Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Frescoln.
Hi Hunter, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always had a passion for creating beautiful, fully functional spaces. Before Trendy Gardener, that passion begun with my career in kitchen and bath design, spacial planning, custom cabinetry, natural stone, material selections, and the details that make a space feel both elevated and livable.
During COVID, that passion began to take on a new direction. After moving to Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, for a role as Head of Residential Design, I was tasked with taking over a new showroom and building a residential design department from the ground up. I settled into a historic Garment District loft with stunning arched windows, marble floors, a grand staircase, late-19th-century original woodwork, and soaring 27-foot ceilings. The space already had incredible character, but as I began filling its large, open rooms with rare and unusual plants, I saw how nature could shift the feeling of a space in a way no finish, fixture, or furnishing could. What started as a personal way to soften my environment quickly became something more. Plants climbed shelves, trailed across windowsills, filled corners, and became sculptural focal points throughout the loft. As I purchased, propagated, and grew more than the space could hold, I began selling plants online and in person. The response was immediate. People connected with the beauty, creativity, and sense of calm that came from sharing interesting ways of using plants as interior design elements to finish a space.
That early momentum became Trendy Gardener, LLC, officially founded in July 2021. At the time, I was still working 50 to 60 hours a week in kitchen and bath design while building the business during evenings and weekends. Eventually, I realized my passion was not simply sourcing and selling plants. It was designing with them. That realization shaped Trendy Gardener into the biophilic design studio it is today. We now create elevated, nature-connected environments for homes, workplaces, hospitality spaces, wellness destinations, and public settings through living walls, preserved moss walls, sculptural plantscapes, botanical installations, and ongoing plant care concierge services. Rooted in craftsmanship, design strategy, and a lasting connection to nature, Trendy Gardener collaborates with homeowners, developers, architects, designers, businesses, and brands to create spaces where nature is not treated as an accessory, but as an intentional part of the environment.
For me, Trendy Gardener has never been about simply placing plants in rooms or selling plants in a shop. It is about creating living environments where nature and design exist in harmony—spaces that feel intentional, restorative, and deeply connected to the people who live, work, gather, and grow within them.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not always been a smooth road. But in many ways, the most challenging seasons are what helped shape Trendy Gardener into the business it is today.
Building a business has taught me that growth rarely happens in a straight line. It requires flexibility, discernment, resilience, and the willingness to keep refining your approach as you learn. In the beginning, one of the biggest challenges was balancing ambition with capacity. I was still working full time while also managing sales, sourcing, client communication, social media, inventory, fulfillment, and the growing momentum of Trendy Gardener. That season required a tremendous amount of energy, but it also taught me the importance of structure, consistency, and follow-through when a business begins to grow.
As Trendy Gardener expanded, I had to learn how to evolve with it. What began as an online plant business grew into a retail location and eventually became something much more design-driven and full-service. The retail chapter taught me a great deal about community, operations, customer experience, and how deeply people can connect with plants—and with one another—when they are in the right environment. It also helped clarify where my strongest work truly lived. Over time, I realized that Trendy Gardener was never meant to be defined only by selling plants. The deeper value was in designing with them—using natural elements to shape how a space looks, functions, and feels.
Another important lesson was learning how essential alignment is within a growing business. As Trendy Gardener evolved, I had to make thoughtful decisions about the people, partnerships, and structures that could best support the company long term. That season taught me that a strong business requires shared vision, clear communication, mutual trust, and standards that are consistently upheld. It was not an easy lesson, but it was an important one. It helped me become more intentional about leadership, boundaries, and protecting the client experience. It also clarified the kind of team, collaborators, and partnerships that truly belong within the future of Trendy Gardener.
There have also been the practical challenges that come with building a custom, service-based business: cash flow, sourcing, logistics, pricing, educating clients, managing expectations, and creating systems that allow creativity and operations to work together. The finished spaces may feel calm and effortless, but behind every project is a significant amount of planning, coordination, and problem-solving. Many of the systems we rely on today were built during seasons that felt anything but smooth. The rough patches forced us to become more organized, more intentional, and more disciplined about how we deliver our work.
