Welcoming Blooms

12/06/2023

This year I decided to try an experiment with dried Limonium statice that I got from a farm in southern Ontario. I hypothesized that intermixed with evergreen with would give the impression of white snow and should in theory stay nice through the winter season and it’s the evergreen so long as we don’t have too long of a warm wet period. I really love how it turned out in my wreath and outdoor arrangement, but only time will tell if it stands up to our weather!
Do you like this look? Does it give snowy vibes?
Swipe to see the urn, my not aesthetic front porch with kid crap and bags of evergreen, and how pretty my tree looks covered in snow and ice.

11/29/2023

An update on fresh evergreen wreaths!
Order here https://welcomingblooms.com/products/fresh-evergreen-wreath-pre-order

11/24/2023

Just a reminder that I’ll be at St. Patrick's HS Craft Fair on Saturday and then Monday I will discount any fresh evergreen I happen to have left!

11/20/2023

Just fyi, 2 days left to order a wreath for 2023!
I’ll also have a selection at St. Patrick's HS Craft Fair before my season is done and I move on to a planning and starting seeds for next season!

11/20/2023

Excited to be at the St. Patrick's HS Craft Fair on Saturday, details here https://facebook.com/events/s/st-pats-artisan-craft-show/24061878863459359/

11/14/2023

One of the hardest parts of doing a business mostly online for me, is the photography. It’s not a strength, to put it mildly, but is also an essential for being successful. This photo is the same wreath taken with the same settings but the one on the right in my basement with led lighting and the one in the left is taken outdoors with natural lighting. Admittedly the door are actually different colours which does make a difference, but it makes it clear, that I have no idea what I’m doing. Capturing the true colour of natural products is sort of important in my work.

Looking for recommendations for a course in the Ottawa area, that specifically deals with product photography. I’m not interested in online video courses as I know I don’t learn well that way, I need something hands on and in person. Any ideas? Send me a DM or comment please!

11/13/2023

For all those don’t check stories friends, orders for wreaths can. Be made here https://welcomingblooms.com/collections/fresh-evergreen-wreaths . Hope to see you this weekend at Christmas on Campus: Outdoor Market & Art Show November 18th & 19th 2023

11/09/2023

Don’t forget that I need all orders in for fresh evergreen wreaths by November 22! Don’t wait, I can only make a limited number while it’s still Market season! I’ll have a small selection available on Nov 18-19 at Christmas on Campus: Outdoor Market & Art Show November 18th & 19th 2023 and at St. Patrick's HS Craft Fair

11/07/2023

Beautiful 18" fresh evergreen wreaths, locally grown mixed evergreen, ethically foraged here in Eastern Ontario, formed onto either a local grapevine base, or a gold hoop base. All wreaths are decorated with pinecones and seasonally appropriate dried flowers.

*PRE ORDER ONLY*

PRE ORDER BY NOVEMBER 22, 2023 FOR PICK UP IN BARRHAVEN THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 27-DECEMBER 1.

This is a one of a kind piece, perfect for welcoming friends and family in a protected doorway, with beauty and fragrance. Fresh Evergreen should be expected to last well into the New Year.

10/31/2023

Come join me this weekend at the Nepean Sportsplex! 2 for 1 admission all day Thursday!

10/31/2023

I finallly updated my website to include new winter wreaths, holiday ornaments and home decor items, go check it out www.WelcomingBlooms.com

Be on the look out for fresh evergreen wreaths very soon!

10/26/2023

My first Christmas event of the season is coming up!

Welcome to the City of Ottawa's Official Recreation, Culture and Facilities Services page.

10/16/2023

Coming up soon, Holiday Markets! I’ll release more specific details as we get closer but I’m super excited to let you all know where you can find me in person this holiday season!

10/12/2023

I always forget that people on Facebook don’t generally go through stories so here it is on the main wall. This Sunday, I’ll be at Broadhead with some other fantastic makers, and some great food and drink. It’s also my only market in the east end this season so come on out!
Emri Home Broadhead Brewery

09/26/2023

My October markets are coming up soon, I’m excited to see everyone who comes out to the Hintonburg Night Market at the .ca and the Broadhead Brewery Makers Markets with and !

08/22/2023

I’m excited to have 3 markets that I’ll be at this September. I’ll have a number of new products with me at these markets before they get listed on my website. I have a number of markets lined up for October also, so keep a watch for those!

06/28/2023

I’m almost finished this first collection that I’ll be releasing on my website in a few weeks time. This collection is neutral to blue shades and includes all kinds of natural elements and of course, all the botanicals are grow here in eastern Ontario in a sustainable way. I can’t wait for you to see it all, and for 2023’s flowers to come out of the drying racks and presses and create more. What colour way should the next collection be?

03/09/2023

This week I soaked and began to pre sprout some ranunculus, this is another first for me, and I’m excited but slightly nervous about it. We still have like 3 ft of snow in our yard, and I had plays to grow them in flats with a makeshift clear plastic bin greenhouse on top. We will see. I’ve also already began the process of applying for fall and Christmas markets. If you know if a can’t miss market you love, let me know!

