collect bugs! I’ve always LOVED getting my hands in the dirt!

So, after I graduated, I continued on to work at another flower shop closer to my area of town and another one after that. I can honestly say, that I have learned something new in every shop I have worked in. Lessons learned in all these places have helped me in running my own business greatly, but I always knew I wanted to be my own boss.

I started my business four years ago, very gradually and carefully, working full time somewhere else as I gained a client base, and built up materials and expertise along the way. My business is now in full swing and profiting! I can’t BELIEVE I am doing what I love and making money at it!

It’s truly a blessing I’m grateful for every day! I am still currently operating out of my home. I have 2 coolers, a big workspace and shelves full of vases and ribbons and everything I need! My business has pretty much taken over my home and my life! It’s my baby! I work on it from daylight to midnight most days. I wear ALL the hats! I do have a delivery driver and on the holidays, I hire additional staff. Mothers Day is the biggest floral day of the year, even bigger than Valentine’s Day! After all, everyone has a mother! (Or a wife, sister, aunt or daughter – that is a mother).

Everyone says, “Oh, it must be SO much fun working with flowers!”. And my answer is always – ” Well, it’s a LOT of work!” It really is! Especially when it comes to weddings and holidays! Weddings are so costly because Sooo much time goes into them! Unless you’ve done it, you don’t realize how much time it takes to make 20 centerpieces, bouquets, boutineers, corsages, for the whole bridal party, and whatever other arrangements and large design pieces are going into it. And that doesn’t even include the time it takes to come up with a proposal, make an order for what you need (it’s a big math game – “how many stems do I need of each thing while trying to stay in budget?”), get the flowers in, cut and process (remove all leaves and thorns, etc.), washing and filling buckets of water, making everything, loading and unloading, set up, take down, load up, bring back, unload, put away. Like I said, a lot of work! Oh yeah, BUT I LOVE IT!

People ask me all the time if I’m going to get a brick n mortar shop. Trust me – it’s on my mind all the time!
I go back and forth – on one hand, I would love to grow the business into a nice upscale retail that I can be proud of… on the other hand, working from home is AWESOME.

I can literally be drinking my coffee in my pajamas, frying bacon, while taking morning calls, working on my website and starting arrangements.

The overhead is obviously better as retail space is super expensive! Best of all, I can shut down and take off for a few days, if I need to go out of town!

So, I’m not sure where the Lord will lead me. He’s doing a good job of getting me where I need to be! I’m excited about the future!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Struggles are REAL every DAY! Being that I’m a small operation with just 2 coolers (not a large walk-in cooler), I can only keep so much on hand. I DO keep a large variety, but there are always things that people call to specifically ask for that I don’t have. I can have a million flowers in every color except blue and people will call asking for blue. Ug! (for example) So, I have to either pay a driver to run out and get it or stop what I’m doing and run out to get it. All the floral distributors are clear across town – at least a 30-min. drive one way… so over an hour total, just to GET the item to fulfill the order.

Another thing I struggle with is trying to figure out how much to buy and what to buy on a weekly basis. My product is perishable… and it’s not cheap. Some flowers cost $2- $10 PER FLOWER! So, I have a lot of loss every week if they don’t sell. And there’s no way to recoup that loss. That can be discouraging.
Which leads me to advertise.

It’s hard to know where to allocate funds for advertising. I’m not currently paying for any as it’s very expensive and ones I’ve used in the past, haven’t been fruitful. Thankfully, my gracious customers have left me great reviews online!

An additional struggle is customer budget. Whether it’s an everyday occasion or an event, the general public expects a GRAND design on a very minimal budget. So, that usually leads ME to take the loss, because, it’s my art and I want it to be NICE.

So, I usually end up giving a lot more flowers than what they paid for, but I would rather give my customers more and retain a good customer base, a good reputation, and meet their expectations, than Pay for advertising.
Hopefully, it will come back to me in the end. It’s working so far!

Please tell us about Passion Flowers.
I pride myself on my personal investment in my customer’s wishes. Passion Flowers is “Your inspiration bloomed into Design”. So, whatever or whomever “inspires” you, is who I want to help to celebrate.
Personalizing the gift to the recipient’s favorite colors, varieties and style is a favorite thing to do! Maybe, I’m just a people-pleaser, but I call it, “hospitality “.

I’m the florist that will stop and pick up a bottle of wine or a pack of M&M’s for you to go with your gift. As far as the floral designs, I always assure my customers, “I don’t send anything out that I wouldn’t send to my own family”.

I don’t have any family here in Houston, so I have to rely on other florists to stand in my place. (Not easy to do!) That’s how I feel about taking an order to deliver to my buyer’s loved one. I am operating in their place as they can’t be there a lot of the times. The gift that I create is a substitute for their presence. Therefore, it should be nice!

As far as my style – I was schooled in the art of Ikebana, so you can see a mix of that with a much fuller look of a modern, European style.

I LOVE Color! I love it when my customers say – “Here’s my budget – work your magic!” instead of picking out something online.

I often will have new, fresh and rare florals in stock that are from Holland, Italy and Japan, that are not on my website. I enjoy going to the distributor and going “Oooh! I Like THAT!!” And when someone trusts me – they not only get a much more interesting design with unique florals, they always get MORE for their money because I’m creating my art!

If I feel like it needs 4-5 more of something to make me happy, you’re getting it despite your budget. After all, its REALLY all about Me enjoying myself right!? 😉

Oh, and I stand out physically because I dress like a 1950’s Pinup every day! It’s just the style that suits me and my love of vintage things, but people remember me and I think it makes me more approachable because it interests people!

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I guess playing with my brother and sister. I’m the middle child and have an older brother and younger sister.
My sister and I have always been best friends. She’s literally the person I trust the MOST with any information. She’s my VAULT! And she’s my biggest fan and encourager.

We used to play barbies and cheerleader and even play church! One of us would be the song leader and we would have grape juice ‘n crackers… haha!

Also, my brother was my best friend and I looked up to him so much. We would play and wrestle and listen to music. He was just soooo coooool. 🙂

My momma singing to us at night as we went to sleep, stroking my hair, holding me. I love my mama. She sang all the time actually, still does.

My whole family sings and plays guitars when we get together.

Cool fact – Waylon Jennings is my cousin!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://passionflowersbyholly.com/
• Phone: 832-444-1633
• Email: passionflowersbyholly@hotmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hollylujah78/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/passionflowersbyholly
• Yelp: Yelp.com/biz/passion-flowers-katy

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