Fall Display that I created with my co-workers, near the front so customers could see a display of several of our fall products, arranged nicely.
Image Credit: Arianna Dell
Sitting right on the street corner two minutes from my house was a small flower/produce stand I had always wanted to work at in Davidsonville, Maryland, known as Sunset Gardens. I am Arianna Dell, and two years ago I walked in for an application and received a call back saying I got the job in March of 2024. This allowed me to transform it into a more extensive internship this summer, where I was able to develop previous skills and take on more leadership roles and responsibilities. My day-to-day consisted of tasks including working the register, unloading plant deliveries, and organizing and sorting through plants and produce. I was primarily responsible for taking inventory of plant deliveries, using this information to make barcode labels with the correct pricing for each variety, and distributing them to coworkers. This helped me become a lot more organized due to having to keep count of the correct number of varieties that needed pricing, while multitasking and helping run the register and assist customers simultaneously.
Along with these management responsibilities, I also developed several skills revolving around general organization and making decisions on design choices for purposeful placement of popular items to make more sales. Working with coworkers to decide what products should be up front or in certain placements for all of our products has been very important in making sales and the success of the business as a whole. Greenhouse organization has also been crucial by making it easily accessible for customers to know proper sunlight quantities for each plant, along with grouping similar structured plants with one another that can be used for the same purpose. I was also trained to operate our loader, which is used for loading large amounts of mulch, primarily for contractors and bigger projects.
As I spent more time there, some of my favorite parts were being able to meet so many new people and help them with choosing the best-fitting flowers for their gardens. It also led me to feel very helpful by just having increased knowledge in areas regarding proper watering techniques and methods to help facilitate more growth and success with these plants. Being here so often also helped me build stronger relationships with my co-workers, while also learning from one another as well. We would all bond over everything relating to the nature around us, whether that was watching baby birds grow above our register, or discovering Luna moths for the first time. This experience has helped reinforce my interest in Environmental Science and Policy in several different ways through just being outdoors all the time and learning more about these plants around me. Based on my experiences and likely future ones with this business, I am positive that I want to pursue a career involving the preservation of these plants and animals involved in our ecosystems, to maintain both food stability and a healthy, balanced environment in our world.