The biggest lesson has been that growth often requires refinement. Not every opportunity is the right opportunity. Not every project supports the long-term vision. Learning when to say yes—and when to say no—has been essential to building a stronger, more focused company. Today, Trendy Gardener is better because of those challenges. They sharpened the vision, strengthened the standards, and helped shape the business into a design-led studio rooted in thoughtful, elevated, nature-connected spaces. So no, it has not been a smooth road. But every difficult season has helped build both myself and the business with more clarity, discipline, and purpose.
As you know, we’re big fans of Trendy Gardener . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Trendy Gardener is a biophilic design studio creating elevated, nature-connected interiors for homes, workplaces, hospitality environments, wellness spaces, and public-facing commercial settings. We specialize in interior plantscapes, preserved moss walls, living botanical installations, plant leasing, seasonal installations, and professional plant care. Our work is rooted in the belief that nature should be designed into a space with the same intention as architecture, lighting, furnishings, and finishes—not added as an afterthought.
What sets Trendy Gardener apart is our design-first approach. We do not simply place plants into rooms. We consider scale, proportion, light, traffic flow, materiality, vessel selection, maintenance expectations, and the emotional tone of the space. Every plant, planter, moss wall, and botanical detail is selected to support the client’s environment, brand, lifestyle, and long-term goals. My background in interior design, kitchen and bath design, custom cabinetry, natural stone, and detailed space planning gives Trendy Gardener a different perspective than a traditional plant company. We approach greenery as part of the built environment. A plant installation should feel integrated, architectural, and resolved—not generic, temporary, or disconnected from the rest of the design. We are especially known for refined interior plantscapes using structural plants, curated vessels, and artisan materials such as terracotta, limestone, marble, stone, concrete, and semi-custom fiberglass planters. These elements allow us to create installations that feel collected, sculptural, and tailored to the space.
Our preserved moss walls and botanical features are another signature offering. They provide a sophisticated way to introduce organic texture, depth, and visual impact in spaces where a low-maintenance natural feature is the right solution. They work beautifully in offices, restaurants, reception areas, wellness environments, hospitality spaces, stairwells, private residences, and branded commercial interiors. A major part of our value is that we support projects beyond installation. Through our ongoing plant care and maintenance programs, we help clients protect their investment and keep their spaces polished, healthy, and intentional over time. Our process is built around the full experience—from concept to care.
Brand-wise, I am most proud that Trendy Gardener has evolved with clarity. What began as a personal passion for plants and interiors has grown into a design-driven studio with a distinct point of view: nature belongs inside the spaces where people live, work, gather, recover, and connect. I want readers to know that Trendy Gardener is for people and businesses who want more than greenery. We create environments that feel grounded, beautiful, memorable, and alive. Our work is visually impactful, but it is also strategic. It supports how a space looks, how it functions, and how people feel when they walk into it.
At its core, Trendy Gardener is about living design—from concept to care.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My biggest advice is to be patient, but not passive. Building something meaningful takes time, but time alone does not build a business. Consistency, discipline, self-awareness, and the ability to make clear decisions under pressure matter just as much as passion.
First, learn the difference between opportunity and alignment. When you are starting out, every “yes” can feel like progress, but not every client, partnership, project, or idea will move you closer to the business you actually want to build. Some opportunities create momentum, while others create distraction. The sooner you learn to make decisions through the lens of long-term fit, the stronger your business becomes.
Second, build around value, not validation. Trends, attention, and momentum can be useful, but they are not a foundation. Real trust is built by solving problems, delivering quality, following through, and creating something that genuinely improves the client or customer experience. Rejection and failure are part of that process. A “no” can clarify your audience, refine your offer, and redirect your energy toward better-fit opportunities.
Third, do not be afraid to evolve. The version of the business you start with may not be the version you are meant to lead long term. Growth often requires refinement. You may have to outgrow an offer, a model, a partnership, a space, or even an identity that once made sense. That does not mean you failed. It means you are paying attention.
Keep moving, keep learning, and keep raising your standards. The goal is not to avoid difficulty. The goal is to become clear enough, disciplined enough, and resilient enough to build something that lasts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Trendygardenclub.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trendygardener
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetrendygardener
