Allow me to introduce myself...
I grew up in Lexington, KY & spent my childhood planting beans in my grandfather’s garden and breaking beans with my grandma on their carport. Every weekend I was visiting barn cats and roaming around my other grandparents' horse farm. Always returning to my parents dirty, scraped up, and soaked with pond water.
My parents still live in the same house my dad grew up in. Like my dad, I grew up playing in the woods behind our house, walking in the creek, hunting for crawdads, newts, and snakes.
I have a BS in Horticulture Enterprise management and Plant and Soil Science. My niece calls me a Flower Scientist. Basically, my dream is to run a big greenhouse with lots of cut flowers & native plants with my nerdy plant-loving friends at my side. In college, I discovered I’m very interested in ecology and forestry - some of my favorite college courses were led by the most badass women ever. I also learned a lot about soil health, the importance of agricultural diversity, and sustainable agriculture (and how horrifically unsustainable modern Ag really is).
My favorite place on earth was Shooting Star Nursery, my partner’s mom’s nursery. Marianne is responsible for so much of my plant care knowledge. I tried my hardest to absorb as much as I could during my summers there, memorizing plant tags as I was watering. Constantly asking about weeds, bugs, pests. Some of my most important lessons were how to pick your battles when caring for thousands of plants and if you don’t want a plant to die, don’t look at it.
Why do I care about sustainability? Lots of reasons. I’m already that person that saves pickle jars because “I can probably reuse that for a candle or something, someday!” Maybe being raised by frugal, Great Depression grandparents and packrat parents had something to do with it? But being a sustainability-focused business just makes sense to me. Is it cost-effective? Yep! Is there less waste & trash for me to clean up? Sounds good! My whole family has an affinity towards vintage goods. Catch us at the GoodWill and antique malls buying up all the fancy compotes I rent out to my brides for their sustainable weddings.
When I'm not flowering, you can find me knitting or crocheting while binging 90-day Fiance or space dramas. Drinking wine and drunk ordering more seeds than my 40 ft garden could even hold. Watching true crime documentaries or reading murder mysteries. Over-enthusiastically nerding out about spring ephemerals with my best friend. Cooking vegetable-packed dinners while being serenaded on classical guitar by my partner. Kissing the ears off of my beagles. Buying all the bread and delicata squash at the farmer’s market. Cooking and enjoying good food and full-on witch-cackling with my super supportive and loving family.
Welcome to Ephemeral Florals and my little patch in this big, green world!