06/14/2026
It’s with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of our founder and owner, Budd Penning. If you’ve ever stopped in to shop with us, you probably have seen Budd wandering the gardens, drinking a hot cocoa in the coffee bar, and pointing out the one plant we missed during the daily watering.
The vision for Dragonfly Gardens started with Budd’s lifelong passion for plants and landscaping and was a dream that he passed down to his kids. Vintage Inspired followed a few years later, mostly as a place to house many of the vintage and antique finds that Budd loved to collect.
Budd created many of the displays that you see throughout the stores today, from planning to building to planting and every step in between, he truly loved what he did, and that love shows throughout the stores. In his free time (when he wasn’t coaching soccer), Budd would travel with his wife, Gayle, to garden centers, flea markets, and antiques shops to find new treasures and inspiration to bring back to us.
We will miss seeing his white truck pull into the parking lot, hearing his next plan for a remodel, and the “hard time” he liked to give all of us here (which was his way of showing that he cared). Next time you are in, please grab a hot cocoa in his honor, and be sure to wander through the wooded browsing garden, which we are now naming the Budd Penning Memorial Garden. While we will miss him dearly, his legacy lives on with all that he has created and the lasting impact he has left on us all.
