Hi, I'm Elena.

I have always been a plant lady. Everywhere I have lived I have always had a garden of some kind going, always something sprouting in a glass on the window sill, saving seeds, dividing perennials out back, that's me. Only recently have I really let my heart go into flowers. It actually took me some time to commit to growing flowers beyond summer annuals from the big box stores.  I had always felt them to be somehow frivolous and saw myself as too much of a pragmatist to devote growing space to them. 

It took marrying a wonderful man who buys me flowers (with some training) to realize the value in bringing them in. It is so lovely to study a flower up close, examine its structure, elegance, scent. 

Even more is the realization that this act, giving flowers and adorning our lives with them, is intrinsic to the human experience. The oldest known burial sites around the world all include flowers, bouquets.  Flowers are at the center of all of the great ceremonies of our lives, from baptisms to marriage to funerals, always there. There is no folly in growing them. 

Even better is the giving of them. Watching a flower I grew from seed find its final place at the center of one of my bouquets is so incredibly gratifying to see. Then there is the way people light up in awe at the flowers presented to them.  I kind of stand back in disbelief to see the little seed I had such a vision for find its way to the center of a home in a bouquet to be studied up close and adored.  This is a dream job for me and I love every aspect of it.  It took me time to come around but I am finally at a place in my life where I can live up to my name - Flores, Spanish for flowers: Elena Flores.  Happy to meet you.