Ferndale’s Green Daffodil: Celebrating 10 Years “Above Ground”

07
AUGUST 2019
BY HONEY MURRAY
LBN Community Series
Ferndale
Kathy Petrucci of Royal Oak had been dreading an upcoming weekend trip to her family’s cottage near Lake Huron.

“I’ve got a 3-month-old baby,” she said, “and we like to be outdoors. But mosquitoes and bugs make it a challenge, especially since I have to be so wary of chemicals but still need an effective bug deterrent for our skin.”

“Luckily,” she continued, “through a friend, I learned about Green Daffodil and their all-natural bug spray with lemon-eucalyptus oil – which the C.D.C. says is as effective as D.E.E.T.!”

ANNE SIMONETTI & SIOUXSAN MILLER

OWNERS, GREEN DAFFODIL
“While there, I was also able to grab a perfect hostess gift: hand-made, cucumber-mint lip balm and soap, on a beautiful earthware dish – and a key lime pie lip balm for me.”

Located on the east side of Livernois, south of Nine Mile in Ferndale, the shop, its sidewalk lined with blooming plants and flowers, has free street parking, a welcoming table with a lit candle and sample bottle of silky, fragrant lotion and, inside, Green Daffodil’s amiable owners: Anne Simonetti and Siouxsan Miller.

While cheerily aproned Anne skillfully fills hundreds of tea light molds with golden, melted soy wax (wafting with summer’s very-popular Beach Breeze scent), Siouxsan shares some of the history of this cottage business that began in her basement in 2006 and has evolved into a renowned area gift shop and a wholesale provider to over 250 stores across the country.

“We started as neighbors who both have a retail and art background and have always loved good candles,” Siouxsan says. “We decided to make the best soy candle we possibly could, though now we have so many other items!”

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Originally, the owners say, they chose the location strictly as a place for product production and because they lived in Ferndale.

“But now that we were out of the basement and ‘above ground,’” Siouxsan says, “people wanted to come and shop. And even though we are not in downtown Ferndale, we definitely have evolved into a shopping destination.”

The store, bright with lime-green walls and floor-to-ceiling windows, is charmingly stocked with unique and affordable items from all over the country: one-of-a-kind wallets, purses, aprons, table linens, and greeting cards; tableware, jewelry, pottery, and novelty gifts.

But the heart of the business remains the creation of the soy candles, bar soaps, lip balms, lotions, room mists, and roll-on essential oils that “the Green Daffodil Girls” lovingly make in small, hand-poured batches.

“The ‘Green’ in our name is because all the products we make are ecofriendly, biodegradable, multi-purpose, and minimally packaged from recyclable and reusable materials,” Anne says. “And we chose ‘Daffodil’ because it’s cheery, a sign of rebirth, and the first flower of spring in Michigan.”

The shop now produces two lines of candles in additional to their original Green Daffodil brand.

 

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“When we were just starting,” Siouxsan said, “we created a fictitious founding mother – our own ‘Betty Crocker’ – and her husband, based on a vintage wedding photo we’d found, and we named them Wick and Rosemary Candleton, and added another branch of our candles.”

“My husband tends to use our ‘Wick & Rosie’ candles,” Anne shares. “They have certain blends that are more complex, and as they burn the scent is enriched.”

They’ve also developed vintage-style Top Shelf candles, inspired by cocktails and high-end liquors, with names like Mojito, Rum and Coke, Whiskey Sour.

“All of our candles have lead-free, cotton wicks and are made with 100% American, non-GMO soy wax,” Anne explained. “And our products’ scents are body-safe essential oils and phthalate-free fragrance oils.”

“The fragrances are pure and true,” Siouxsan adds. “If it says ‘lemon verbena,’ it smells like lemon verbena. And lilac smells exactly like the bush that blooms in your yard.”

Customers are always delighted with the product selection, which changes seasonally.

 

“This summer, people have loved our Michigan line of product scents: Mackinac Island Fudge, Sleeping Bear Dunes Breeze, Traverse City Cherry.”

“And this fall, we’ll be re-starting our Candle Pour Parties,” Anne says, “for socializing with your own food and drinks and making your own soy candle to celebrate a birthday, a shower, a bachelorette party, or just a girls’ night out.”

“Another fun thing we have,” says Siouxsan, “is our ‘recipe box registry,’ where people can note a store item they’d love to receive as a gift.”

“We have customers who say, ’I don’t need to use the registry. Anything that I received from here, I would love!’ “

“And that’s when Anne and I know we’ve really done our job.”

624 Livernois
Ferndale, MI  48220
248-547-4172
greendaffodil.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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