If you happened to visit a local farmers' market this summer and noticed a tent brimming with colorful flower bouquets and emanating rich floral scents, you were likely passing Ellen’s Flowers. Local florist, Ellen Kerchner offers an array of jaw-droppingly beautiful and unique bouquets and arrangements, but Ellen does more than just arrange stunning bouquets. In fact, she grows all the flowers they’re composed of at her very own “flower farm” in Canon City.
“The fact that we grow EVERYTHING we sell usually surprises folks,” she explains and she’s not wrong. Growing and supplying the flowers for your own floral business is impressive, to say the least.
Going back to her roots, it turns out that Ellen’s love for flowers didn’t start with flowers. In school, Ellen studied pollinators and conservation biology and grew flowers alongside veggies to provide habitat for pollinators and increase fruit set. However, when she began cutting the flowers and selling them as bouquets, she realized her love for floral design and how it fueled her creativity.
“I love the creativity that comes with growing and arranging flowers. I also love how any plant can be made into a 'cut flower,'” Ellen says. "And as a Colorado native, I’m so inspired by our natural landscapes and the colors found here that I draw heavily on that inspiration when making bouquets.”
She is also passionate about conservation and farming in a way that provides habitat, sequesters carbon and regenerates land, making it clear that her goals reach far beyond growing flowers and crafting bouquets.
Not only are Ellen’s flowers grown with organic practices that are environmentally supportive, but because she grows locally, she’s able to offer a diverse range of flowers you can’t find in a typical flower shop or grocery store. And being so fresh, they last longer, too. This upcoming holiday season, Ellen is excited to offer holiday bulb gardens with premier amaryllis and paperwhite flowers. She also offers gorgeous holiday wreaths crafted with her dried flowers, which can be found online or at your local holiday market.
Website: https://www.ellensflowers.com/
Facebook: @ellens.flowers.colorado
Instagram: ellens_flowers