Today we’d like to introduce you to John Flanagan and Jonathan Clough. Them and their team share their story with us below:
The Vallaerta Botanical Garden sits off a winding jungle highway along the Jalisco coastline in Mexico. In a terrace cafe overlooking the canopy, John Flanagan & Jonathan Clough sipped vanilla mojitos on a January afternoon in 2022. It was there, harbored in tropical plants and conversations of the future that Jonathan proposed a business venture between the two friends: a stateside tropical plant boutique. Clough, a native Californian, opened his first orchid nursery at 15 years old and wanted to get back into plants. Flanagan, an entrepreneurial East Coast transplant and full-time singer-songwriter, jumped at the opportunity to dream anew in the botanical industry.
On July 15, 2022, the mayor of West Hollywood wielded a pair of humorously oversized scissors at a red silk ribbon and The Faun’s Daughter opened its doors to the people of Los Angeles. As the DJ played to a room of friends and community members that summery Friday evening, an overwhelming sense of pride haloed the co-founders. This shop, queer-owned-and-operated, would become a rallying space for local politicians in the November election season, a local curiosity for influencers, plant people, and the pavement-pounding shoppers at the cultural intersection of La Cienega and Melrose.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s a novelty, the idea of a boutique brick and mortar plant shop in the age of internet and box store competition. Why buy a plant from someone like us when options are so abundant? That is the question we grappled with from day one. Since opening our doors, however, the answers continually present themselves in myriad ways. The singular stands out among those answers is one word: community. After years of disconnection and isolation through the pandemic, The Faun’s Daughter team has observed a gravitational tug toward connectivity. Our workshops have become an opportunity for people to converge, sharing common interests in education and personal growth (plant pun intended, of course).
To say we’ve figured it all out would be a mistake. Our vision of a store stocked to the ceiling with rare and unique plants has evolved to accommodate a community desire for luxury goods, large specimen plants, and a booming concierge and delivery arm of the business. With each passing month, new services and functions have been added to the expanding docket of duties we perform. Adaptation and development are the modus operandi of our retail enterprise.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Faun’s Daughter?
In addition to the success of our aforementioned community workshop series, we model our business on the idea that people come to our boutique for products they can’t find at their local nursery. Mounted epiphytic varieties have been a staple of popular success, for example. And just as the community looks to us as a gathering and informational resource, we look to the community for partnership and support.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The future is bright for plants! During the pandemic, demand for houseplants surged over 18% as people realized that plants not only beautify the home but they also help improve our mental & physical well-being. 66% of American Households now own at least one houseplant. This demand is holding steady as more people realize the benefits of plants and the people who started growing plants during the pandemic increase their collections. All of this combined with a focus on the environment and greening our living spaces, ensures that demand for houseplants will continue.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thefaunsdaughter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefaunsdaughter/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefaunsdaughter
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/faunsdaughter
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-faun-s-daughter-west-hollywood?osq=the+fauns+daughter
Image Credits
Ashley Morgan
