My name is Kelli Pease and I recently started the initiative “The Flower Remedy” with the goal of giving away 1 million flowers. In 2020, I started a small, but ever-expanding cut flower garden at my house in San Diego, CA, that I call the “Giving Garden.” I use 3 garden beds to grow all kinds of flowers including dahlias, cosmos, amaranth, ranunculus, anemones, sweet peas, snapdragons and more.
A little background on why I created the Flower Remedy:
It all started when I created a happiness movement in 2013 called The Happsters with the goal of spreading joy and happiness throughout my community. Over the years, I gave away all kinds of gifts to people from happy notes to food to gift cards. The one thing that brought the biggest smile to peoples’ faces? Flowers!
Once I had this realization, friends and family helped me create flower giveaways everywhere we could. There’s a magic about flowers that connects people and lights them up. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked on giving away flowers to people who can use a little extra boost of happiness.
Who do we give to?
We give flowers to a variety of different local community members including:
1) Seniors
a) We work with local senior living homes and seniors centers to give flowers to their residents and members. Recently, we gave 50 flower bouquets to seniors who tested positive for COVID.
2) Those who are grieving a loved one
a) We give flower bouquets to locals who have recently lost a loved one. We have a sign-up form on the Flower Remedy website so that their family/friends can nominate them to receive a bouquet.
3) Hospitals
a) We deliver flowers to hospitals for patients going through a hard time. Who is involved in the giving?
We’re lucky to have an amazing group of two types of volunteers for the project. The first type of volunteers are gardeners who offer up their extra flowers to create bouquets. The second type of volunteers are community members who love flowers and want to give back. They help with putting together flower bouquets and delivering them. We are so grateful for our volunteers!
What kinds of flowers do you typically use?
We give away all kinds of beautiful cut flowers! I’m a big fan of the language of flowers and when we can, we pair the flowers we’re giving with their meanings. Here are a few of my favorite flowers and their meanings:
1. Sweat peas for gratitude
2. Carnations to say “I love you”
3. Daisy for optimism
4. Daffodils for hope
5. Sunflowers for strength
Are you interested in giving flowers to your local community? Here are some tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way:
1) Use old jars as vases. Some of my favorite vases are old coconut water glass bottles, pasta sauce jars, and salsa jars.
2) Join your local “Buy Nothing” Facebook group and post in the group asking your community if anyone has any old vases or jars that they don’t want anymore. I’ve received probably 90% of my vases from this group!
3) If you don’t have enough flowers to give away in your garden, ask a local grocery store if they ever give away their flowers that they can’t sell anymore. Usually independent grocery stores are open to giving away their flowers that are slightly past their prime. Just take out the flowers that aren’t in perfect condition and re-work them into bouquets using the best-looking flowers of the bunch.
4) Decide who you want to give to and reach out to a local organization who works with that demographic. They are usually thrilled to receive the flowers and can help with coordinating to make sure the flowers go to the appropriate people.
5) Add a tag on the vase with a nice note that will help brighten their day even more! Learn more about The Flower Remedy at https://www.floweremedy.co/ and on Instagram at: @thefloweremedy
(photos stacy bostrom photography)
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