Petals Azola

Petals Azola, a florist and boutique located at 1907 Cedar Street in McKenzie, opened in November of 2022.

Angela Diller and her daughter Kaylynn Legg are co-owners of the small business. They spoke to The Banner about their creative roots and planting those roots here in McKenzie.

Angela is a Jackson native. She and her husband, Cliff, raised their family mostly in Parsons after living in McKenzie for a brief time.

She started in the floral world in Parsons about ten years ago. A job hunt led her to Cleda Newberry at The Flower Basket. Angela told The Banner, “She gave me a chance, brought me in. I learned a lot, mostly from watching.”

The family moved back to McKenzie about six years ago. Angela then worked for City Florist for close to a year. “I love them [Michele and the late David Jarrett]. I loved working with them.”

Angela then went to work at Boxwood and Blooms in Milan, owned by McKenzie native and fellow City Florist alum Cody Jarrett, for about three years. During that time, Angela brought Kaylynn, then in her late teens, on to train in the business.

Angela said owning her own shop was, “a dream of mine I did not think was possible, honestly.”

But she received encouragement from Kaylynn’s husband, Andrew, and finally decided to go for it.

“When we started looking into it and praying about it, God started opening the doors and laying everything out so easily. Anything we needed, if we had a little hiccup, we’d pray about it and He’d take care of it. It was really God’s hand.”

At the time, Milan was quite a drive. Angela was still homeschooling her children (they now attend public schools), so it wasn’t ideal.

But mostly, Angela said, “I wanted to put roots down here. I have no intention of leaving. I wanted to connect to the town. I am a people person, a social butterfly. I never had that opportunity as a stay-at-home, homeschool mom.

“We’ve had the opportunity to do that here and meet lots of people. I actually feel connected to a community. I’ve never had that up until being in McKenzie. I can be out in town and see a customer and they’ll come up and hug me. I love that. It caught me off guard the first time, but it made me happy. Or when I pull up to Brummit[-McKenzie Funeral Home] and they say, ‘there’s my girl.’ I love that, to feel that connection with the people.”

Angela explained what drew her to the floral business. “I’ve always been very creative, all my girls are very creative, I’ve passed that down to them. My dad was a jack-of-all-trades. He did everything, electric, plumbing, all the things. Part of that I think I’ve gotten from him, but in a different aspect, because I’ve always been very creative, can draw, put things together, fix things, troubleshoot, come up with solutions.”

Kaylynn chimed in to add, “Design has always been part of my mom’s character.” She recalled being involved in creative endeavors (like making headbands) with her mother from a young age.

She spoke about her mother’s influence on her own creativity. “My mom has always given me room to grow. She raised me with a lot of grace and love. She never made me feel like her floor was my ceiling. Her ceiling was my floor. She wanted me to go above and beyond her.

She allowed me to learn for myself, find my own design. I find a lot of joy and fulfillment in a simple task like making bows or floral arrangements. She taught me, but she never told me it had to be her way. She allowed me to grow and create my own style.

“My mom has always been somebody I’ve been very proud of and could look up to. She’s always been herself. She’s always been ahead of the trend. I’m my own person, and she’s taught me to be true to myself. But I do want to follow in her footsteps. I love creating things. That is what the Lord has given me.

“I probably won’t start my own florist, that’s not really me, but there are so many ways [I want to follow], the way she loves people and connects with people.”

Kaylynn is cultivating a budding passion of her own in photography. “If she had never opened this, I would have never believed I could do that. She’s gone after her dream, and she’s encouraged me to go after mine.”

Petals Azola, besides the boutique, floral arrangements and giftware, offers something you might not find in a typical florist. Angela said, “We do a lot of custom work. People come in with a vision, and they let us create what they want. That’s probably one of our strongest points.”

She offered the example of a couple getting married that wanted the bride’s bouquet to incorporate the state flowers from where they were each from as well as where they met.

Kaylynn added, “If the customer has a vision, we want that to be met with quality and excellence.”

Angela said, “I feel like we go the extra mile,” and she explained the importance of that mindset.

“I was told on the front end that McKenzie could be hard on small businesses. Especially me coming in as an outsider, I didn’t grow up in McKenzie. At that time I didn’t have kids in McKenzie schools. It has taken us time; it has not come easy.

“We really had to get in there and work for it, but we have some of the best customers. They’re so good to us. And there have been other trying things, but overall I feel like McKenzie has welcomed us and loved us and accepted us.”

A florist is in the unique and profound position of serving customers on days that can be their most joyful or days of tremendous grief, making customer service and quality even more important.

Angela said, “It means a great deal to me. When I do funeral work, it’s a ministry to me. To me, this is the last thing I can do for this family to honor their loved one, and I want to do it with excellence. I want it to be the best for them.”

Kaylynn added, “We are here for people on their best days and their worst. Across that counter, we’ve had people come to us and we were among the first people that they’ve told that they’re expecting, told us they were engaged or shared with us an unexpected loss. We’ve cried, we’ve laughed, we’ve smiled. Honestly, it’s a lot more to us than us just putting flowers together. We feel the heartbeat across the counter. It means a lot to us that customers come to us in such a vulnerable state, whether it’s in a happy kind of way or a sad kind of way.”

Fittingly, but not necessarily intentionally, the very name of the business adds to that sentiment. The word “azola” comes from the Xhosa language and roughly translates to “to bring peace and calmness.”

Kaylynn said, “We want people to be able to come through these doors and feel the love of the Lord, His peace and calmness coming out of us.”

Angela gave the back story behind the name. “My brother wanted to name me Pebbles. My mom told me that as a teenager, and I loved it. I was going to name my first daughter Pebbles, and I came up with the middle name Azola. I had no idea at that time that it meant what it meant. Then I grew up and realized it wasn’t a great idea. [At this point, Kaylynn, the oldest daughter, expresses her relief with a laugh.] My sister came up with Petals Azola as a take on that. Then when we saw the meaning of ‘azola’, that was it.”

Angela’s other two daughters, Cali, 14, and Ava, 12, are dipping their toes into the floral world as well, earning praise from mom and older sister alike. (Angela also has two sons, Nate, 21, and Clye, 16.)

Petals Azola is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Outside of those hours, the business can be reached on Facebook messenger.

Future plans for the business include offering classes in the evenings, beginning with wreath classes. If interest is good, Angela and Kaylynn will look to expand on that with other offerings.