About Us
We’re two people addicted to beauty, trying to get as much of it as we can in each of our everyday lives. We both have the privilege of living on the property and believe the best floral designs come from us being immersed in the purity of the growing process and the creation of a beautiful space. From pausing to watch the sunlight kiss a sweet smelling rose or a nest full of baby birds, to getting our hands dirty weeding, to cutting an armful of hydrangeas to hauling fresh compost, we’re active participants with the earth as we watch the magic of dirt, seeds, sunlight and water turn into beautiful flowers. Whether we source your flowers from our farm, or from sustainable farms surrounding your wedding location, we carry this creed of simple, luxurious beauty with us.
About Betsy
When I was 5 years old, we moved to a little 5-acre property in the woods, just outside of Springfield. My parents cleared a space for a home and garden and over the years slowly created a garden and orchard. Working as hard as they did, they always wanted the garden to produce something. I on the other hand, was fascinated with garden design and structure. I would go to the library and check out every single book on gardens in Europe, reveling in the symmetry of the formal gardens of estates in France, and the wild lavishness of English cottage gardens.
When I was 15, my mom gave me a small budget and said I could be the “Head Gardener.” Gradually I expanded the cultivated areas, trying out ideas I’d seen in books, while attempting to make them fit the landscape of the Pacific Northwest.
Eventually I purchased the property from my mom and was able to dig in even further, tackling bigger design projects and creating larger areas to grow beauty as well as intimate spaces for rest and enjoyment.
Professionally I have a government affairs firm, but I was always drawn to entrepreneurship – but never brave enough to admit that was who I was or what I wanted to do. Once I had the property, and a good friend of mine had the longtime dream of having a flower farm, it seemed like the perfect fit.
Heidi and I began Artis Flora slowly. Like the flowers we grow, things take time and there are planting and harvesting seasons. We believe in providing luxury product for our clients. We are a boutique flower farm and choose to remain small to focus on what we do best – providing our select clients with the perfect florals for their wedding day. At the same time, we also grow market bunches for our local Whole Foods and other venues, because we believe that all this exquisite beauty was meant to be shared.
About Heidi
I grew up on a little urban farm in the middle of the San Francisco Bay Area. Mom gave me a little patch of ground to do whatever I wanted to with, and I always grew flowers. Flowers made my heart come alive, and I dreamed of growing enough to gather armfuls and make endless arrangements.
I left the Bay Area with that dream still with me, and moved to Oregon and began growing florals just for fun. I never studied horticulture or anything, just used the same kind of growing methods I grew up with; organic, ones that honored the land and the growing cycles. If something didn’t work, we’d just try again next year. Little by little the farm took shape in an organic sort of way – we wanted to make a beautiful space to enjoy and live in and share with others. Pretty soon we had more flowers than we knew what to do with – those armfuls I’d dreamed of.
We started the business as a method of sharing this beauty with others. The flowers that leave our farm are shared from an abundance…. it’s like getting to share a piece of this beautiful space with people.
I don’t feel like we design flowers; I almost feel like we design with them. Each flower in the studio brings a depth of beauty that’s almost mysterious… designing is the craft of calling out that beauty. I have never lost that sort of breathless, almost childish fascination with flowers. When we have a studio full of them before a wedding, one of my favorite things is to just get a drink and wander around and touch them and look at them. Same out in the garden… I love to take coffee in the morning, or a glass of wine in the evenings and just walk around and look at them all; each stem has such beauty and such a story to tell. We’ve planted them and watched them grow – fed them, trimmed them, protected them… by the time they actually flower it’s such a celebration and I love to just enjoy it.
Designing for a bride is like getting to add a whole different side of celebration to her day. To choose stems that reflect her personality and vision and that will add that depth of fairytale, romantic beauty to her day. A bride needs to be herself – tell me her story, her vision, how they met, and some very basic elements like colors… and we take that and create a floral story that helps compliment and tell the couples story on the wedding day. A bride has her bouquet with her almost the entire day, and her bouquet sort of sets the tone for any other arrangements we do. When I’m designing the brides bouquet I’m thinking about her personality, her dress, thinking about her walking down the aisle with this bouquet… the first look, standing at the altar – this bouquet is going to be central to the wedding and I want it to reflect her, and make her heart happy. That’s why I always put a lot of effort into the back side of the bouquet – the one only the bride sees.
Our whole growing and designing is a process of pause and space and getting to enjoy beauty. Anyone can put flowers together and make a bouquet; we’re making more than just bouquets, but experiences – sharing the pause, the experience of the studio, the relaxation, the beautiful area. It’s the lifestyle we’re sharing – the sounds of the creek, a candlelit studio, strolling around with a drink, a meditative time cutting an armful of flowers, the good smell of the dirt, the forest, the ridiculousness of the little horse, pausing for coffee in the morning – that’s what we want to share with our brides.
Get a behind the scenes look of our flower farm and learn more about our approach to your wedding day florals
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