About Apiana Blooms

Our story begins about 6 years ago, on a trip down in the Swell with two girlfriends. Through the connection with nature and friendship, I began to really explore the dream to cultivate land. A childhood dream of mine was to own a flower shop. As I put all the pieces together, I realized that my heart was in flower farming. On that trip, I planted the seeds in myself which would become Apiana Blooms.

Over the next weeks and months, my partner and I discovered we could grow flowers on our ¼ acre of land, using the lasagna gardening method and scattered flower beds. Our expert friend came through to support us with her experience and knowledge and helped us to order our first seeds and plan those first beds. That first year we grew hundreds and hundreds of seedlings, and by spring we had transformed our front yard into beautiful long rows of flower beds.

I had grown up in nature, spending summers in my grandparent’s massive garden, caretaking and harvesting their plants. I felt really capable and comfortable in the growing process, with no idea how to run a business. That year our garden thrived, and we came into the season late, and luckily found a place in a few small local markets. At that time it seemed people were not used to seeing fresh local flowers at the farmer's markets, and so they were not accustomed to the price of our bouquets. In the beginning, I would nervously make custom bouquets while the customers walked around the market, as I was nervous to be seen in the creative process with my arrangements. The beauty of that first year came in watching people’s remembering– their reconnection to the wildness of blooms that they hadn’t even thought to miss.

We went to many markets with little to no sales, but there was a growing feeling of excitement, nourishment, and purpose in my relationship with the flowers, and so I continued growing the following year. Our daughter learned to identify and care for the flowers, and seeing her blossoming alongside the flowers even whilst living in an urban environment nourished my heart.

Our second year I moved to the large downtown Farmer’s Market, where people were so thrilled to see fresh, local flowers. Within a couple of hours of the market opening each Saturday, we would sell out of our bouquets. I became more confident in creating custom arrangements, and people would light up watching someone make something beautiful for them. The bouquets invoked a sense of awe and wonder that was palpable. Even though it was a great labor of love, and returns weren’t fully sustainable for the business, we were heartened to see people’s response to the magic and beauty of the flowers.  Our friend encouraged us that year to begin to raise bees, and that relationship became a deeply important part of our relationship with the ecosystem that makes these flowers possible.

The following year things changed as the world did. Attending markets every week became a lot for our family. The grandfather I spent my childhood summers with, soaking up the wisdom of his gardens, became ill at age 93. I went within and asked the deeper questions of what would be most nourishing to my spirit and creativity. I reflected on feeling ease and pleasure in my creative process. I explored what would feel most sustainable for myself and my family in this changing global atmosphere.

I continued to create and offer my foraged wreaths during the winter markets, and then, as if a light came on, I began to fall in love with the process of working with beeswax. As we had been getting to know the bees as being essential to the cultivation of flowers, I was enamored of them, and working with beeswax further enhanced that relationship. The process spoke to my values of beauty, nature, and connection between people and the web of life. When I introduced our candles to the markets the response was powerful, and that shift has supported us in evolving our business to encompass these interrelated products that mean so much to us.

Apiana Blooms has become a company tuned into the greater natural rhythm of the seasons, committed to the deeper tending of our spirits and our relationship with the land and life. We slow down and go within in the winter months, focusing on that which brings beauty, gentleness, warmth, and nourishment. In the summer, we celebrate the return of the sun with bright blooms and expressive arrangements. Our mission is to bring the beauty of the natural world into your home, and into your heart.

-Felicia