Lucas Adcock
Staff Writer
The flower shop in Marlinton, “In Bloom,” formerly The Flower Garden, has been a go-to for many residents for decades. Whether you’re a flower enthusiast, gifting for a special occasion, or maybe even giving the gift of flowers for no reason at all. Flowers have always been a unique gift, conveying emotion for any number of different scenarios like nothing else can do. There’s a simplicity to this beautiful thing that grows in various shapes and colors and fills the air with sweet fragrance.
Hillsboro resident Adrienne Cedarleaf purchased The Flower Garden in February this year and took on the task and joy of running her own business – In Bloom.
Before changing course to focus on her work as a florist, Ceadarleaf worked for the Yew Mountain Center in Hillsboro as its education coordinator, pooling experience as Watoga State Park’s Naturalist; this involved program planning which included: hikes, kids and adult activities, and much more. This experience allowed Cedarleaf to beautifully transition to the Yew Mountain position, later leading her to discover a new found love for floristry.
“I was always a vegetable grower,” Cedarleaf said. “For some reason, after COVID hit, I just wanted to grow more flowers. I was doing some landscaping in front of our house here and there, and I really enjoyed that part.”
Adding flowers to the landscaping opened up the idea for floristry, compelling her to grow more flowers herself. During some of her free time, Cedarleaf would help a friend who specialized in wedding floristry.
“I would always help her arrange flowers for weddings and go and install them with her,” Cedarleaf said. “She grew most of the flowers she used.”
Her friend had passively suggested that Cedarleaf grow more of her own flowers, and she slowly began to go for it, plowing almost a quarter-acre in front of her house to get started.
That year, she began selling to “Gillespie Flowers” in White Sulphur, and a few others, here and there, throughout surrounding areas.
“I really loved it,” she smiled. “It became a thing. And I couldn’t say no to flowers anymore.”
Later, word naturally made its way to Cedarleaf that the owner of The Flower Garden was planning to retire after a long and dedicated tenure at the shop. After she was asked to visit, Cedarleaf was able to get hands-on with the day-to-day shop activity, ensuring that it was something that she wanted to take on.
“I started going regularly over the course of last year just seeing how it worked and what it was like to have the shop – to do the different holidays, events…”
The Flower Garden has always been a service for the community’s flower needs for all occasions.
“I didn’t want to let that go,” Cedarleaf said.
She jumped on the opportunity. For her inventory, she grows her own flowers, while also purchasing from others as well.
“There’s a community high-tunnel that I have a few beds in,” she explained. “But most I just grow in the field and do low-tunnels, like now when it’s still cold. I have some planted that like the cold, that bloom when it’s a little chillier. And I just cover them with a row cover.”
Whether it’s for prom, weddings, birthdays, or perhaps even darker days when someone needs a bit of light, “In Bloom” is the source for your flowers.
“Flowers – at least for me – once you start with them, it’s hard to stop.”
In Bloom, at 212 8th Street in Marlinton is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The number to call is still 304-799-4012.
Visit her Facebook page, In Bloom Marlinton.
