The Beauty That Fades Too Fast
I’ve always loved flowers. But for as long as I can remember, a little part of me has felt a quiet sadness every time a fresh bouquet faded. You get just a brief moment of beauty before the petals droop and the water turns murky. That sense of impermanence never sat right with me—especially knowing how much time, care, and effort goes into growing or arranging those blooms.
That’s what led me to dried flowers.
Slowing Down with Dried Flower Design
There’s something incredibly comforting about preserving a flower at its peak—freezing its beauty in time and getting to enjoy it for months (or even years) instead of days. Working with dried wedding flowers gives me the freedom to design slowly and intentionally. I can experiment, rework, and perfect each arrangement without worrying about wilting stems, dripping vases, or the pressure of refrigeration.
As someone who started out designing with artificial wedding flowers, I appreciated that flexibility. I could prep weeks in advance and focus on every detail. But over time, I became more and more uncomfortable with the plastic waste and the way those materials felt disconnected from nature.
Dried flowers became the perfect balance.
Why Dried Flowers Felt Right for Me
They’re real. They’re grown from the earth. And yet, they still give me the time and space to create like I did with faux materials—without the waste.
They’re also deeply sustainable. Most dried flowers don’t need refrigeration, plastic wrapping, or chemical preservatives. And they let me stretch our short Canadian growing season long into the winter, preserving that fleeting beauty to enjoy year-round.
At Forest Hill Flowers, the flowers I dry are grown right here on our land, without harmful pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. They’re hung to dry the old-fashioned way, and carefully stored to retain their colour and shape.
Different Responsibilities Throughout the Seasons
Almost all flower farms focus on fresh cut flowers. In Ontario, this means a busy season from May to October with the responsibilities of not only caring for the garden but marketing and selling the flowers while in bloom and cutting often to keep the cut and come again flowers productive.
However, I'm a mother and a homemaker (which I absolutely love!), meaning I can only put a part-time effort into my flower farm in this season of my life. It feels like too much of a responsibility to care for the garden, sell and market the flowers, and be a good wife and mother all in the span of the short Canadian summer. That's part of the reason I've specialized in dried flowers. In the summer, I can focus on growing and drying. Then the rest of the year I can engage with brides, market the flowers, and take my time crafting bouquets when the baby is sleeping! The beauty of dried flowers is slowness, time. If a bride wants a bouquet for next August, I can prepare and ship it to her in December.
While I would absolutely love to offer fresh bouquets, do a roadside stand, and do u-pick flower days on the farm, being a mother and wife comes first for me and I need to find a healthy balance between business and motherhood. In the future, I am open to exploring fresh blooms. But for now, the balance and slowness that dried flowers bring me is perfect.
A Love for Nature and the Quiet Magic of Weddings
I’ve always loved gardening and farming. I feel most grounded when I’m outdoors with my hands in the soil. And at the same time, a corner of my heart has always been drawn to the magic of weddings—not the party part so much, but the real emotion. The quiet nerves. The happy tears. The tenderness between people making lifelong promises surrounded by family and love.
Blending those two worlds—ecological flower farming and heartfelt wedding floral design—has felt like coming home.
So when people ask me why I chose to focus on dried wedding flowers instead of fresh, the answer is simple: they let me carry summer into winter, create from a place of calm, and honor both the land and the love stories I’m designing for.
That, to me, is the heart of Forest Hill Flowers.