The Roths are the power couple behind The Magnolia Company, a family business in Central Florida that specializes in magnolia farming and magnolia home decor. They\u2019ve been doing this for nearly twenty years now, and it\u2019s made them experts in their field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Roths always put their faith and family first, The Magnolia Company perpetually makes their short list of priorities. It\u2019s why they functionally become unreachable from late September through January each year – too many things to do on the farm! The Roths are, in fact, your (very) friendly neighborhood workaholics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when Julie answered her phone, the last thing she expected to hear from Matt was, \u201cHi honey, do you wanna go to Paris?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thinking he meant some time far into the future, or at least<\/em> next year, she nonchalantly replied, \u201cOf course!\u201d After all, who doesn\u2019t want to go to Paris?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay, I\u2019m booking it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The line clicked as Matt ended their 30-second call, and Julie went about her work day, not thinking much of it. Matt\u2019s the kind of guy who dreams big, so it\u2019s pretty normal to sporadically get spontaneous ideas from him – especially off-the-wall ideas. Those are his specialty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A short time later, Julie gets a text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOk, we leave in a week<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a complete perspective shift for me,\u201d says Julie after she\u2019s back into the swing of American normalcy at The Magnolia Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She intended to do something she\u2019s never done before: completely unplug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You would think that a couple of plant lovers whose entire business revolves around gardening would be the most unplugged people you\u2019ve ever met, but the demands of capitalism require phone calls, zoom calls, emails, web stats, spreadsheets, texts, and even social media. It\u2019s a necessary evil and a double edged sword. While Matt\u2019s in the greenhouses or crunching numbers, Julie\u2019s in meetings galore and handling nearly all of the communications in the business. Her phone? It\u2019s never far away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So when Julie says something radical and seemingly ludicrous, like \u201cI\u2019m going to completely unplug for the trip,\u201d you smile politely, commend her for her goal, and think to yourself, \u201cthat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shame on me for underestimating the formidable Mrs. Julie Roth!<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it\u2019s impossible in today\u2019s world to unplug cold turkey, especially in a foreign country or while you\u2019re traveling, Julie did, in fact, unplug completely from work. No emails, no texts, no work calls, no spreadsheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just Julie & Matt in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a chance to really connect with each other. The best takeaway surely was to completely step away from the hustle and bustle of life and the to-do\u2019s and the texts. It\u2019s completely different from American culture. Everything is done with meticulous intentionality.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n For Julie, the world became a vibrant new place. She felt like she really got to step into another life, even if just for a short time. Every detail, every meal, every step she took on those romantic Parisian streets revolved around beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the croissants, the cheese, and the wine, Paris offers a whole new perspective on how life could be if you just slow down. At first, there\u2019s so much to take in – the architecture alone is to die for!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few days wandering the streets like a pair of honeymooning lovebirds acclimated both Julie and Matt to the air fairly quickly, and then the little details started to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In America, everything is big, loud, and in your face. It\u2019s often overstimulating, but our nervous systems are so accustomed to all this sensory input at all hours that Americans don\u2019t notice it. Our culture is all about multitasking and maximizing profits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Success = getting it (whatever \u201cit\u201d is) all done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The French are, simply put, built different\u2026 Literally! Everything is smaller, from buildings to businesses to the meals you eat. Life is smaller, but it\u2019s not less. It\u2019s quieter. There\u2019s an air of pride in the French that you don\u2019t find in Americans. French folk have a reputation for being rude, but Julie has a different idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about beauty. Every little thing is done with intention, and the French experience that stillness for what it is: beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n People specialize in their crafts and trades. There\u2019s a magnificent sense of pride and purpose baked into the culture. People aren\u2019t trying to do more. They\u2019re trying to do with heart. Julie noticed this particularly in the way French architecture and design incorporates nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every restaurant had trees – entire trees! – outside its entrance.\u00a0 Every museum has a garden, manicured to abundance.\u00a0 Plants are everywhere, and the space feels inherently more green and alive than anything in America, where we\u2019re surrounded by city gray apartment complexes, strip malls, and highways.\u00a0 Even in areas where planting in the ground isn\u2019t feasible, potted plants are everywhere.\u00a0 Container gardening<\/a>, which is objectively smaller gardening, is abundant.\u00a0 Flowers, trees, even fruit trees line businesses and street corners like artforms of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julie said it perfectly as she recounted her experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When your life revolves around magnolias, it\u2019s impossible not to notice them everywhere you go. The French are quick to take note of beauty, so it\u2019s no surprise that this tree is a popular choice in Parisian landscaping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s more to the French connection here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Magnolias are not native to France. In fact, they\u2019re native primarily to Asian countries and islands. Southern Magnolias<\/a> (Julie & Matt\u2019s forte) are among the few species native to North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources vary on exactly how the magnolia made its way to France. Some say the Asian family of the tree was brought to France through trade first, and others credit the French botanist, Pierre Magnol, with bringing Southern Magnolias from Louisiana to France. Either way, the family of tree now gets its namesake from Pierre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pierre Magnol was a prominent 17th Century botanist, and today, we credit him with many significant developments to plant classification. The system by which we identify species, known as taxonomy, has a specific title and structure: binomial nomenclature, the genus-species combination we know as a scientific name. You probably learned about taxonomy in high school biology class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before taxonomy, it took a lot of effort to distinguish organisms from one another. Obviously, a sunflower isn\u2019t the same thing as a dandelion, but how do you know that one sunflower is the exact same species as another? And, since dandelions and sunflowers both have yellow blooms, could they be related?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Magnol\u2019s biggest contribution to the scientific community at the time was using morphological characteristics (appearance) of a plant to group plants into categories, or \u201cfamilies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, the Magnolia genus was officially named by Charles Plumier in Magnol\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leave it to the French to marry science with beauty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think what\u2019s interesting is to see that this mindset shift really was able to transcend, even when we came back to this life of work and family and all the demands,\u201d says Julie as she reflects on her trip. \u201cIt sounds so cheesy to just \u2018be mindful,\u2019 but to experience it really is a thing. Internally, I\u2019ve done such a reset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julie\u2019s life is all about multitasking. She raised four kids and worked full time. She still works full time, but now, she\u2019s doing it through a different lens. It\u2019s time to slow down, to stop and be present with every task instead of thinking about the next. The French take pride in what they do; everything is infused with passion. Without the ability to be present, you lose passion, and passion is truly at the heart of The Magnolia Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.themagnoliacompany.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/matt-julie-paris.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a>You, Me, and Paris (for 9 Days)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>She thought she could, and so she did.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>When you unplug, what do you tune in to?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.themagnoliacompany.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/paris-architecture-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>Planted by Design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.themagnoliacompany.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/paris-tree-container-768x1024.jpg\")
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<\/a>\u201cThe art and beauty of Paris isn\u2019t limited to the halls inside of museums. It\u2019s absolutely everywhere.\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Magnolias in Paris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Pierre Magnol<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.themagnoliacompany.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/paris-trees.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Souvenirs and Life Lessons from France<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>The Magnolia Mile – French Style<\/h3>\n\n\n\n