Hello, I'm Nora.
I'm so glad you've found your way to Penstemon Floral
how it all began
As the story goes, when my great-grandmother Sue moved from Oak Harbor to start married life with her new husband, she arrived by train. The porters inquiring as to whether she had any other luggage were told, "Yes please, the last three cars." She had brought along all the glass panels to rebuild her greenhouses. Her father Henry, my great-great-grandfather who had emigrated from Yorkshire England, had also grown flowers for sale on his farm near Lake Erie, well before the civil war.
Like a dormant seed, waiting for the right conditions to germinate, I suppose the floral design impulse was something that was already in me and just waiting to emerge. Although I went to school for painting in Washington, DC; New York City; and London; my love of nature eventually tugged me out to the countryside, and choosing flowers for my own wedding revealed my love of flowers. So after five generations there I was, back in the countryside and back to working with flowers. It's a passion that's been in the family for five generations at least. Even my mother, who had left the countryside and the family floral business, was always an ardent gardener who occasionally wrote articles on the subject for the Washington Post.
about me
Working with color and composition is something I have always been inclined towards. Painting is my first calling but flower design draws upon the same instincts for composition, proportional harmony, and asymmetrical balance. In fact, working with flowers has informed my painting process as much as the other way around.
I have worked as a professional floral designer on and off for 23 years, and I have been gardening for just as long, but it is only recently that I have I had a cut flower garden just for flower arrangements. What a delight! Not only is watching things grow from seed a pleasure, but you can order a much wider range of seeds than you can plants. It is great fun to plant the seed of something you've never seen in person and look forward to meeting it while it grows.
As a grower of flowers for use in arrangements, I have been humbled by what it takes to bring each flower from seed to vase. Like with so many things; inexpensive, industrial-scale imports have confused our sense of, and appreciation for, the effort, skill and value that goes into growing things in an ecologically responsible way.
I am partnering with other local growers not only out of a deep appreciation for what they do, but also because I believe that, in Rappahannock County especially, there may be a desire to celebrate life's special moments with flowers that also celebrate the natural world we live in. Perhaps you will agree.
To visit my artist website click HERE
