Fans who remember walking into Ferny’s: The Retro Plant Shop at Magnolia Market at the Silos may have noticed that the leafy little boutique is no longer there. The changean entire cactus store behind a stack of shiplap. Ferny’s closed in August 2024, and its cottage at the Shops at the Silos was transformed into The Art of Entertaining, a retail concept centered on tabletop pieces, linens, serving ware, and the pleasures of hosting at home. switch felt surprisingly emotional because Ferny’s was not simply another place to buy a planter. It was a personal project created by Mary Kay “Mikey” McCall, Joanna Gaines’s younger sister, and it had a personality distinct from Magnolia’s better-known neutral farmhouse look. Its mix of living plants, vintage finds, colorful pots, and midcentury details made the shop feel like the cheerful apartment of a friend who owns 47 houseplants and knows every one by name.
So why was the Magnolia Silos plant shop replaced, what took its place, and can visitors still find plant-inspired experiences in Waco? Here is the full story, including what the change says about Magnolia’s evolving retail strategy and what travelers should expect when they visit today.
What Happened to Ferny’s at the Magnolia Silos?
Ferny’s officially closed in August 2024 after operating as a dedicated shop at the Silos for a little more than two years. McCall described the decision as recognizing that seasons change and that it was time to lay down one dream after having the opportunity to pursue it. Coverage of the closure emphasized her desire to give more attention to family life rather than suggesting that the store disappeared because of a dramatic business failure. distinction matters. Ferny’s was deeply tied to McCall’s personal story. She is a mother of six, and the plant shop grew from a hobby that had once been a calming, restorative part of her daily life. Closing the physical store did not erase the value of the project. In many ways, it completed a chapter: she dreamed about the concept, tested it, built it with her sister’s support, and allowed her children to see her take a creative risk. ny’s Started as a Small Pop-Up
The shop’s roots reached back to 2021, when Ferny’s appeared as a pop-up experience connected with Magnolia’s Silobration event. The concept blended McCall’s enthusiasm for plants with her love of vintage objects and retro design. Following the early response, Ferny’s became a permanent presence at the Shops at the Silos in 2022. olia later highlighted the finished space in 2023, explaining that Joanna Gaines encouraged her sister to shape the store according to her own taste. McCall drew from midcentury interiors, nostalgic furnishings, and the relaxed style of her home. The result stood apart from the white-oak-and-cream expectations some visitors brought to Magnolia. Ferny’s had earthy greens, mustard yellows, soft pinks, brown wood tones, quirky accessories, and enough personality to make beige nervous. Visitors Became Attached to It
Ferny’s offered more than rows of generic houseplants under fluorescent lights. The shop treated plants as characters in a home. Some were given human names, while vintage-inspired planters, stained-glass plant decorations, retro stands, and unusual containers turned ordinary greenery into a design feature. playful presentation made the shop accessible to people who did not consider themselves gardeners. A visitor could admire a cactus, pick up a colorful pot, learn a basic care tip, and leave feeling as though plant ownership might be possible after all. Ferny’s was especially appealing because it made imperfection part of the story. McCall openly discussed having killed plants before she gradually learned how to care for them. In other words, the store did not require customers to arrive with a horticulture degree and a misting schedule laminated in their purse. t Replaced the Magnolia Silos Plant Shop?
