Meet Jennifer Lendon, co-owner of Lendon Floral & Garden

Jennifer “Swigert” Lendon is a 1990 alumnus of Newcomerstown High School and a 1994 graduate of Malone College, now Malone University, with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

During her high school years, she was employed at Thompson’s I.G.A. (now Riesbeck’s) and continued there through summer breaks from college. She enjoyed the small town grocery store vibe, and has many great memories from those days.

She then married husband, George, who was in graduate school at Kent State University. She worked for a short time in Hudson until they moved to Bethesda, Ohio, in 1998 when she began her favorite job as a stay-at-home mom for 13 years.

Then in 2012, the family purchased Ponzani Florist and Garden Center, 46540 National Road West, St. Clairsville, and renamed the business as Lendon Floral & Garden.

When the Lendon family has downtime; they like to play card games, especially Hearts and Slap9; watch movies in the winter months; and enjoy their backyard fire pit with a good cup of coffee during the rest of the year.

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Tell us a little bit about your current career and the flower shop. What led you to starting this business?

My husband, George, was searching for a change in careers as was my brother, Matt Swigert.

Through much prayer and seeking God’s will, we were blessed to have the opportunity to purchase Ponzani’s in 2012. With George and I in the floral shop, and Matt running the Gardens, we jumped into a life as small business owners.

Matt was able to stay with us until he took his current position as groundskeeper and bus driver for Newcomerstown Schools (a much shorter commute).

As the industry has changed, we have also changed our business model. We currently work with several amazing nurseries in the state of Ohio, who grow our vegetables, annuals, perennials, trees, etc. In the last three years, we have turned our attention to using our greenhouses and property for growing flowers to support our floral shop.

These last few years have shown us that the inventory and floral supply chains we rely on are fragile. I love that I can pick a flower in the Gardens in the morning, and it will go into a vase for a customer that afternoon. That flower’s vase life, with proper care, is much longer.

There’s a satisfaction of knowing you’re growing something that will allow your customer to express their feelings including sympathy, love, friendship, and “just because” in such a beautiful way.

In the last two years, our two oldest daughters have graduated college and come to work with us. Sadie is one of our full-time floral designers, and she also runs our website and social media accounts. In addition, she also does all our planning for the holidays and seasonal changes.

Bea graduated with a building preservation degree from Belmont College and has used the skills that she has learned to set up a stained glass studio at the floral shop. She also oversees our planting for the flowers we grow for the floral shop and works full time at the Gardens when they are open.

Our youngest daughter Millie is a senior this year at East Richland Christian Schools and is planning to attend a massage therapy school in the fall, so who knows, in the future we may have to put in a massage therapy studio as well.

What do you enjoy about this venture vs. past career paths?

I cherished my job as a stay-at-home mom; the freedoms that came with it were such a blessing.

I loved spending time with my girls and watching them grow and enjoy life as country girls. Giving that up to work full time was really hard, but I have found my faith has grown exponentially. God has supplied for us so many times over these last 11 1/2 years.

Being a florist, we live on a roller coaster of busy and slow seasons. We have days of quiet and days of, “drinking from a fire hose”, as my sister-in-law Sarah once said during Valentine’s Day.

I enjoy the variety in the seasons that we celebrate as a florist. I also love getting to use my talents to help someone express a feeling or emotion in a beautiful way. Our world is full of the negatives and wrongs, but to watch someone light up and their whole countenance change because of something you’ve designed is such a wonderful thing.

For some fun, what is something people would be surprised to know about you?

People may be surprised to know that for my 50th birthday, my oldest daughter and I got tattoos. Mine features three small sparrows and an olive branch stem with 17 leaves to symbolize Colossians 3:17 … “Whatever I do whether in word or speech, I do it all for the glory of God giving thanks through Jesus Christ.”

It is my way of reminding myself each day as I do my work, it’s to his glory.

What was it like growing up in Newcomerstown?

I loved growing up in Newcomerstown, and I have many fond memories of that time.

I always thought I would get married and raise our family there, but God had other plans. However, our girls spent lots of time in the summer with my mom and dad, Wayne and Louise Swigert. They experienced many of my favorite childhood pastimes; like playing in the stream by my parent’s house, playing with cousins, going to the library for books, and baking with my mom.

What would you like to highlight for us?

Because of social media, I’ve been blessed to keep up with many of my classmates who I graduated with in 1990. I love getting to see their lives and families as they grow and change.

I would encourage anyone thinking of a job change and/or starting your own business, there is no time like the present. Just be ready to spend long hours at it in the beginning. It’s worth it on so many levels if you put in the time.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Meet Jennifer Lendon, co-owner of Lendon Floral & Garden