the Girl

It seems like everyone who grows and loves flowers has a vivid memory of planting or gardening with a grandmother from a very young age. I definitely fall into that category as well…my earliest garden memories all stem from my grandmother’s summer house on a lake in Illinois. I couldn’t wait for summer to come so we could sit and plant her window boxes with brightly colored petunias (that in retrospect now seem incredibly garish!) and start our tiny vegetable garden. I remember being scared of all the ants in the HUGE peony bed she had and her very patiently (she was a kindergarten teacher for over 40 years!) explaining to me that without the ants, the peonies wouldn’t open, perhaps that’s why peonies have always been my favorite flower.

When I was a new mother, married and living in the suburbs of Chicago, I decided pretty much on a whim to open a flower shop. It was in the tiniest space, only 7 feet wide and about 20 feet long. I thought I would sit in the store, sell flowers, visit with my friends and do needlepoint in my down time. Well, the last thing I needlepointed was in about 1996! One thing led to another and within the first few years I was designing huge weddings, had expanded the first store to include antique garden follies and ornaments, had added a second store, Ocean’s Twelve had popped by and decided to use our store as a location and I was literally off to the movies. Life was grand, and then the crash of 2008 happened and affected the store so significantly, that I came to the devastating decision to close our doors. Shortly thereafter, I was asked by the Obama White House Social Secretary if I would be interested in becoming the new floral designer. For many reasons, I decided not to take the position permanently but spent 2009 at the White House designing flowers for the White House State Rooms, the Obama’s private residence, events for Heads of State and ultimately with Simon Doonan, the 2009 White House Holiday decorations. So… sometimes, when a door closes, a big “White” window opens. My flower shop opened up so many experiences and adventures I am forever grateful for, from decorating movie sets to designing flowers in the Obama White House. I know that growing anything, a garden, a business, a farm runs deep in my veins and I am never happier than in a field of flowers.

the Girl’s Garden

a visual story of my personal garden...