Rural floral shops …

Bloom where they're planted

Home-grown can be taken literally for these businesses

Working until midnight at her Creston-area floral business, Memories in Blossom, has sometimes been a necessity for Debbie Kauffman.

But as she creates flower arrangements in her cozy cottage-like shop filled with flowers, candles and music - with the glow from the flames of a propane stove adding to the ambiance - her work sometimes doubles as therapy.

"To make something to give to someone that brings delight, that's as much reward as being paid to do it," Kauffman said.

Late nights are made even more tolerable because her shop door is just a short walk from the front door of her home.

When Kauffman was making plans to build her shop about three years ago, she expected the convenience of a home-based business would make up for her out-of-the-way location on lightly traveled Bachelor Grade Road, just a mile east of Mountain View Mennonite Church.

And she didn't think it would hurt that she's got a corner on the always expanding East Valley market.

"There's nothing else out here, and I can provide a service or a product that's not out here already," she said. "As subdivisions grow up around us, there's a possibility for not being obscure."

The shop, nestled in the trees and boasting an inspiring view of the Swan Range framed by picture windows, also has its practical advantage.

"I can work out here until all hours, and I have great flexibility with wedding appointments or taking orders," Kauffman said.

There is no walk-in traffic and few drop-in customers, but Kauffman's shop is geared more toward custom orders, so that's not much of a drawback, she said.

And location doesn't make any difference to her suppliers - a truck from Spokane delivers her flowers twice a week, placing her order directly into the cooler.

She does stock cut flowers for the few people who drop by on occasion to pick up a vase full.

She doesn't have arranged bouquets prepared, but as she noted, the trend she's seen in interior design books is toward a monochromatic scheme of cut blooms.

Though the shop has only been open a few years, Kauffman has accumulated decades of floral-arranging experience. During her high school years in Kansas, Kauffman worked in a greenhouse. In college in Omaha, she delivered flowers and also worked with an expert floral designer.

Since she moved to the Flathead Valley in 1981, Kauffman said, she has kept her hand in the flower business with a steady wedding clientele. Her kitchen served as her work space; an old wooden refrigerator was put to use as a cooler.

A succession of unrelated jobs have taken up the rest of her time over the years. And along with her husband, Dan, the Kauffmans have provided buses and driving services to Cayuse Prairie School, where Debbie Kauffman also has worked for years for the special education department.

But when her three children became old enough to be independent and also provide her with a bit of help, Kauffman decided it was now or never.

"I thought I had to finally do it, I wasn't getting any younger," she said of opening the shop. "Or I said I would put the idea completely out of my mind and step back. There was just always too much mess in the house."

Kauffman took out a loan for the construction of her new shop, a 1,000-square-foot two-story building, complete with an 8-by-10-foot cooler.

Owning the bus service gave Kauffman experience with some of the business details of owning a small business, and Bruce Sneddon at Service Corps of Retired Executives has given her support and helpful advice, she said.

With no retail past to draw on, marketing has been one of her biggest challenges, she said. She believes word of mouth is going to be her best ally.

It's paying off, as her client base is gradually expanding from those who know her personally to those who know her work from a wedding or other event.

She believes her personalized services and her dedication to each project also can help contribute to her good reputation. In October, Kauffman even drove to Missoula to pick up flowers for a customer who wanted arrangements done for a funeral on short notice.

For more information on Memories in Blossom, call 755-1867.

ANGIE OLSEN is another floral business owner who has based her business at home on rural Helena Flats Road.

While she doesn't stock fresh flowers at her business, Angie's Greenhouses, Plant Care & Floral Design, she has the ability to order fresh-cut blooms up to three times a week, and generally delivers them to customers on a special-order basis.

Raising five young children is the impetus for working at home, she said.

In addition to providing floral arrangements for weddings, Olsen works the Kalispell Farmers Market during the summer, selling dried flowers and bedding plants grown in her greenhouses.

"I do a lot of dried and silk arrangements," she said.

To provide some measure of visibility, Olsen has a satellite shop in Columbia Falls, across from Mike's Conoco, that's open in the spring until the end of June. The rest of the year, she uses the shop for consultations.

Olsen can be reached at 752-2888.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com