Meet Jen Barrow | florist, nature fanatic, plant addict, and botanical junky,

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jen Barrow and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jen, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have spent my entire life surrounded by flowers. I grew up playing hide-and-seek in my grandfather’s floral shop and learned to tie bows around the same time I learned to tie my shoes. My mother was an incredible gardener and taught my sister and I just how magical it is to dig your fingers into the dirt. I have been a florist and plant addict most of my adult life and started dreaming of opening my own shop 17 years ago. When we landed in Manitou Springs eight years ago, I knew this was where I wanted to have my dream shop. This is a nature loving community, just quirky enough to want to play in the dirt with me.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started working at a flower shop in my hometown when I was 22. I had been working at truck stops and bars since I was 14 and just needed a change of scenery. I had no experience, but I told the owner I’d work for free for a week, and if he didn’t like me he didn’t have to pay me, and I’d leave. At the end of that week, he hired me as his delivery driver. I’d been there maybe six weeks when I crashed the delivery van into the side of the shop. I can’t believe he didn’t fire me, but he didn’t. He just set me to work taping vases and processing flowers. Eventually, one of the designers showed me how to green and add filler and florals, and I’ve been designing ever since. My work has been featured in national magazines, and I’ve worked all across the United States, from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic coast. One of my favorite design experiences was doing the floral installation at the British Embassy in D.C. for the last royal wedding.

I’ve wanted to start my own shop for 17 years, but we were moving around a lot, I was raising the kid, our lives were super transient, so I kept dreaming and waiting. Two years ago, after my mom died, I realized I couldn’t keep waiting. At that time, I had been out of the floral industry for three years and was working a desk job that I despised; thankfully, I was invited to a floral retreat in the Black Hills – I spent that weekend surround by talented designers and remembered just how much I love design. I thought, this is what I want to do with my life. I started taking classes, incorporated my business, and began hunting for a location. Finding the location was the hardest thing, for sure. It took me 16 months to find a place. All those months of being ready to start and not having a location, after all those years of waiting —it was hard not to get discouraged. But you just kept going, one foot in front of the other. I did the work I could do—finding vendors, putting together my portfolio, researching point of sale systems, all the unglamorous stuff that must get done. But when the location became available, I was ready—I opened less than a month after getting the keys.

And as for my brand – well, I’m a barefoot in the undergrowth kind of girl, a card-carrying member of the snail-hiking-society; when everyone else is pushing for the peak, I’m bent over the wildflowers, moving slow and peeking at all the lichen and mushrooms and bugs. There is indescribable magic in the canopy of the trees. My fella has gotten to the point where he will just leave me to wander about and pick me up his way back down from the summit. I forest bathe as often as I can and find so much inspiration from the woods and timberland of Colorado and the deserts of Utah. My design style is totally influenced by these – from the color palettes to the loose asymmetry, I try to create unexpected moments with my florals – making habitats when I design, places where bees might want to visit.

And my shop…. well, I bring the outside in here too. I feel most myself in natural spaces and I wanted my shop to feel like one, to feel like an exhale, a welcoming environment where anyone could take a quiet respite from a mad world. There is greenery everywhere! I love being among beautiful things that create their own atmosphere, both literally and metaphorically. Interspersed with the plants and florals is purposeful decor. I chase objects with traces of time, mixing the old with the new, the functional with the beautiful, the industrial with the botanical. Finding the balance between opposites fascinates me and influences my design tremendously. And since I feel safest when I surround myself with the natural elements, the shop is filled with what I happily refer to as the noble elements – glass, wood, stone, metal, and clay.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh geeze – there is so much to do here! But a long weekend in Manitou needs to start with a hike through Garden of the Gods first thing in the morning. The world is still so quiet and there is nothing like watching a wild sunrise spread out over the front range. Or a moonrise! Moonrise in the park is spectacular too.

We’d go have breakfast at any of Manitou’s adorable coffee shops, then check out the shops and galleries. I find Rockey’s Place to be so inspiring and love that his workspace has been preserved for us to enjoy – immersing myself in his remarkable world, stepping into his imagination is akin to rereading my favorite fantasy books, it is magic come to life!

After Rockey’s, we would definitely hit up the Penny Arcade – I am a sucker for the old timey horse races and think skee-ball might just be the best game ever. Finally, I think everyone should tackle the Incline – it sucks so hard but when you get to the top, when you don’t take that oh-so-tempting bail out, that’s an exciting feeling.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have an army of people to thank – so many fabulous individuals helped me along the serpentine path I took to get here. My fella has always supported my harebrained shenanigans and held me together when things threatened to crack apart. The kid has been right beside me on this off-kilter unicycle we seem to be riding, laughing with me, and at me, as we grew up together. My parents, sister, and bestie have all played huge roles in my story and I have had the absolute pleasure of working with, and learning from, some of the most talented designers. And finally, I wouldn’t be who I am without the written word, without inspiring authors like Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, and Jocko Willink.

Website: flowersandmoon.com

Instagram: flowers.and.moon.co

Image Credits
Christy Dickinson