The spotlight shines on this week's florist—Alexandra Scholtz, founder of WildFlora, a successful and booming floral shop based in California. WildFlora is on a journey to underline natural beauty through floral designs, plants, and home décor. The team behind this business creates every arrangement with a wild touch, prioritizing seasonal flowers, unique colors, and textures. With their handmade products and those curated from other small businesses, she hopes to create an inviting and truly Californian vibe for everyone who visits the shop.
The Beginnings of WildFlora
WildFlora, founded in 2014 by brother and sister Alexandra and Michael Scholtz, is a one-stop shop for floral design and landscaping. Since then, the duo has been able to grow their business into two distinct entities under the WildFlora brand. Despite their separation, the two continue to work on developing environmentally conscious design solutions and products inspired by California.
They sell florals, plants, personal care products, and home goods that are carefully chosen and handcrafted with their local economy and ecosystem in mind. But this florist special is specifically about Alexandra Scholtz, the Owner, Lead Floral Designer, and Creative Director of WildFlora as a whole. What was the initial step that inspired her to become a floral designer while making people happy with flowers? Keep reading to know more about the magic behind her hands.
The absence of flowers in her life is what detonated the start of her career and involvement in the flower world. Alexandra is a second-generation florist who grew up in her family's flower shops. As a child, she was naturally exposed to the floral industry. After graduating from college with a degree in hospitality management, she began working in hotels, stating that her days shifted away from flowers, and something felt off. Almost immediately after this realization, Alex left her job and returned to a flower shop. Since then, every day has been all about flowers.
The World of Flowers of Alexandra Scholtz
Alexandra returned to the West Coast back in 2013 to pursue her floral dreams. The energy and love behind flowers and gifting have been a huge drive for her to grow WildFlora into the rocking business it is nowadays.
To make you a part of her floral sphere, she shares:
"It’s easy to lose yourself in a flower. Oftentimes, you will find me at the flower market with my face in a bunch of stock or opening the corner of a Gardenia box so I can smell the intoxicating scent they give off. To send your senses on an instant joyride like that makes flowers supreme."
You can usually find her sipping on an iced coffee, and strolling through the LA Flower Market while spreading the joy with flowers. But the real question comes to be, how did WildFlora start? On one end of the spectrum, she saw a lot of high-end arrangements in formal shapes for events, and on the other, more affordable flowers designed in looser styles at grocery stores.
She was eager to explore that fun, wild place in the middle: creating free-flowing arrangements with the highest quality flowers! With a fantastic end result, she is thrilled that people enjoy the blend as much as she does.
Starting Your Journey in the Flower Industry
As cliche as it may sound, remember to do you, is what Alexandra recommends to everyone pursuing their passion in life. It's great to be inspired by others, but remember to design from within and focus on what speaks to you. If you can afford it, hire your weaknesses because it is extremely rare to have a creative mind that can also run a business.
If you want to start your career or path in the flower industry, remember you can do it all at first, but eventually, you'll reach a point where entrusting someone else with this will help your business grow significantly so always be willing to ask for help when needed. But most importantly, hop on your desired floral adventure and never look back because flowers are what's good for you, your happiness, and everyone's well-being.
Photos by @wildfloradesign
