This week I want to share one of many stories I hear from our Subscription members. These stories remind me of why flowers are so much more than beauty for your home (which is also important!).
As you might know, I launched our subscription offering in May 2020, in the height of the pandemic. Helping farmers find an outlet for the thousands of flowers they'd planned for and planted, bringing bursts of nature to weary, home-bound New Yorkers, and filling in the gaping hole in my calendar after 42 events were indefinitely postponed was the win/win/win trifecta that brought about what I named the "Seasonal Flower Project."
Veena joined that same spring, and has been a member ever since.
"I signed up for the Seasonal Flower Project during the summer of 2020. It started as a bit of self-care but it's become a lot more. Seeing how the local flowers change over the course of the year is like watching nature's fireworks show - elegant, swoony tulips and poppies, little bursts of snapdragons and scabiosa, light and delicate cosmos, and lush and colorful dahlias and celosia. It gave me a connection to our broader region in a way that I didn't get just living in the city."
Back in late 2020, when I was assessing whether to continue this pandemic-born pivot project, I interviewed Veena and learned she had a deep family connection to flowers, that our subscription re-ignited. Facetiming with family in Canada during those long months apart, she would share the flowers of the week and it sparked conversations and core memories...
"Every week there was a family chat about what flower showed up. It was a very enjoyable way to end the summer (and fall). My parents are in Toronto. My grandmother was an avid gardener and set up her own irrigation systems. She had coconut and mango trees... In our youth we spent a lot of time at botanical gardens. My great grandfather grew Dahlias way back when..."
It's amazing the way flowers can conjure memories, through their color, textures and smells.
I wanted to share a few other micro-testimonials from over the years:
We love how members photograph their flowers. This member captured the beauty of their peonies even in the flowers' process of passing
Obsessed!!! Thank you so much. You have seriously made my time trapped in my apartment a million times better. I can't tell you how much it means to me and how having these cuties here all week make everything better. I just signed up for September!" -Kate, 2020
"I love the element of surprise! So much of life is predictable. You decide what you're going to order, eat, do... And it was fun to be like "Oh! It's Dahlias this week!" Or, "I've never seen Cosmos in my life." -Jasmine, 2020
"I signed up for my partner. His mother just recently passed and she did floral design for weddings. His father also owned a flower shop while he was growing up. It's been a very healing experience having beautiful bouquets through the grieving process." -Anonymous, 2021
"The Campanula were incredible! And they lasted over two weeks!! Also the sunflowers and grasses were dreamy." -Anonymous, 2022
We love hearing from our members! If you are a subscriber, or become one, we hope you'll send us your feedback -- the good, the bad, the ugly. We always want to improve our services, and your feedback helps tremendously.
And, hearing the ways these flowers have brought you closer to nature, helped you to feel more grounded, or sparked deeper connection and/or conversations with friends and family is kind of our nirvana... so please do share!
That time when Aurora James lived in Brooklyn and subscribed to the Seasonal Flower Project!
With love + flowers,
Molly