Where Did the desire to be in a Flower Business come from?

Growing up, my living space was the forest. We lived in a very small home surrounded by lush trees and fresh air for eight years while my father built our dream home. Whenever possible, I preferred being in and exploring nature. It was magical. It fed my soul. Looking back, that was the beginning of my love for nature, and my deep appreciation for flowers and plants and branches.

I am and have always been inspired by well-designed spaces that thoughtfully incorporate unique architectural forms. My dad loves Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and we visited them often during my childhood.

The home my dad designed is very much a Frank Lloyd Wright style, growing out of the natural landscape and accenting the scenery around it.

Today, I am inspired to design pieces that belong in a setting in the same way. It’s the value of wholeness, which I unknowingly absorbed in childhood from my father. And it's the value of context - embracing the context and being inspired by it and reflecting it's best.

When I design floral art, I long for it to fit into and be inspired by the context of the environment as well as the context of the person who receives it. It just has to feel right. The toughest designs for me are without any context unless I'm given complete free reign to be artistic from within.

When I began noticing my design style was formed from childhood passions and influences, I realized this contributes to my natural inclination to match flowers into a context. That skill has become a valuable differentiation for my customers and my business.

This gave me the realization God’s Garden Treasures is more than what I do, it’s who I am.

The transition back to nature

In adulthood, I began working in the nonprofit world and slowly forgot my childhood love of flowers. Years later, after I faced health challenges and received the gift of two short seasons at my family’s cottage to heal, I transitioned back into remembering my love for nature... 

This helped me reconnect to myself and to the natural world, the very world that moves my soul.

Once back in Arizona, working in my garden also became a healing outlet. Watching things grow, feeling the dirt in my hands, was restorative. Cutting stems of herbs, flowers and greenery, bringing them inside the house, arranging them as lovely accents, was bringing nature back inside for me.

Over time, I grew more flowers in my garden than my home could hold, which led me to selling them at the local farmers market. Friends and colleagues began reaching out to ask for flower arrangements. My work unfolded organically, and I developed a flower business out of my home. Three years later, I transitioned into having a traditional brick and mortar flower shop and I’ve been a florist now for 15 years!

Who we are today

The flower industry has changed tremendously, because we can all get flowers in the grocery store or online. Flowers are much more available. However, it is harder to find unique pieces that bring nature into homes and show an extra level of care.

We have found that matching the right arrangement to the right person and environment is what has created loyal customers for us. Handling the planning for sending flowers has helped us provide a higher level of detail and service which has kept us going in the midst of a huge market disruption leading other florists to go out of business.

As I reconnect to my inherent passion for evolving God’s Garden Treasures, I realize that our heartfelt way of doing things is truly a competitive differentiator. 

Creative influences run deep and I’m deeply inspired by nature, spaces, and design. it allows me to imagine what a stunning floral art piece would look like to complement a space or person, and inspires me to seek out the unique, creative responses to all of life.

Today we keep on evolving, going that extra mile, to provide a higher level of service and a competitive luxury artistic design.

One example of that continuing evolution is that in 2013, we shifted our external business model from a traditional retail space into a design studio where we predominantly deliver the flowers ordered by our clients. We have a few who come in and pick out arrangements to deliver themselves, and most of our clients want the convenience of flowers being hand-delivered while they are working or with their families.

When I started in the floral business in 2003, I naively thought that the goal was to do what every other florist does. Now, we’re embracing creativity, unique design and helping people invest in their most treasured relationships through additional services.

Over the past 6 years, I have been increasingly aware of how the unique aesthetic I bring to floral design and my business authentically emerges from these early and mid-life influences. As I embraced my passion, who I am and the artistry I bring to flowers, to business and life, I felt a life-giving change in perspective, and was even more eager to share who we are with the world.

At one point, I was ready to give up, to quit, due to pressures and stresses - focusing on passion and who I really am gave me new hope and energy to move forward and overcome the obstacles.

How has engaging with your deep passion been a turning point or an inspiration to change in our business? Share your passion with us below!

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