Hi,
I'm
Elizabeth
and
I kill
plants
(but not on purpose!)
For most of my adult life, I worked in the restaurant industry.
Twenty years of 10-12 hour shifts, high-stress kitchens, and always working my way to the top of someone else's dream. I was good at it. I helped grow businesses, navigate crises, and keep things running no matter what. But somewhere along the way I forgot to ask myself whether I actually wanted to be there.
The pandemic reminded me.
THE GARAGE
Every morning, I watched my husband do what he loved.
My husband Aaron owns Austin Yard Barber — a landscape design company he built from scratch in 2018 after spending his whole career in restaurants, just like me.
Every morning as I left for work, I'd see him in the garage, hands dirty, building something beautiful and loving every seccond of it.
He was thriving, and I loved it.
But every morning it made me think: I want that too.
Not landscaping. But something. Something mine. Something I loved.
What would fulfill me?
I asked myself that question every single day.
THE VISION
It came to me on Mother's Day, 2020.
A socially distant coffee date with my mom, my brother, and sister-in-law. My boss had recently told me: "You might want to think about what you really want to do — because you might not have a job in a year." So I was thinking about it. Hard.
My brother mentioned he and his wife had thought about opening a coffee shop someday. My ears perked up (because...coffee) and I said I'd love to help. We moved on to another topic. But on the drive home, something clicked.
I could see it so clearly: a coffee shop with plants hanging from the ceiling, couches, comfortable workspaces, and in the back, a little plant-inspired boutique selling handmade goods by local women artists.
But every morning it made me think: I want that too.
Not landscaping. But something. Something mine. Something I loved.
It would be called, The Gardeners Wife
THE EVOLUTION
The coffee shop idea faded quickly when I remembered I had just spent twenty years in the restaurant industry and had zero desire stay in it. But the shop? The shop stayed.
I bought the domain in July 2020 — or tried to. The Gardeners Wife was taken. So I did what any determined person with a vision and too much time during a pandemic does: I tracked down the woman who owned it, found her email address, and wrote to her. I told her my story. Within a few days, she transferred the domain to me free of charge. She even offered me the Instagram handle, but I'd already committed to it, so I kept it.
**A note on the name: yes, it's missing an apostrophe. Gardeners, not Gardener's. As an English major I am fully aware it's a possessive noun. I also think apostrophes look terrible in brand names and I will die on this hill, come at me bro.
On October 23rd, 2021,
The Gardeners Wife officially launched.
In one of the first videos I ever posted, I said: "At The Gardeners Wife, we believe that any thumb can be a green thumb, feminism is for everyone, and plants are life." I still believe all of that. I just got busy and forgot to keep saying it out loud.
Along the way, my therapist convinced me to stop waiting and apply to markets. I was so nervous, it wasn't perfect, I wasn't perfect but guess what, I got into a local neighborhood market! Then, just a few weeks after that, I was accepted into The Front Market, one of Austin's most beloved makers markets by Future Front. I was terrified and completely hooked at the same time.
For the next two years I worked full time Monday through Friday, and then packed up and did markets every single Saturday and Sunday. My mom was there for all of it — showing up every weekend to help me set up, sell, and break down. She was my first employee, my business partner, and the reason I didn't completely lose my mind.
My mom has been & always will be my biggest supporter. I am forever grateful for that kind of love.
When I went to do this full time, my mom didn't stop showing up. She started coming to my house once a week to help with order volume, label bottles, pack boxes — whatever needed doing. The Gardeners Wife has always been a family operation, even when it didn't have a name.
my very first market
my mom with me at my first market
Ma supporting me at my first 2-day Market, with Future Front
Ma, supporting me at my first, indoor, 3-day market
Ma, supporting me at my first market in San Antonio (outside Austin)
She travelled with me to my first big out of town market, 5 hours away
THE FLOWERS THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
I started creating dried floral arrangements in June 2022 and fell completely in love — from sourcing the stems to sitting on the floor building a beautiful mess of leaves and buds and blooms. I found a quiet in my mind I hadn't felt in years. The Gardener's Wife took on a whole new shape. I had no formal floral training, no formal design training, just some beautiful stems and a vision.
To think that it all started with me, sitting on the floor in the spare room, piecing stems together. Today, I have a modest team of 3 amazing woman, who all come to my home, play with my dogs, and post up for the day with me in that spare room, now known as "the floral studio". The small ikea cubbies are still in use, but the walls are lined with shelves, housing over 75 different varieties of flowers.
Today The Gardener's Wife is a fully handmade line; dried florals, botanical fragrances, aromatherapy perfume rollers, ritual goods, and more, all made by me, in Austin, TX.
Why I do it: My Mission
My mission has always been connection — with our home spaces, with ourselves, and with each other.
I make things that help you build a home that feels like yours. Products that make self-care feel less like a chore and more like a ritual. Goods that are thoughtfully sourced, honestly made, and designed to last.
And because community matters as much as craft, a portion of my sales supports local non-profits through my Be the Change initiative — where I donate 3% of sales to a rotating non-profit, because nourishing our roots means nourishing each other too.
Connect with your home through design.
Connect with yourself through self-care.
Connect with each other through flowers.
We are all connected. Nourish your roots.
Love always,
Elizabeth, The Gardener's Wife