Muhly & Cedar | Shrewsbury, PA
I first met Jennifer Lubman after Cross Quarter Clubbers Sharon and Mel told me about her adorable garden shop and botanical boutique on Main Street in Shrewsbury, Pensylvania. I stopped for the first time late last winter and was amazed by how absolutely beautiful every square inch of the shop is! Jenn's eye for design is evident in the evolving, seasonal displays she curates for the store, featuring unusual plants, preserved florals, and all manner of garden-inspired home and gift items. It’s like our very own miniature Terrain, here in York County!
In April, I asked Jenn if she would hang a flyer for the upcoming Spring Gathering. She asked me about the club and what I do, and after hearing my rambling attempt to describe my vocational pursuits, she offered her skills as a guest instructor if I ever needed one. At this point, I was leading all of the workshops for Cross Quarter Club's Midseason Gatherings, and the idea of having guest instructors wasn't even on my radar. However, with that offer, she planted a seed! A few weeks later, I asked if she would teach a dried wreath-making class at our Autumn Gathering, and she said yes! Spending more time with Jenn, and getting to meet her husband, Dave has confirmed they are just my kind of people. I’m thrilled to share a bit more about them, their business(es!), and the exciting changes ahead for them.
Tell us a little about your Shrewsbury storefront and how Muhly & Cedar came to be?
Muhly & Cedar originally began as a part-time seasonal business- selling holiday wreaths/loose greens table arrangements in late 2017. In 2018, I was laid off from my landscape consultation job. I dove head first into making the business my full-time job. I began selling plants and garden-related items at vendor events, barn sales, and shows. I was the plant/botanical vendor at Tumbleweeds for a few years and also did container design/installation for local businesses and residents. The storefront in Shrewsbury was a direct result of COVID-19. With restrictions in place for retail businesses, many people began closing their doors. Rosemary & Rust were the tenants prior to Muhly & Cedar on Main Street. I knew they were giving up the space, so I asked them if they could put in a good word to the landlord. Turns out, I already knew their landlord from previous participation and set up at the Shrewsbury Flower Show when I worked for John Shelley’s. I opened the doors there in mid-September of 2020.
How did you get into horticulture, and what has your path looked like leading up to this point?
I was a greenhouse worker in my teens. I moved to Colorado to study Forestry with the intention of becoming a park ranger or forester. The plant bug had already set in, so I moved back and began studying Horticulture and went back to greenhouse and landscape work while finishing my degree and have not looked back. I became a professionally licensed Horticulturist in 2001. I always had an interest in trees and shrubs, so in 2004, I began working as a nursery manager/Horticulturist at John Shelley’s Garden Center/Nursery in Winterstown. That’s where I met my now-husband, Dave who was the landscape foreman. It was kismet. We both loved plants and the outdoors, we had similar tastes in music and food and our value systems aligned perfectly. I have always told people in order to have a successful marriage/relationship, you must have one great unifying factor, and for us it was plants. We then both worked as landscape consultants for a few years in the same office, but for different environmental firms. Dave went back to landscape construction/design, working under his mentor Allan Miller of River Rock Landscape, shortly before I lost my job. I procure new clients, help with invoicing, and help with plant selection on occasion. Nearly 20 years later, we have decided that the time has come for the two businesses to operate together in one location, our new farm in Collinsville, PA.
What’s your favorite part about autumn as a shop owner & gardener?
Getting to create with so much great dried plant materials! And exposing the public to new plants and ways of using them! We collect Japanese Maples, so the seasonal color change is always a favorite. I also enjoy the fact that the pace in the garden becomes slower, there’s a great quiet beauty about the landscape in late fall and winter.
What’s the most challenging part?
The plant business is quite quirky sometimes. It can be hard knowing what people want from year to year. There are so many factors that dictate your success like trends, the economy, location, etc. As a gardener, it’s challenging sometimes to not have to perform any tasks like watering, deadheading, or harvesting. I feel like I have too much free time, but a garden is an ever evolving/ever-changing entity/life-force, so there is always something to do.
What’s something you’re working on this season that you’re excited about?
The farm! The landscape business is already operating there, but the goal is to move Muhly & Cedar (and us) to the Farm. I grew most of my crops for drying there this year, so we are working on expanding that, continuing to create the display gardens and planting some of our field crops like Winterberry and conifers that we are using for our cut greens that we sell by the pound and that I use in my wreath creations. We want to create an expanded space to hold our workshops and events.
Your arrangements and dried botanical wreaths work are so artistic and one of a kind. Where do you get your inspiration for making these pieces?
As a Horticulturist, I have had the great privilege to work with so much great plant material over my career. The plants have a way of directing me in their use. The natural world is a great place to learn from and mimic. Nature is artistic and that really is a big influence. I try to work with it, not against it.
We were thrilled to have you teach a dried wreath-making workshop at the Autumn Gathering, and you host a variety of classes at your shop and your Barn space. What sort of classes do you offer and where people can find more information?
For the upcoming Holidays, I have some asymmetrical wreath and container/table arrangement and door swag workshops, both at my shop in Shrewsbury and on the farm in Collinsville. I will also be having terrarium and dried wreath workshops over the winter. We will also debut our landscape series of workshops in the coming months! You can find more information about all of our upcoming events on Muhly & Cedar’s Facebook Page.
