The founder of South Australia-based start-up success story Edible Blooms has launched her second business, Green Thumb Gifts, in a bid to provide a sustainable alternative to cut flowers.
Kelly Baker-Jamieson has launched Green Thumb Gifts alongside her sister, Abbey Baker, husband, Andrew Jamieson, and long-time friend and marketing expert, Alexandra Andre.
Green Thumb Gifts is a nationwide plant and gardening gift delivery service, designed to inspire “a greener kind of giving” by moving away from the tradition of cut flowers.
It was built off the back of Baker-Jamieson’s first business, Edible Blooms, founded in 2005.
Edible Blooms designs bouquets filled with gourmet chocolates, home-baked cookies, fresh fruit, French champagne and even specialty beers.
In its first full financial year of trading, sales soared to $1 million. Since then, the company has maintained a growth rate of at least 30%.
According to Baker-Jamieson, Green Thumb Gifts will fill a gap in the market for a delivery service that specialises in flowering plants, herbs, succulents and trees.
“A while back, my sister Abbey and I were looking for a beautifully packaged potted plant to send to one of our staff members in Sydney,” Baker-Jamieson says.
“You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to find.”
“The online gift consumer is looking for something unique and meaningful, and we are confident Green Thumb Gifts delivers a gift that really does keep on giving.”
She says the Green Thumb Gifts offering goes one step further than recycled packaging and environmentally-friendly processes, by offering a product that is itself sustainable.
“Giving someone a plant that they can pot in their garden and grow, or herbs they can use in the kitchen, is such a thoughtful option,” she says.
Not surprisingly, Baker-Jamieson says it was far easier launching a business the second time around.
“It was a huge advantage – we used all the same backend systems,” she says.
“When you launch a website, there are so many ways you can launch it. There are so many different options to look at, but we didn’t have to worry about a lot of those questions.”
Baker-Jamieson says Green Thumb Gifts will be similar to Edible Blooms in the sense that it is targeting a largely female customer base. However, the gifts tend to hold a bit more meaning.
“There is emphasis around sympathy gifts – sensitive gifts for people important to them,” she says.
“For example, if someone dies, you can send their loved one a plant, which they can plant in their yard and it can grow… Also, when people have a baby [giving a plant is appropriate].”
Baker-Jamieson says her husband left his corporate career to help launch Green Thumb Gifts, which, in turn, has allowed the couple to create a healthy work/life balance.
Green Thumb Gifts will operate from a converted shearing shed and the couples’ heritage-listed farmhouse in country South Australia
“We are thrilled to be able to put our green thumbs to work to build this exciting new business and spend more family time together on the farm with our son,” Baker-Jamieson says.
