Hidden Gems: Meet Sara Box of The Flower Market at Green Witch Gardens

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Box.  

Hi Sara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Myself and my two business partners worked at a retail garden center previously, but we all three come from different backgrounds and college majors. We decided that since we love plants so much, we wanted to pursue our dreams by creating a homestead together. As we were in the planning stages, we found out that The Flower Market, located in Monroe, MI, was up for sale and decided that we needed to try as hard as we possibly could to purchase it! The Flower Market was already a florist and bonsai nursery with a greenhouse, plus it’s located on 11 acres of land, complete with farm animals. We knew that this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, but coming up with the money to take on such a large endeavor was very difficult. It took us over a year to secure a loan, but we did it! Everything about The Flower Market has stayed the same so far, but we have been making improvements as we go. There is still a lot of work to be done with repairs and maintenance, but once we have our footing, we plan on expanding. It is our goal to plant a ton of gardens that people can walk through, plus we are planning to have a wedding venue on our property. We are truly living the dream every day and learning so much as we go. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our biggest struggle was securing a loan for the business. We ended up going with a credit union that is familiar with farms and how they operate because it seemed that they understood the industry a lot more than any other bank or credit union. My wife and I had to sell our house to secure the loan, but since we didn’t close on time, we didn’t have a home for several months. That was stressful for us and our toddler, but it was so worth it. The only other struggles are the same as every new homeowner goes through…things get left out of sellers’ disclosures, and then you have fun surprises to deal with along the way! And, of course, money. We didn’t get any start-up cash or any other financial support. All of our money went towards the purchase, so we don’t have any funds allocated towards repairs or improvements. Hoping for another successful year so that we can get started on expanding! 

As you know, we’re big fans of The Flower Market at Green Witch Gardens. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
The Flower Market is Michigan’s largest bonsai nursery. We carry everything you need for bonsai – pre-bonsai, more developed bonsai, substrate, wire, tools, bonsai pots, and more. The Flower Market is also a florist that does everyday floral with delivery, full-service weddings, funerals, baby showers, etc. We also carry sympathy gifts, like wind chimes, benches, stones, angels, and more. In addition to bonsai, our greenhouse is stocked full of houseplants, terrarium plants, cacti, and succulents. We LOVE working with local artisans, so we offer lots of different gift items from local artists/vendors, including local honey, hot sauce, jewelry, bath bombs, gems and crystals, and much more. The bonsai pot section also has featured local ceramicists. 

We also have an online shop that we are constantly working on improving. It is our plan to have the basics for floral and bonsai up there for sale as soon as possible. We can also ship hard goods year-round and bonsai or plants in the summer – if there’s something you’re looking for but it’s not on the website, give us a call! 

We offer a ton of classes, workshops, and events each month, which are all listed on our website, online shop (if ticketed), and Facebook/Instagram. Our most popular class is the Intro to Indoor Bonsai class, where we teach the basics of tropical bonsai, and attendees get to pot up their own tree to take home. 

I think that we are most proud of the larger events that we put on last year. We did a big Tea Party Open House (this year, it’s going to be our first ever Bonsai Show!), Fairy Festival in June, and Wicked Plants in October. The Fairy Fest and Wicked Plants are going to happen every year at the same time and are both vendor events. Local artisans come and sell their goods on the property, and we usually have some sort of food and beverage for sale and a workshop or make-and-take scheduled. All of the info for this is on our website! 

We are also proud of the fact that we feature local artisans. If it were up to us, we would stock our shop with as much ‘local” as possible. We are working on making our florist operation more sustainable, too! 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I don’t think any of us believe in “luck.” We do, however, believe in karma. Everything happens for a reason, and everything takes some sort of effort and drive to obtain. 

Pricing:

• Initial Wedding Consult – FREE
• Intro to Indoor Bonsai Class – $70
• Indoor Bonsai Kit – $70
• Outdoor Bonsai Kit – $70

Contact Info:

• Website: flowermarketdundee.com
• Instagram: @theflowermarket_mi
• Facebook: The Flower Market – SE MI Florist and Bonsai Trees
• Other: TikTok @theflowermarket_mi