I was absently scrolling my Facebook feed on Friday night, just winding down from a long day with intense kids, and a post from a local-to-me grower/florist caught my eye. She was advertising her bouquets for Saturday morning on a Cleveland mom’s group I’m in, and when I saw her location (only 8 minutes from me!) I knew that I was going to get a bouquet from her the next day.

Not many may know this about me, but my first job was in a florists. At the age of 16, I got hired to work in the back, for $5.85 an hour. My main jobs were making bows, assembling bouquets, and ringing people out. They also had me do deliveries, but I was terrible at that because I had just started driving. There was one memorable time where they expected me to get on the highway and I completely missed the on ramp and just kept driving, for like an hour. It was sooo bad lol! I got in trouble. But I was only 16! I had only been driving on my own for like 3 months! I have no idea why they expected me to drive all over Ohio at that age, but you know. oh well. My favorite thing was putting together arrangements and bouquets. Called “bouqs” by everyone there. Another thing I loved doing was putting them in pretty wrapping for the customer. They’d make their selection, and I’d take it and gently wrap it in beautiful paper and ribbon. It really completed the whole look. I got in trouble once for making monochromatic bouqs. My boss would give me free range with all the buckets of flowers, and I’d have full creative control. So after following their rules and assembling your standard bouquet for a few weeks, I decided to make an all purple one. Then an all white, then an all yellow, then an all red. The purple was the most striking. I remember using pale purple roses with delphinium and sweet peas. I definitely stuffed more purple flowers in there too, I just can’t remember anymore. After my boss saw me put that one in the display case, I got reprimanded and told that “no one wanted monochromatic bouquets. they want variety” – but then not 20 minutes later, a woman came in and bought it. I still wasn’t allowed to create any more monochromatic bouquets after that, but I did feel vindicated lol!

I ultimately ended up leaving that job because they wouldn’t let me change my shift for a scheduled doctor’s appointment. They also didn’t like me there very much, I was a typical 16 year old and more interested in having fun than I was in working at that time. Then there was that memorable shift where I brought my pet rabbit in for 4 hours… yeah. they didn’t like me very much! hahaha

But that job gave me a deep appreciation for florists and the exacting standards they are held to in a very unforgiving industry. It also taught me the names of many different kinds of flowers and their care in a bouquet. I loved being surrounded by buckets of flowers.

So I am thrilled to find a local grower & florist just down the street, Red House Florals. Grocery store bouquets are all well and good, but to have freshly cut, chemical free flowers, grown here and assembled with love, is like finding a diamond amongst a bunch of cubic zirconia. If you’re local to Northeast Ohio, you should consider picking a bouquet up from Elizabeth sometime this summer, they are beautiful. Thanks for reading my ramble <3