How Visual Merchandising for a plant nursery changed my life

I want to take a moment to share the story behind Rachel Reynolds Dreamscapes, because everything I’ve built created stems from a series of lessons I learned during my time working at a native plant nursery.

Buchanan’s Native Plants is a Houston Heights nursery with a focus on native plants and customer enrichment, and I was fortunate enough to work there for almost 4 years. 

I left Buchanan’s in April 2024, but I still think about how the experience shaped who I am and how I will live the rest of my life.

The early days

I started at Buchanan’s as a cashier in 2020. I had a new love of plants and (it bothers me that I can't even remember how I found out about the place) got an interview.

In the face of having a really light senior year of college during a pandemic, I knew I needed a job or I would continue my cycle of sleeping until 2pm, doom-scrolling, and Survivor marathons. 

So I got the job, and I was happy to have work and eager to prove myself.

Those early days of working there are now faint memories, because everything changes so quickly, but I hold onto a few. One day in August, in the trenches of a Houston summer, (wearing a mask, btw) I was standing at the register.

I look up and see this girl, absolutely hauling ass. She was slinging plants onto a table and assembling a collection of plants from a push cart onto a display table. She was moving at a pace that made me think “What is her job? Because I want to do that.”

Kiana Young is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. She’s a creative, has badass work ethic and has a unique touch in everything she does. She was the Visual Merchandiser, responsible for creating attractive displays around the store. 

Visual Merchandising is the task of taking the product that comes in and making it look visually appealing to customers. I had taken a few Visual Merchandising classes during my Retail Science minor that I got at the University of Houston.

The context I learned of it was mostly in relation to the clothing and apparel sector of retail, so when I found out it could also apply to plants I was super interested.

Taking products and telling stories with them, creating these little “moments” for people to experience and become entranced by is a job I will always seek out, even now that I’ve moved on.

A Christmas air plant display

I got the Visual Merchandiser position before I was ready, if I look back. Kiana told me she was leaving the company and was going to recommend me for the role, all before I even reached my one year anniversary at Buchanan’s. 

Kiana and I on her last day

Reality hits

When I was initially finding my footing in the role, I experienced a lot of challenges personally and logistically. I didn’t understand the scope of the job. I thought it was just making pretty displays and having the final say on aesthetic choices around the store.

I painstakingly realized it was about 80% problem solving and communication and only 20% actual display creation. I didn’t have other people in my department- it was just me.

I was expected to maintain displays at the entrance to the store, the front of the gift shop, the front of the greenhouse, and 25+ endcaps while also collaborating with section leaders to organize and display their products effectively. 

That meant a lot of work on the back end: clearing spaces, re-allocating products and working out the logistics of display hardware.

A display I created with the pottery team in front of the Bungalow

Feeling alone

The first year was hard for me. I cried over little things. Had anxiety over simple requests from management or other departments. Generally, I was stubborn and not a team player.

I focused so much on how “alone” I was. I would constantly think “why is no one helping me?” “why do they expect me to do all this myself?” 

I thought everyone was out to get me, waiting on me to mess up, when those were actually just projections of my own insecurities.

In February, approaching my anniversary in the position, I was so fed up that I decided to march into the manager's office with a list of reasons I thought I deserved a raise. 

They countered with a raise smaller than what I had asked, but acknowledged that I had achieved my Bachelor’s degree and congratulated me for my work ethic thus far. They also gave me a list of critiques and things to work on that I was not prepared to hear. 

They wanted me to be more receptive to constructive feedback. They didn’t want me to feel so stressed, and pressured. They wanted to see more positive partnerships between me and other employees. They wanted me to be proactive instead of reactive.

It was a little gut wrenching getting that very accurate list of things I needed to work on, because everything they said was pretty much the truth.

I went home that night, swallowed my pride and decided that I was going to stop feeling helpless, and instead shatter expectations so hard that the change would be like night and day.

Deciding to be better

No one was asking me to be perfect! They just wanted me to be myself, do my job…and not cry about it.

I had been setting too high a standard for myself because my desire for perfection and visions of what it “could be” weren’t attainable.

Look, I dream big okay?! But it’s a plant nursery; things are messy, and the seasons tumble forward one after the other. There isn’t always time to spend 10 hours on a paper mache Monarch Butterfly, as cool as that would be. 

But seriously, I took that meeting and realized there was nowhere to hide. AND I had been ignoring the most important tool of all: the support of my coworkers.

Management wanted to support me. No one had ever expected me to do it all on my own, I just had to do the work of building trust with people and knowing when and how to ask for help. 

Changing priorities

I started recognizing people for their strengths over everything else. Buchanan’s has some of the best, most caring, educated employees you will ever meet. Every person has their own niche interests and passions, and loves to share them.

I began noticing when people were drowning in tasks and would jump in to help them because my position allowed me the unique privilege of deciding how I spent my time.

People want to feel seen and appreciated, and I grew as a person when I realized I would do anything to make them feel as such. I wanted my coworkers to know that I was there for them.

Collaboration with others became my favorite tool. The times I would grit my teeth because “why can’t they just see it my way” suddenly happened way less often because I focused on my ability to align my priorities with theirs. 

Me and the Greenhouse team

Moving on

All this to say, there were still moments of frustration, eye rolling, and at times pure rage. Working with people at any job can make you want to bang your head into a wall. I didn’t have all these realizations without my fair share of silent cursing and diva tantrums.

But there were daily moments of hysterical laughter, love, and jumping up and down with excitement. Because every week, a truck (or sometimes 50) full of beautiful plants for us to create with would pull into the delivery lot.

There is literally no place on earth like Buchanan’s. Leaving was the biggest leap I ever had to take, but I felt the call to start my own business and make change on my own terms.

My true passion in life is bringing people together and appreciating everyone for who they are. That’s why I’m so adamant about educating people, speaking up for what I believe in, and trying to move mountains to do what I know is right.

Something I’m currently focused on is getting the City of Houston to update their list of “approved” shrubs for the city to include more native plants.

So many Houston organizations reached out to me with support after that approach to City Council. That alone reinforced my belief that we all achieve more when we are working together.

In conclusion…

Looking back, I kind of lost the plot in the best way possible. I entered into that role just wanting to create pretty displays. But that position taught me more about interpersonal relationships and communicating than it did about creating eye-catching visuals.

Working at Buchanan’s drastically altered the course of my life, because I let it. So, anyone reading who works at a nursery or in the horticulture world that don’t feel appreciated- you have to make the job your own.

Ask yourself:

“How can I become a better person, how can I make other people’s lives better by exceeding the expectations of my job?”

Not to serve the person I work for but to be the best version of myself.

There is so much more to this industry than what you can see. If you have the patience to learn and have faith in yourself, you can literally create the life of your dreams.

Trust the path you’re on, because what’s meant for you will not pass you and things have a way of falling into your lap at the perfect moment. 

With love,

Rachel Reynolds

PS, you can also see more display photos in the Gallery tab here on my website.

Me at the Christmas tree, 2023