The former Ferny’s space became The Art of Entertaining. Magnolia describes the shop as a place where visitors can experiment with layered table settings and browse products for intentional gatherings. Its assortment includes plates, bowls, linens, napkin rings, serving pieces, flatware, glassware, and other tabletop essentials. f August 2026, Magnolia still lists The Art of Entertaining as one of the six boutique-style Shops at the Silos. This confirms that the replacement was not merely a weekend installation. It became part of the official shopping lineup alongside concepts focused on souvenirs, beauty and relaxation, accessories, flowers, and Chip Gaines-inspired modern and retro goods. New Concept Is Designed as an Experience
The Art of Entertaining is not presented as a conventional kitchenware aisle. The idea is to let shoppers see how colors, shapes, textures, and materials can work together on a table. A scalloped plate might be paired with woven placemats, polished flatware, cloth napkins, or a decorative centerpiece. Instead of simply buying a bowl, guests are encouraged to imagine the dinner, birthday brunch, holiday gathering, or Tuesday-night pasta emergency in which that bowl might appear. This experiential format fits Magnolia’s broader approach to retail. The Silos are designed to make products feel like part of a lifestyle rather than isolated objects on shelves. Visitors move through styled spaces, gardens, food destinations, workshops, and themed boutiques. The retail lesson is straightforward: a plate becomes more tempting when it is sitting on a table that looks ready for people you actually enjoy. Magnolia has always treated the Shops at the Silos as flexible concepts. The six cottages were inspired by intimate New York City storefronts, with each space built around a focused theme. That structure makes it easier for the company to refresh a shop when a founder’s priorities change, a product category expands, or a new design idea deserves room to breathe. ting Is a Natural Extension of the Magnolia Brand
Food, hospitality, and gathering have long been central to Magnolia. The company operates a bakery, coffee shop, restaurant, cookbooks, kitchen collections, and tableware lines. A store devoted to entertaining connects those pieces in a highly visual way. It also gives visitors a practical reason to buy coordinated products rather than one decorative object that returns home and immediately begins arguing with everything else in the cupboard. The replacement also reflects Joanna Gaines’s recurring message that home is not only about how a room looks but about what happens inside it. Table settings, serving pieces, and linens support meals and celebrations. From a brand perspective, The Art of Entertaining turns the abstract idea of hospitality into a shop visitors can walk through and recreate at home. Magnolia has not publicly framed inventory logistics as the reason for the change, so this point should be understood as retail analysis rather than an official explanation. Even so, live plants require specialized care, climate management, frequent quality checks, and a plan for items that do not remain sale-ready. Tableware and linens have a longer shelf life, can be displayed in repeatable combinations, and are easier to sell both in person and online. That does not mean plants were a bad business. It means a hosting-focused concept may integrate more smoothly with Magnolia’s national e-commerce operation and existing home collections. A ceramic serving platter can wait patiently for a customer. A fern, on the other hand, may respond to retail uncertainty by becoming a brown lace doily. The dedicated Ferny’s storefront is gone from the Shops at the Silos, but the brand’s influence has not vanished entirely. When the closure was announced, shoppers were told that selected Ferny’s products would remain available inside Magnolia Market’s grain barn. Magnolia also continues to maintain an online Ferny’s collection featuring retro-inspired planters, plant stands, and accessories curated in the spirit of McCall’s original concept. lability can change, especially with older collections, so visitors should not assume every product seen in past photos will still be waiting in Waco. The safest expectation is that Ferny’s survives as a smaller product story rather than a complete physical shop experience. Plant lovers have not been banished from the Silos with nothing but a dinner plate for comfort. Magnolia introduced The Flower Shoppe in February 2025, filling another boutique with faux florals, vases, pots, floral design books, bouquet-making inspiration, and a wrapping station. The concept leans more toward decorative arranging than live-houseplant care, but it preserves the pleasure of browsing blooms in a highly styled space. olia also added a Seed Bar inside Magnolia Market’s grain barn for spring 2025. Guests could create custom flower-seed mixes using varieties connected to Joanna’s garden and the Silos grounds. These additions show that the company did not abandon gardening. Instead, it redistributed the theme across floral decor, seasonal activities, seeds, outdoor gardens, and selected merchandise. t the Change Means for Magnolia Fans
