by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
When Rose Jackson started a small floral party business more than 30 years ago, she had no idea it would grow into one of the 25 largest woman-owned companies in Jacksonville with more than 40 employees. Originally a plant party business, Anything With Plants & Flowers has become just that. From a single floral arrangement to the atrium lobby at Independent Square Downtown or acres of outdoor suburban landscaping, if it’s green and grows Jackson and her team can design it, install it and then take care of it. The company provides its design and maintenance services to large office building property managers, medical facilities, hotels, restaurants and small private practices. The staff includes certified landscape technicians and licensed pest control operators in addition to designers and florists.
“Plants were originally a hobby for me,” said Jackson. “I was a social worker and they were my therapy. Pretty soon the business outgrew the garage.”
Last weekend the crew was at several locations Downtown dismantling the Christmas trees they designed and set up in lobbies including Independent Square and the Bank of America Tower. The company was responsible for decorating more than 100 trees for clients this year.
Jackson purchased LaMee the Florist two years ago and offers full floral services for weddings and other occasions. While she inherited LaMee’s vast customer base that spans multiple generations of Jacksonville flower lovers, Jackson said the Internet has changed the floral business.
“Young people tend to shop more and they’re more interested in price,” she added.
One of the latest trends in landscaping is also becoming a specialty at Anything With Plants & Flowers. “Green” walls and roofs are an opportunity to do some vertical landscaping and the technology offers energy savings and other advantages.
When you look at it from an engineering standpoint, Downtown is a collection of “heat islands” due to vehicle exhaust, air conditioners and thousands of square feet of asphalt, building and glass. By using living plants to cover walls and roofs it’s possible to reduce the temperature behind the wall or under the roof by as much as 35 degrees. That can reduce cooling costs, Jackson said. Plants used in walls and roofs also clean the air, provide oxygen and even aid in stormwater and noise pollution control when properly designed and installed.
The concept behind the atrium at Independent Square, Jackson said, was to create an indoor park. She and her team have been tending to the plants in the building for more than 15 years. They are watered, fertilized and manicured once a week and the plants are replaced as often as every six weeks.
Jackson said the building’s management company, Eola Capital, donates the old plants to the City Rescue Mission and they are sold in the organization’s thrift store. When the atrium was completely redesigned 15 years ago, all the plants being replaced were added to the collection at the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens.
Dan Frey is the property manager at Independent Square and has worked there since it opened as the Independent Life Building in 1975. He said the building has many amenities but “The atrium has always been a favorite for so many people. They’ll sit there and have meetings or take pictures of each other with the trees and fountains in the background.”
Whether it’s Downtown where she creates indoor parks or out in the suburbs, every day when Jackson goes to work she realizes she has the best job in the world.
“I am so blessed to be able to do this. I still get to work with people and play in the dirt,” she said.
Thousands of plants make up this signature indoor park at Independent Square.
3456-2466