Maybe you remember my older post “Flowerbx – Fresh Flowers At Your Doorstep” about the story of online flower shop Flowerbx and its founder Whitney Bromberg Hawkings – one my favorite posts. As it is spring, I would like to mention another flower story as inspiring as Flowerbx’s- an example of an amazing dream work and entrepreneurship. (Photo above: flowersfromthefarm.co.uk)
The eclectic van of Flowerbx delivering fresh flowers / Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, the Founder and CEO of Flowerbx (former assistant to Tom Ford at Gucci and Senior Vice President of Communications at Tom Ford)
Fresh flower bouquets and a table set by Flowerbx (Photos: flowerbx.com) (You may check my older post for more details.)
Coming to the amazing flower story of Kimberly Fleming, an American who was formerly in the fashion business and who now lives in the Marlston hamlet of Berkshire and grows flowers in a farm in the Berkshire countryside as ‘Marlston Farmgirl‘, everything starts when she decided to open a tiny flower shop ‘Ex Floreus’ in Lake Forest, Illinois after 15 years in the fashion business…
Photo: (the-seedling.com)
Flowers had been a childhood passion for Kimberly Fleming who grew up outside of Chicago spending time at her grandmother’s gardens and running at the peony beds. She tells in an interview that her earliest memories were of planting petunias in her grandmother’s window boxes, who had a summer house on a lake. (marlstonfarmgirl.com, the-seedling.com)
Photo: (the-seedling.com)
Within a short time after Fleming opens a flower shop in Lake Forest, her business grows and she starts to design gardens for clients and arrange flowers for events nearby. One day the production crew for the film “Ocean’s Twelve” comes to her shop and asks to use it as a film location. (houseandgarden.co.uk)
Ocean’s Twelve crew had asked Kimberly Fleming to do the flowers for Julia Roberts’ trailer and for George Clooney. (Photos: (tvnz.co.nz / imdb.com). Fleming then designed flowers for film sets of many major films including ‘Indiana Jones‘ and ‘Alice in Wonderland‘.
During the 2008 recession, Fleming had decided to close her flower shop. A month later, she received a phone call from the Obama White House offering her the position of White House florist. Amazing! One of her clients had become the Social Secretary of President Obama, and her former assistant was also working at the White House. She could not move to Washington, DC with her two young children so agreed to join as a consultant and interim chief floral designer, which she refers to as the experience of a lifetime and tells:
“I met the Obamas and went to Camp David. I was doing flowers for the most amazing events...”
She had designed the first Obama Christmas. (houseandgarden.co.uk, the-seedling.com)
White House at Christmas time (forbes.com)
Christmas events at the Obama White House (Photos: madison.com / flickr.com)
After the White House, Kimberly returned to work on film sets until she met and married the Englishman Fergus Fleming who owns a farm in West Berkshire. She moved to England just before the lockdown to live on Fergus’s family farm where she decided to grow flowers.
The couple had started to grow flowers with a small flower field in their farm during the lockdown, to which a new section was added every year. Their business grew more and more. Today they supply top floral studios in London with ‘sustainably grown British blooms’. (houseandgarden.co.uk)
Kimberly Fleming in her flower garden in Marlston, Berkshire (Photos: the-seedling.com / flowersfromthefarm.co.uk)
Kim’s flower field in the middle of the organic farm with beautiful views over Pang Valley, Berkshire, is run without chemicals. Kimberly Fleming, known as ‘Marlston Farmgirl‘, offers “locally grown, seasonal and sustainable flowers” through her establishment ‘Flowers From The Farm‘.
Kimberly Fleming and her flowers (Photos: themes.co.uk)
In the website of ‘Flowers From The Farm‘, they emphasize British flowers and say:
“Flowers grown by your local flower farmer will be freshly picked and locally delivered, giving you flowers as fresh as possible“. They further explain that the local farmer grows with the seasons and has the excitement of harvesting the first of the sweet peas, dahlias, garden roses, anemones, larkspur, snapdragons and cornflowers… (flowersfromthefarm.co.uk)
Dahlias (Photos: flowersfromthefarm.co.uk)
Kimberly and Fergus live in a cosy cottage on the farm’s estate with Kimberly’s daughters and Fergus’s twins. Each year, Kimberly helps a family Christmas gathering in the Victorian Hall of Brockhurst & Marlston House Schools, where her brother-in-law is the headmaster. (houseandgarden.co.uk)
Brockhurst & Marlston House Schools in the charming English countryside of Berkshire (Photo: brockmarl.org.uk)
Kimberly and Fergus Fleming in the hall of Brockhurst School for a Christmas party / The Victorian Hall of Brockhurst School (The table and mantelpiece decorated for Christmas by Kimberly Fleming) (Photos: houseandgarden.co.uk)
I came across this unbelievable flower story at an article in House & Garden, December 2024 issue. Besides Kim’s inspiring story, the article mentions her arrangements of Christmas Day celebration each year at Blackhurst & Marlston House Schools in Berkshire.
Kimberly with her husband Fergus and Labrador Baxter / Leading a coarse on creating natural wreaths (Photos: houseandgarden.co.uk)
Kimberly talks of her entrepreneurship and amazing story in an interview which she sees as a great lesson for her daughters. About her deciding to open a small flower shop, she says she knew she would regret it if she hadn’t tried for it was better to have tried and failed than to never have tried. (the-seedling.com).
Such an inspiring flower story as we live the spring season… Kimberly Fleming says:
“Flowers bring joy – they elevate people’s lives…” (houseandgarden.co.uk)
Well, they do. A bouquet of fresh flowers can create miracles, either in your mood or your surroundings, with a touch of the beauty of the nature…
Photos: (flowersfromthefarm.co.uk)
Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, founder of Flowerbx, says in an interview that end of April is the season of peonies -lovely flowers I discovered during writing my older post about Flowerbx I mentioned above. She says dahlia follows peonies in late summer, then it’ll be hydrangea; and then it’ll be ranunculus (before peonies as well) again. (alainelkanninterviews.com)
Peonies (Photos: westberksvillagers.com / flowerbx.com)
Happy spring with beautiful flower blossoms!
