Redondo’s Magical Blooms florist in ‘Full Bloom’ on HBO Max
by Erin Waldner
Jenny Barker, owner of Magical Blooms in Redondo Beach, was teaching a live floral design class on Instagram when she asked her viewers to write down a secret they have.
She had a secret of her own.
“I’m ready to get back on TV and just own it,” she disclosed to her students
In the past, Barker, 41, of Palos Verdes, lent her talent for arranging flowers to “Live Like a Star,” in which a team of experts treat regular people like celebrities, and TLC’s “For Better or Worse,” in which engaged couples relinquish control of their weddings to friends and family.
Other shows she worked on included “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty” and “Brothers & Sisters.”
“I stopped because I wanted to be known for my heart,” Barker said.
Less than six months after Barker disclosed she was ready to return to TV, she was invited to be a contestant on Season 2 of “Full Bloom,” a floral design competition on HBO Max.
“Thousands of people auditioned for this show,” Barker said. “They came to me.”
The show begins streaming Thursday, June 10. Barker is the only contestant from California.
Filming took place for a month at the Hummingbird Nest Ranch, an expansive event venue in Simi Valley.
Because of the pandemic, Barker had to live in a hotel and was not allowed to visit her shop and check on work. Plus, the single mom could not see her 9-year-old son.
“That alone was a hard thing to do,” she said.
The contestants were tested every day. Plus, they worked 15 hour-days and found themselves in some extreme design challenges.
Barker grew up in Redondo Beach and graduated from Redondo Union High School in 1998. A year later, she dropped out of college, where she had been studying landscape architecture.
“I had $500 on me, and I started Magical Blooms,” she said.
She has been drawn to flowers since she was young. As a little girl, she used to cut flowers from her family’s garden and make sure every room in the house had a flower in it.
Barker said she has always been able to feel the energy flowers possess.
“I’m known as the flower doctor,” Barker said. A student once told her, “You prescribe flowers.”
Hence the name of her flower delivery service: The Flower Prescription.
Barker described her design style as funky and eclectic, “a little out there, but not offensive. A good offensive.”
She is excited for Season 2 of “Full Bloom” to air.
“It’s an honor,” she said. “I feel so respected.”
Her next goal is to produce and co-host a travel show that will highlight the medicinal power of flowers. ER