Who's the Boss? Husband and Wife Team, Beth and Dwain Wilwol Share their Story on Owning a Flower Shop
Vonda and Lori kick off their new summer series, "Who's the Boss?", with the couple who inspired it: Beth and Dwain Wilwol, owners of The Gift Garden in Bennington, Vermont. Lori met them at Profit Blast in Albany and couldn't stop thinking about their dynamic — what is it actually like to own a flower shop with your spouse? True to florist life, the couple recorded from the shop with a "back from a quick delivery" note on the door.
From 27 years as an employee to "this is all ours"
Beth started in the industry in 1989 and worked for the previous owner of The Gift Garden for 27 years before she and Dwain bought the shop in 2015 after a two-year process. Since then they've moved it seven doors up the street, added 900 square feet of sales floor, expanded the gift, flower, and plant lines, and — Beth's proudest moments — turned a profit in year one, bought their building last year, and came through COVID stronger than ever. She still remembers walking back in after the closing, looking at Dwain, and saying, "This is all ours."
Her COVID story is one every shop owner should hear. When lockdowns hit, a 72-year-old florist friend from Adams, Massachusetts told her: florists made it through the Depression, we'll get through this too — and if you can make $200 a day, every day, you'll have $6,000 at the end of the month. Reframed that way, the panic became a plan. With curbside pickup, no-contact delivery, and a community determined to shop local, the flower side of the business actually grew.
The secret: they don't fight
Vonda opened by reading the dictionary definition of "boss" — as a verb, "to give someone orders in a domineering manner." So who's the boss at The Gift Garden? "We know who the boss is," they laugh — it's Beth, because the shop was her dream. But Dwain's philosophy sets the tone: nothing in life is worth fighting over, and "if it ain't okay, it ain't the end." They buy together, plan together, and decide together. Each owns their lane — Dwain handles plants, the building, maintenance, and building anything Beth can describe ("if I can picture it, I can build it"); Beth runs the flowers. And when something needs to be said to their two employees, Dwain — a self-described brutal-honesty guy at 6'3" — runs it through Beth first, because she's the diplomat.
Lori's observation sums it up: they have deep respect for each other and each recognizes the other's gifts — the foundation of any partnership, married or not.
From delivery driver to designer
Dwain's floral career started with one phone call: "Would you mind coming and doing just a couple deliveries?" He learned the town by map, mastered the shortcuts, then learned to green up arrangements so they could go home before 2 a.m. on Valentine's week. Then Beth told him he needed to learn to design — and Flower Clique's Flower Prep School gave him the videos to do it. As Vonda notes, the course was literally created to take a delivery driver to a designer, and Dwain is the poster child: bows and greening down, wrist corsages next.
The couple is honest about the teaching dynamic, too. Beth admits she's the classic owner who says "let me show you" and takes over — which is exactly why pairing an online course with a hands-on mentor works. Dwain watches the video, does the work himself, and Beth critiques the technique. His sales instincts came along the same way: he used to answer the phone and immediately hand it to Beth; now his motto is "it's not what you sell, it's how you sell it," and customers call back just to hear him say, "For you? Absolutely."
Would they do it again?
In a heartbeat — but with eyes open. Beth's advice for anyone thinking of buying or starting a shop: it's not all playing with flowers. There's bookwork, inventory, buying, payroll — and 7:30 a.m. to midnight days where, as Dwain puts it, "the midnight elf fairies don't come and do it for you." What makes it worthwhile is the reaction on the other end: comforting someone who's grieving, celebrating a birthday, handing free flowers to strangers through Petal It Forward — a "high," Beth says, she could chase all day. And Dwain's proudest thing of all? "Who I own the business with — her dream has turned into our dream."
Key takeaways
- Partnerships work when each person's strengths are named and respected — know whose lane is whose.
- Break overwhelming goals into daily ones: $200 a day is $6,000 a month.
- Grow your team from within — a delivery driver can become a designer with training plus hands-on mentoring.
- If you're a "let me show you" teacher, lean on structured courses and limit yourself to critiquing.
- Owning a shop is long hours and hard work far beyond the flowers — but the customer reactions make it the hardest job you'll ever love.