How She Grew The Sill: Plantrepreneur Eliza Blank

Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

If you interact with the houseplant community online at all, you've definitely felt the impact of The Sill on our plant niche. I honestly can't believe that it took me a whopping 230 episodes to finally have Eliza Blank, founder of The Sill, grace the Growing Joy with Plants podcast! Her female founder story of recognizing a need for a houseplant brand and building it into a million-dollar company would make you feel empowered, as it did me.

In case you didn’t know, The Sill was one of the OG plant brands that helped start the houseplant craze before the pandemic. And when I first started my podcast, they were also the first to reach out and show their support! So I want to take this opportunity to show you the story behind the success of The Sill live on stage at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle.

In this episode, we learn:

• [00:30] The Sill and its impact on the houseplant community
• [05:23] How did Eliza get into houseplants?
• [07:28] How exciting/challenging is it to launch a houseplant brand early on?
• [11:20] How did The Sill come about?
• [13:13] How Eliza built a multimillion-dollar brand
• [14:25] Why “fake it till you make it” mindset works WONDERS!
• [15:47] Create the perfect Danish hygge atmosphere with Wind River Chimes
• [18:57] What was the struggle for The Sill during COVID?
• [20:34] Navigating challenges in the plant industry
• [22:23] What’s the process of sourcing and acquiring plants?
• [24:14] What’s Eliza’s definition of success (and has it changed over the years?)
• [25:10] What it feels like being a woman in a male-dominated industry
• [26:56] Trends and customer preferences in 2024
• [29:01] What’s next for The Sill?
• [30:01] Eliza’s personal life and hobbies beyond plants
• [32:30] Eliza’s favorite client story!

Mentioned in our conversation:

• Northwest Flower and Garden Festival
• Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE)
• Growing Joy Ep 18: Prepping Your Houseplant For Spring and the Science Behind Fertilizer With Chris Satch from The Sill
• Growing Joy Ep 30 Orchid 101 with Chris from The Sill
• Growing Joy Ep 38: Transitioning Your Plants Back Indoors for Winter with Chris from The Sill

For a deeper dive into The Sill's story,

check out the full show notes and blog here!

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Wind River Chimes

Turn your home into a relaxation oasis with chimes! Wind River is a Virginia-based company creating premium handcrafted and hand-tuned wind chimes for over 35 years. They are launching a new collection of chimes called Eclipse, which are Corinthian bells uniquely tuned to the Lydian mode, a scale that creates an ethereal atmosphere of enchantment that matches the mystery and wonder of the solar eclipse and of outer space. Plus, these chimes make for amazing personal gifts to your loved ones!

Visit windriverchimes.com and use code GROWINGJOY to receive free engraving on all engraveable wind chimes.

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