Growing her passion: Peyton Lamps discovered her love of plants at a young age

Some people spend their whole lives without discovering what their true passion is. Peyton Lamps stumbled upon her calling at a young age and hasn’t looked back since.

“I’ve always loved plants since I was a young girl,” she said.

When she was 13 years old, she got a part-time job watering plants at a greenhouse.

“It was the best thing ever,” Lamps, now 25 years old, said.

During her senior year of high school, she started selling stuff on Facebook marketplace. She studied horticulture and floral design at Kishwaukee College. From there, she gained traction and opened her own shop when she was just 20 years old. Her shop, Petals by Peyton, is on First Street in La Salle.

Petals by Peyton recently celebrated its fifth year in business – a milestone many small businesses never reach. She opened her shop in November of 2019, shortly before the Covid pandemic hit.

Fortunately, plants were something people embraced and wanted during the pandemic, so her shop did well.

“I did Facebook live sales. It was insane,” she said.

She’s been amazed at all the community support she’s received.

“I’ve built something here,” she said. “Everything has been a learning curve.”

Lamps has found that owning a business means she doesn’t get her hands in the dirt as often as she’d like because there are a lot of duties to oversee and complete. All the paperwork and record-keeping involved with being a business owner needs to be completed, which cuts into her favorite part of owning her business – directly working with plants.

Her shop has plenty of sideline items for those who want to buy more than plants. She has cups, candles, signs, and more.

Visitors to her shop will immediately be drawn in by the variety of plants she has. There are big ones and small ones that can fit into any budget.

People who worry they don’t have the proper light in their homes to grow plants or say they even manage to kill succulents will find plenty of support at Petals by Peyton. She can find the right type of plant for every customer.

“There’s a plant for everyone,” she said. “We have plenty of low-light plants.”

One segment of her business that Lamps spends a lot of time on is workshops.

“I do tons of workshops,” she said, adding that she had 86 workshops last year, such as Southwest cactus gardens, terrariums, and more.

Lamps spends a lot of time each week – often 50 to 60 hours – working at her shop or dreaming up new ideas.

“Definitely the more effort and work you put in, the more success you’ll see. It’s a go-go-go industry. But it’s so fun,” she said. “It’s my baby.”