For longtime Ferny’s fans, the replacement is bittersweet. A shop with a personal backstory and a distinctive visual identity cannot be perfectly duplicated by a new retail concept. People who connected with McCall’s story may miss the sense that they were visiting her creative world rather than a broader Magnolia category. At the same time, replacing the Magnolia Silos plant shop does not automatically mean the new store lacks charm. The Art of Entertaining gives visitors a hands-on way to think about color, layering, and hospitality. It is less about nurturing a windowsill jungle and more about building a table that says, “Please stay for dessert,” even when dessert is grocery-store cookies transferred to a suspiciously beautiful platter. The change also serves as a reminder that the Shops at the Silos are not a museum frozen at the moment a favorite television episode aired. Magnolia updates displays, rotates concepts, launches seasonal experiences, and reshapes spaces as the brand evolves. Anyone planning a return trip should expect familiar architecture with some new stories inside. Imagine arriving at the Silos with an old photo of Ferny’s saved on your phone. You remember the retro colors, hanging greenery, compact displays, and rows of planters. When you reach the boutique cottages, the storefront is still inviting, but the mood inside has changed. Instead of leaves at shoulder height and cacti waiting to test your reflexes, the visual focus is a layered dining table. The first noticeable difference is rhythm. A plant shop naturally feels organic and slightly unpredictable. Leaves extend into walkways, shapes vary from one pot to the next, and the inventory changes as living plants grow or sell. The Art of Entertaining feels more composed. Repeating stacks of plates, folded linens, arranged glassware, and carefully placed serving pieces create a cleaner sequence for the eye. Visitors are likely to move around the displays by imagining combinations: this bowl with that napkin, those glasses beside a textured runner, or that vase in the center. The experience can be especially useful for shoppers who struggle to build a coordinated table at home. A styled boutique removes some of the guesswork. Rather than staring at a shelf of 20 plates and quietly questioning every decision since breakfast, guests can see finished groupings and borrow the formula. One practical approach is to choose a neutral foundation, add a patterned or sculptural piece, and finish with texture through linen, wood, woven fibers, or metal. The goal is not to copy every detail. It is to notice why the display works and adapt that logic to the dishes already sitting at home. Visitors who came mainly for plants should plan a broader route through the property. Start with the gardens, where the landscaping still provides the living greenery that defined part of Ferny’s appeal. Then look for plant accessories and remaining Ferny’s-inspired goods in Magnolia Market. Continue to The Flower Shoppe for faux stems, floral vessels, and arranging ideas. Seasonal workshops or seed-related activities may add another gardening connection, although offerings can change throughout the year. Checking Magnolia’s current event schedule before visiting can prevent the disappointment of arriving one week after the activity that seemed designed specifically for your Pinterest board. The emotional experience may depend on whether this is a first visit or a return trip. New guests will encounter The Art of Entertaining without feeling that something is missing. Returning visitors may compare every corner with the old shop. That is normal. Retail spaces can carry memories, especially when they are tied to a family story and a television series that invited viewers behind the scenes. A useful way to approach the replacement is to treat it as a new chapter rather than a substitute expected to imitate Ferny’s. The Art of Entertaining succeeds on different terms. Its best moments come from showing how everyday objects can create a sense of occasion. Ferny’s encouraged visitors to nurture something living; the new shop encourages them to gather people around a table. Both ideas are rooted in care, even though one requires watering and the other requires remembering which fork goes where. Travelers should also allow enough time to explore beyond the six boutique cottages. Magnolia Market at the Silos covers a much larger experience that includes the main market, Magnolia Home, Silos Baking Co., Magnolia Press, food trucks, gardens, open gathering spaces, and seasonal events. The specialty shops are only one part of the property’s appeal. re traveling, visitors should review Magnolia’s current shop listings and event calendar because store concepts, seasonal installations, workshops, and product availability can change. The Silos remain a multi-stop shopping, food, garden, and gathering destination, so the replacement of one boutique does not define the entire visit. It simply changes one stop on the route. The Magnolia Silos plant shop was replaced because Ferny’s creator, Mikey McCall, chose to close the physical store as her season of life changed. The closure took place in August 2024, and Magnolia converted the space into The Art of Entertaining, a tabletop and hosting concept that remains part of the current Silos lineup. Ferny’s is missed because it was colorful, personal, and unusually welcoming to imperfect plant owners. Yet its spirit has not disappeared completely. Selected retro plant products remain connected to Magnolia’s broader assortment, while The Flower Shoppe, the Seed Bar, and the gardens keep floral and gardening ideas present across the property. For visitors, the best response is not to expect The Art of Entertaining to behave like Ferny’s wearing a new apron. It is a different experience with a different purpose. One shop celebrated the quiet satisfaction of helping a plant grow. The other celebrates the noisy satisfaction of feeding people and hoping nobody spills gravy on the linen runner. At Magnolia, apparently, every season gets its own centerpiece. Note: This article reflects publicly available information verified through August 4, 2026. Magnolia’s store concepts, product availability, events, and visitor details may change.Why the Replacement Makes Sense for Magnolia
Tabletop Goods Are Easier to Standardize Than Live Plants
Is Ferny’s Completely Gone?
Magnolia Still Offers Floral and Garden-Inspired Attractions
A Visitor’s Experience After Ferny’s: What to Expect
Conclusion
