This interview is with Jackie Sons, Owner at Native Wildflowers Nursery.
Jackie Sons, Owner, Native Wildflowers Nursery
What inspired you to pursue these diverse fields, and how did your journey lead you to where you are today?
I married into the nursery business. My husband’s family has been in gardening for four generations. I began traveling for leisure and now often for business as well. I love traveling and seeing new places. As my business grew, the more I learned about marketing and sales. If you do not have sales, you do not have much of a business. All small-business owners need to excel in marketing.
In your experience, how has travel influenced your approach to entrepreneurship and starting businesses?
Each time I travel, I try to learn at least one new thing to apply to my business. For example, since we are in the gardening business, I always look at landscaping. We were walking the street in Key West, and there were HUGE ferns growing along the sidewalk. Of course, I had to take my photo with them. But it left an impression on me that you have to show people what you are selling. For plants: you can’t just post a photo of a plant and expect homeowners to want it. You have to show them photos of how to use it in their landscape. If you have an online business, photos are everything.
How has your background in sales influenced the way you approach growing and nurturing your garden?
It has helped me to think like my customers. I try to put myself in their shoes and think, “Would I buy this plant for my garden? How would I plant it?” My love for gardening gives me the upper hand in understanding my customers.
How do you balance the demands of running a business with your passion for gardening? Are there any unexpected parallels between the two?
Fortunately, in my business, there are no downfalls. I get to garden while I run my business. They all work together. I would offer some advice to someone who doesn’t have that same luxury: Take time away to enjoy the little things. Taking a break (even for the weekend) helps your mind reset and be ready to face the tasks at hand when you return to work.
In your opinion, how can the principles of sustainable gardening be applied to create more environmentally conscious startups or travel experiences?
In my opinion, sustainable gardening is a really useful metaphor for building more environmentally conscious startups or travel experiences. In gardening, the focus is on working with natural systems rather than against them—choosing native plants that thrive with fewer resources, enriching the soil instead of depleting it, and thinking in terms of long-term balance rather than quick harvests.
Applied to startups, that mindset means creating business models that are resource-efficient, resilient, and rooted in their communities. For example, instead of chasing rapid growth at any cost, a startup could design products that minimize waste, use local supply chains, or prioritize durability over disposability—just like a gardener plants for perennial growth instead of a single season.
In travel, the parallel is even more direct. Sustainable gardening teaches us that ecosystems are fragile and interdependent. Travel experiences can embody that lesson by focusing on “leave no trace” practices, supporting local communities as gardeners support pollinators, and avoiding extractive overuse of resources. A community-based walking tour, for instance, is akin to a native plant—it grows naturally in its habitat, benefits the local ecosystem, and doesn’t need unsustainable inputs to flourish.