02/28/2023

We have definitely hit that point in the winter when it all just seems too bleak. The snow stops being pretty and is a gross shade of slushy beige, the cold is getting old, and it’s snowing. Again. I think most people with mental health struggles find this point of winter hard. My brain knows spring is coming but my anxiety is tricking it to think it will be bleak and dark forever. My little seedlings are growing under lights and it’s a tangible way to remind myself that spring will come, just as it always does.

Half way through my fourth year of college my anxiety hit a breaking point. I could no longer function on my own and I needed to move back home and get some medical attention. Once I was able to get some treatment and balance out enough that I could work again, I got a job at a local greenhouse and spend my March and April spring seeding, pricking out, and potting up bedding plants. I’d spend my entire day sitting at a potting table in a nice warm greenhouse mostly alone. While that may not sound ideal for some people it was exactly what I needed. I could feel the sun on me, and the smell of peat, the silence, the methodical tasks. It was peaceful, calm, healing. As the cold turned to warmth and spring, the job turned more creative and I created hanging baskets, and planters and my brain could handle the thought of being around people again. I briefly thought about taking horticulture, but the Florist program caught my eye. It was only one year of my life I thought, I had friends in Ottawa, and a support system, and maybe it would continue that healing process to be around nature, plants, maybe the creative outlet would help me. So that fall my career as a florist began.

02/06/2023

I’ve been trying to find time to write a post about the cost both environmental and human, of imported roses, especially on Valentine’s Day. Briana at has made such a great reel on the topic complete with citations, and it’s so such an important topic to me I had to share. If you need some local sustainable ideas for Valentine’s I have tons of ideas!

Briana has a wealth of information on sustainable floristry, and farming practices, she’s an inspiration for me.

01/18/2023

Continuing on in my series on how my memories of flowers have formed me and inspired Welcoming Blooms, today I’m going to talk a little about my first experience getting paid to work with flowers. My very first job in flowers was the spring of my last year of highschool. I had enough credits to graduate after the first semester and the second semester I worked nearly full time at a grocery store. When spring came and they needed people to work the garden centre and I jumped at the chance. Working outside and around flowers seemed infinitely more appealing then slicing deli meat and my brother had done it the year before and planned to return. Our training was brief, but I read the back of tags every down moment I could and loved learning about the different plants, and caring for them and helping people choose bedding plant colours, hanging baskets and veggie seedlings. I ended up coming back the next 2 springs when I was on break from college. This is when my love of shade gardens began,(shout out to variegated hostas, my first planty love) and it also confirmed the peace that I felt while I worked around plants and nature. It was a place that I felt like I belonged, and I had extra confidence when I was there. For an insecure young adult who was unsure of her place, and who experienced such strong anxiety being around people this was a huge deal.
Plants give me a sense of purpose, confidence, peace, and belonging, which is why I named my business Welcoming Blooms. When you see my work in your home, I believe those blooms give it a sense of welcoming, and make you and your family and guests feel warmth, peace and belonging.

01/12/2023

Working with flowers is a major part of my mental health journey. I’m planning a series of post for this winter season about my memories of flowers and gardens and soil and how they have formed who I am, and why Welcoming Blooms exists.
One of the things anxiety does is effect memories, and I have very few vivid memories of my very early years outside of what I’ve seen in pictures. I had a very happy and safe childhood, without trauma, but my brain has always functioned to be worried, anxious, and fearful of interacting with people.
The smell of wet soil though, brings back a very vivid memory of planting our front garden with my Dad in springtime. We planted orangey red geraniums, because they were my grandmothers favourite and she lived with us. I couldn’t have been more then 4, and my dad taught me to mix compost and peat together to prep the bed, dig the hole a little bigger and deeper than the pot, to loosen and free the tangled roots of the plant, to pour in water to ensure the roots were well hydrated, and cover them back up with soil. We sang a little song,
Mud, mud glorious mud;
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood;
Follow me follow, down to the hollow;
There we will wallow in glorious Mud.
Being in the garden with dad was a place of peace, I felt safe and content, and the soil is a smell of belonging and calm.

01/04/2023

You’ve maybe heard this years Pantone colour of the year is viva magenta. I love deep bold colours like this. Floral trends have been so neutral the past few years which is just not my jam at all, but I see the coming trends being far more colour focused and am excited to see it! Swipe to see the flowers that will be in my cut flower gardens this season that are similar to this fab colour of the year!

12/31/2022

My top 9 posts of 2022. Looking
back at the past year is always complicated. It’s a whole year, it’s not realistic to call it a good year or a bad year, there is too much nuance, too many moving pieces. We experienced the ability to see family more readily, my dad and I had a ton of success with our cut flower garden, my kids grew and thrived, I got to watch a good friend fall in love, my husband got a promotion, my first markets were successful! On the flip side we had some difficulties with our extended families, and experienced the devastating loss of a friend, gone way too soon and my grief rises when I think of her still. My mind still persists at defaulting to anxiousness far more often then I’d want, and I’ve had some health issues that while not serious, have effected my quality of life at times. Like most years there are highs and lows and that’s just what life is a guess.

Looking ahead to 2023 my goals are to do a better job at grasping my anxiety before it spirals, taking steps to make my body more healthy, to say yes to the kids more often, and to focus on creating a more cohesive business plan, that allows me to market myself more effectively but also focus on some of the artistic endeavours I’ve been hoping to get to.

Thanks friends for a great first fill year of business! Cheers to 2023!