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Simply Flowers, Inc.
Jenny Hardgrave
Owner, President, Designer
Today, with Simply Flowers, Inc. Jenny has successfully married two of her greatest passions in
life : art and flowers. Jenny's enthusiasm for flowers is firmly rooted in her childhood. As a
child, Jenny would accompany her father on a trip to the local nursery to buy plants for a
garden each Mother's Day weekend. Then, on Sunday morning she and her father would present a
colorful, newly planted garden to her mother in appreciation for being wife and Mom. The
tradition continues to this day. In fact, the Remnant Garden planted in honor of her mother
swept the Grand Award at the annual MALTA Awards ceremony in 2003.
But flowers are only one of Jenny's greatest passions. Her love for art has brush stroked her
life as well. She was one of an elite group of students invited to the Governor's School for the
Arts at the young age of 16. She continued to hone her talents as an artist even through high
school. But it was at Tennessee Technical University that she finally saw a way to merge her
God-given talents with her love for flowers in the form of a degree in Nursery and Landscape
Management. Graduating with cum laude honors from Tennessee Tech, Jenny ventured boldly away from
home to plant herself in the heart of Atlanta, a city teeming with landscaping opportunities.
She began with Gibbs Landscaping as a Seasonal Color Crew Leader and in just under 5 years had
advanced to Seasonal Color Production Manager and then on to Floriculture Designer. At this
juncture in her career she began to realize the fruits of her labors and education. Her dreams of
utilizing her artistry and gardening skills together were coming true.
To further these aspirations she became regional Seasonal Color Manager for Duke-Weeks Landscaping.
After only a year at that company she was determined to launch her own business that would
concentrate solely on seasonal color. She knew that she could not only build a professional design
team that would become the southeast's premier color-scaping developers but also how to best
establish a company to achieve that goal. Since starting her own company Jenny has also been guest
speaker for several events including the State Botanical Garden's Perennial Plant Symposium ,
Georgia Green Industry Association and MALTA. In 2004 she was elected Secretary of MALTA and became
its Treasurer in 2005 and most recently in 2007 became its President. She serves in that
capacity to date. In addition to her role in MALTA, Jenny serves on the
certification task force for Georgia Certified Landscape Professionals. These spotlights and the
success of Simply Flowers, Inc. are a testimony to her skills, talents, tenacity, and exceptional
customer service.
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