As an artist, Cary Engle loves the process of creating beautiful and appealing designs. In his case, it’s with flowers. “I’m dealing with color, with design, and with composition every day,” he says. “Those are all the things that an artist would deal with in a painting or anything else they're doing.”
While attending college for a degree in graphic design, Cary began working part-time at a florist. At first, he was just delivering flowers, but soon, he was expertly putting together floral arrangements. After graduation, the owners hired him to manage one of their stores, where he happily stayed for 12 years. But, after getting married and having a family, he left for the corporate world. However, the world of art and flowers lured him back.
“I helped some friends who had bought a flower shop, and when I came home, I told my wife Susan that I had to get back into it,” says Cary. “I missed being around all the creativity. So, we pooled our resources and, in 1993, opened Englewood Florist in downtown Lawrence.”
Along with a wide variety of fresh flowers, floral arrangements and bouquets and plants, the shop also does fun cookie and balloon bouquets. There are premium chocolates as well as custom jewelry made by their daughter Jennifer on display too. “She also has an art degree and she’s very creative,” he says. “She helps us out during the holidays.”
Emily, who used to be an art teacher in Lawrence, coordinates the interesting and educational classes offered. “We're teaching floral design classes and just held a spring wreath class.”
Another staff member, Alex, handles weddings and other events, while Kelly does the everyday orders. “The people who work here weren’t just plucked off the street to work at a flower shop,” says Cary. “We all have specialty artistic backgrounds. We have a nice mixture of people and provide great customer service to our clients.” The shop has been voted "Best Florist in Lawrence" by the University Daily Kansan and has made the top spots on the Best of Lawrence list.
Flowers bring so much joy and life to any room, and when he hears people say, “Oh, I don't want flowers because they just die in a few days,” he doesn’t understand it. “When you go out for dinner and spend $150 for a nice dinner, how long does that last?”
Flowers can thrive longer if the right care is taken. For example, buy in season; keep them in a cooler environment – heat takes all the moisture out of the petals; and recut the stems and change the water every day, making sure it goes to the top of the container.
This past March, Englewood Florist & Flower Delivery celebrated its 30th anniversary. “I'm proud of that,” says Cary. “We really appreciate our local customers. Without them, we wouldn't be here. When we made our move to North Lawrence, the community welcomed us along with the clients we've made all over town.”
Visit englewoodflorist.net.
“We really appreciate our local customers. Without them, we wouldn't be here. When we made our move to North Lawrence, the community welcomed us along with the clients that we've made all over town.”
