Christina Stembel grew up on a farm in rural Indiana and eventually made her way to the Bay Area of San Francisco in the middle of the first dot com bubble. It was during her time there that she began to think about starting her own company, and after a decade she ultimately left her steady job to strike out on her own.

She founded Farmgirl Flowers, a company that makes beautiful burlap-wrapped bouquets and plant arrangements for every occasion that can be sent from coast to coast. The large-scale, female-founded e-commerce flower company ships to recipients across the country, and is known for sourcing the best flowers from the United States and international growers. They work with their transportation partners in order to ensure that their flowers arrive fresh from the farm and boxed up beautifully for customers to enjoy.

As part of its With Heart program, Farmgirl Flowers also partners with nonprofits and other organizations to donate to various causes, and since 2016 they have contributed almost $1 million to organizations that work in the gender and racial equity spaces, in health care, and relief efforts, among others.

“I am 100% sure everyone in my life thought I was nuts to do so, especially since I used the entirety of my personal savings to start Farmgirl right out of my apartment,” Stembel says. “To this day, Farmgirl remains completely bootstrapped. It’s not for lack of trying to get funding, but after so many attempts to raise capital which didn’t work out, I finally shifted my mindset to view our bootstrapped journey as a superpower. It’s enabled us to pivot quickly, time-and-time-again, without having to answer to a board and be able to steer the company in a way we feel is doing right by our customers and our team.”

We chatted with Stembel, who shared the inspiration behind the brand, favorite products, future plans, and more.

When was Farmgirl Flowers founded and what’s the meaning behind the name?

I started Farmgirl Flowers in 2010 with a simple idea: to change how we shop for flowers online. I could never get flowers back home to my mom in Indiana that looked like what I’d ordered from a website and I had to scroll through endless options to begin with just to try to find flowers that were at least semi-appealing. After trudging through this experience, time and time again, I was always left frustrated when the bouquet would inevitably arrive looking lackluster and not at all like what I’d hoped. I set out to create a new model that solved this problem by offering fewer, better options.

Tell us more about your products and what makes them special.

We’re the only large-scale, female-founded and predominantly women-run ecommerce flower company. I mention this because most of our customers are women shopping for other women or themselves. With this in mind, we design arrangements we would want to receive ourselves because we are the customer. We make sure every Farmgirl bouquet is special, thoughtfully designed, and beautiful because it’s what we would want to give or receive ourselves.

We also source strategically when we’re finding pairings or add ons for arrangements to work with other women-owned or women-run businesses. Fewer than 2% of solo female-founded companies will ever exceed more than $1 million in annual revenue. That figure is lower for female entrepreneurs who are also women of color, and it’s a milestone that male-owned businesses achieve more than three times more often. We are intentional about finding partners so we can help hold that door open for other female-founded companies. 

Lately that’s also meant designing bouquets inspired by runway looks we’re pulling from Instagram and Pinterest. We’ve infused our arrangements with mood-boosting color palettes pulled from this pandemic ‘dopamine dressing’ aesthetic. We’re avid lovers of fashion and think there is a great synergy between both industries. 

Everything we make is truly one-of-a-kind, as well. We fill our hand-tied bouquets and 360 arrangements with the best of the best from our network of U.S. and international growers in Ecuador, Colombia and beyond. Making sure we’re only sending bouquets we want to receive ourselves starts with sourcing, so we’ve worked incredibly hard to build relationships with growers that have stunning blooms, bits and greens for our designers to work with. And for the minimalists, we have a lot of gorgeous options of one variety—think specialty tulips, garden roses and more.

Do you have a hero/favorite arrangement?

Our burlap-wrapped bouquets and Vase, Vase Babies are definitely customer favorites.

When I founded Farmgirl, one of the ways I wanted to shake things up was to reduce the single-use plastic that is so prevalent in the floral industry. Instead of using cellophane, we began wrapping our bouquets in compostable burlap made from local coffee roaster sacks that we cut down to size. Not only is this approach more environmentally friendly, but it gave us a competitive edge. You could always spot a Farmgirl bouquet because our whimsical, burlap-wrapped designs have a really distinctive signature look.

We also offer vase arrangements, which make it so easy for customers to style any space and occasion. Whether you’re looking for that perfect statement centerpiece for your dinner party or a cheerful bouquet for your living room for a little pick-me-up, sprucing up your work-from-home space, sending a special gift to someone, or anything else you can think of, our Vase, Vase Baby 360 arrangements (that’s flowers all the way around) ship with our vases designed to pair beautifully with your flowers.

And in terms of hero flowers—that would be peonies, for sure! The majority of our customers report that peonies are their favorite flowers. And my all-time-favorite is King Protea—they’re spiky, cool and architectural-looking flowers that I love!

Where are your products sold?

We ship nationwide across the contiguous United States.

What's next for the brand?

We recently debuted a DIY-ers dream: a Big Box called Save the Date where you can style an entire wedding (or other special occasion) using 100 stems for just $225. Featuring a sophisticated neutral palette of whites, creams and blushes, this box of assorted flowers and foliage ships nationwide and is conveniently delivered directly to your door, ready for you to arrange and channel your inner event planner!

We’re excited about coming up with extra special new items as more people are able to thankfully get together in person once again.  

For more information about Farmgirl Flowers and to order an arrangement, visit the website and follow on Instagram: @farmgirlflowers

[Images courtesy of Farmgirl Flowers]

Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk