May - The North Star Monthly

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12 MAY 2010 THE NORTH STAR MONTHLY Seed to flower Taylors have grown a local institution By Donna M. Garfield Beautiful flowers commemorate the happiest times of our lives, as well as the saddest. There are flowers for every special event. The scent of a certain flower may bring back a moment in time and, for a few minutes, that memory comes alive again. With the arrival of spring, flowers and plants will be in abundance at Artistic Gardens in St. Johnsbury Center. Owned by husband and wife team, Paul and Suzanne Taylor, the thriving florist shop has been in business for 24 years. In 1985, they bought the former Greener Garden Center which had sat empty for years. They made renovations and opened for business in February 1986. Paul and Suzanne have known each other since graded school and were high school sweethearts in Mahwah, New Jersey. They married in 1976. Suzanne grew up helping her father, Raymond Saufroy, in the business he started in 1954 called “Le Jardin du Gourmet.” It was a mail order seed and herb business along with some gourmet foods. Around 1978, he and his wife moved to West Danville. He continued his seed business by operating out of a small building on their property. It was strictly mail order. At one point, he ran an ad in a national magazine advertising 20-cent sample seed packets. Suzanne says, “He had no idea what that would bring. There were so many orders coming in.” Paul says, “Each mail tray had 2,000 letters in it and he had at least 20 of them sitting there waiting to be opened. He bought an electric letter opener and that was all I did.” Suzanne adds, “In our free time we helped so he could catch up. It took several months to get them all processed.” Paul and Suzanne moved to St. Johnsbury. Suzanne says, “When we first moved here and I needed a job, and I wasn’t working for my father, I was hired by Bob Sokol, who owned Greener Garden Center. He needed someone for his greenhouse. Then his designer quit and he needed someone in the shop, so he pulled me out of the greenhouse. He was the first one who showed me the basics. I learned a lot from him.” She really enjoyed working with flower arrangements. At one point when the economy was bad, Paul and Suzanne went to Colorado to work for Paul’s father in his liquor store. Suzanne did not like the desert and they moved back to New Jersey. Suzanne worked at a florist shop learning everything she could. The hours were long. They TOW IT! Towing Products by Receiver Hitches • Bike Racks Sway Bars • Fifth-Wheels Gooseneck Rail Systems Under Body Gooseneck Systems Pintle Hitches • Weight Distribution Systems Ball Mounts • Balls • T-Connectors Electrical Plugs • Lunette Rings • Locks 10% Off *Discount only applies to In-Stock items. Offer good until May 31, 2010. Hurry In! SOUTH MAIN AUTO SALES and SERVICE 448 Main Street • St. Johnsbury, Vermont 802-748-3219 • 802-748-9694 Authorized Briggs & Stratton Small Engine Repair Trusted Auto Repair for Over 18 Years. “Let us earn your trust.” decided if they were going to put that much time and energy into working for others that they should work for themselves. They wanted to be in Vermont so they moved back to St. Johnsbury. Eventually, Paul’s parents, Paul Sr. and Peggy Taylor, moved to St. Johnsbury Center. Paul and Suzanne work together every day. Suzanne is the creative side of the business; Paul is the accounting side. Their children, Heather, Mathew, and Michael, all of whom are in college now, spent their early years going to work with Mom and Dad. They had a crib and playpen there. There are happy memories of the children with ducks in the greenhouse and running through the sprinklers. As they got older, Heather helped in the shop and with the paperwork. Mathew and Michael worked with the trucks and the tractors. Suzanne says, “People don’t realize that flower shops and greenhouses are extremely physical work. You are on your feet, lugging and carrying.” Everyone at the shop helps with planting and transplanting. They start vegetable plants and flowers such as www.southmainsalesandservice.com • southmain1@charter.net * marigolds, petunias, geraniums, perennials, and herbs. “The mums will be coming in in a couple of weeks and we’ll have to start cuttings and potting them. There will be around 400 mum plants.” They have two full-time employees and three part-time employees. Weddings have changed over the years especially with the addition of the Internet. One wedding two years ago was done entirely over the Internet. The wedding took place in the Northeast Kingdom in the fall. Suzanne e-mailed photos back and forth with the bride until the bride decided on the flowers she wanted. It was a large wedding, and the bride did not want traditional flowers. Suzanne says, “They did 18 centerpieces and they were all different. It was one of the most awesome and fun weddings I have ever done in my life. It was very unusual and it was a blast.” She felt she could be really creative and came up with some great arrangements. “I never met the bride, but she sent me a note after her honeymoon telling me how much she liked the flowers.” They once had two weddings You are cordially invited to.... Howard Frank Mosher Book Discussion • Slide Show • Book Signing PLACE: Cobleigh Public Library DATE: TIME: on a Saturday. Suzanne says, “One of the weddings was all pink, and the bride was going to come in close to noon to pick up the flowers. The other wedding was all yellow, and the bride was coming in first thing in the morning. So I had all the yellow wedding flowers out. The bride for the pink wedding walked in and her mouth just dropped. She thought they were her flowers and they were the wrong color. She was speechless and I quickly said, ‘that’s not your wedding.’” The bride was so thankful. Her flowers were still in the cooler. Do women send flowers to men? Suzanne says, “Yes, they do and quite frequently. They tend to try and be very conservative. They do not want big flowery bouquets for men. Usually, the arrangements contain bolder flowers and less of them. They have more line and style with flowers such as irises, sunflowers, and birds of paradise. Roses are popular.” What is the favorite color for roses? Unsurprisingly, red. Paul notes that the economy dictates trends in flowers. For example, when the economy is good Tuesday, May 18 th 7:00 PM Newest book, WALKING to GATLINBURG GREEN MOUNTAIN BOOKS Broad Street, Lyndonville, VT (802) 626-5051 Open M-F 10-6 • Sat 9-5
www.northstarmonthly.com MAY 2010 13 and everyone is working, people tend to buy poinsettias with unusual colors. When the economy is bad like it is now, people tend to go back to the traditional colors. People are more open to things when the economy is good. The biggest day for their shop is Valentine’s Day. Suzanne says, “It is extremely intense.” Paul remembers that “one time a young guy came in and bought a dozen roses, wrapped. There was another guy in here. The first one walked out to his car and handed the roses to his girlfriend, and she put her arms around him and gave him the biggest kiss. The second guy stood here in the store watching. When the salesclerk asked if she could help him, he said, ‘Yeah. I want what he got.’” Obviously, he was hoping for the same response. Overall, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year. The Christmas season is busy and orders stretch from Thanksgiving to Christmas. They also sell wreaths. The first year they bought the building, Suzanne personally made 3,000 wreaths by hand. Suzanne’s favorite holiday is Mother’s Day. She says, “On Mother’s Day everyone is in a good mood. Moms are happy. Summer is coming. They want plants. They want flowers. It is the time of year when the sun is shining, people seem happier and things are starting to turn green.” Artistic Gardens buys from various wholesalers in Vermont and the one they use most frequently is in Middlesex. The wholesalers buy the flowers from the growers. Suzanne explains that there is an entire process that takes place. “The grower cuts them. It can be in Holland, California, South America, Connecticut, or many other places. The flowers are chilled immediately and shipped in a cold truck or cold container. They go to the wholesaler and he does the same thing.” The flowers are delivered Dr. Richard Leven Dr. Stephen Feltus to Artistic Gardens where they are cut under water, put in a preservative solution, and placed in the cooler. Many years ago, flowers arrived on the bus from Boston. Suzanne says, “It was a nightmare. When I worked for Bob Sokol, we kept silk roses in stock. He would call Boston weeks before a wedding and say he needed pink roses, and sometimes they would come in on the bus and they were yellow.” What is it like working together as husband and wife? Suzanne says, “I love it.” Paul says, “It’s great.” They have their specific areas. Paul says, “She runs the flower shop and the greenhouse. I do the business end of it and the mail order business. She grows plants and we kind of merge in the winter when the flower shop is not as busy. Then they help me with the seeds. We go home together every night and come in together every morning.” Suzanne says, “We like each other so it helps.” Suzanne is boss of the flower shop and makes most of the decisions, but she will confer with Paul if she wants to make a major decision because he is in charge of the finances. “I’ll tell him this is what I want to do and we talk about it.” Paul says, “When you are in a business like this and you are worried about the business end of it, you cannot be creative. As long as you have someone you can trust to do it, it works out well.” He adds, “We get along real well.” Suzanne agrees, “We always have.” In 1988, Suzanne and Paul bought “Le Jardin du Gourmet” from Raymond Saufroy. At that time, Paul modernized the mail orders with a computer. Sample seed packets can be ordered for 35 cents each so that people can try them in their gardens. Paul buys the seeds from wholesalers all over the country. He says, “All seeds have to be tested and it is about $700-$800 to have a seed tested. For me to grow seed and test it, it would be too expensive.” He buys most seeds by the pound, divides them up, and puts them in the sample packets. Some of the more expensive seeds are bought by the ounce. Paul says, “We have over 90 different herbs that we sell.” The number of seeds in an envelope depends on the particular seed. A seed like Angelica is going to have three seeds in it. Chives and parsley will have 75-100 seeds. The sample packets are a special favorite of people who do container gardening because they do not have time to weed a garden or because they live in apartments and do not have a lot of space. People will order 70 to 80 different sample seed packets. Some order up to 200. If they like them, they can buy large packets the next year that cost more. Artistic Gardens has customers in all 50 states and overseas as well as seed racks in stores in New York City. They do not mail out many catalogs. One can browse and order through the catalog on-line at www.artisticgardens.com. Their wreaths were on the cover of Vermont Magazine in 2007. About 10 years ago, they made kissing balls that were featured in Yankee Magazine. Suzanne has talked about garden mums for a Martha Stewart program on the radio. She has also done a how-to video for monkeysee.com on how to make Christmas wreaths. When they are not around plants and flowers, Paul and Suzanne like to hike, kayak, swim, and fish. Suzanne also likes to work in her huge vegetable garden at home in the evenings. Suzanne says, “We like working. It’s a fun business. The kids are very important to us. Every decision we made was with them in mind. Now we are looking forward to the next chapter. We still have to figure that one out.” Bob Amos Band May 14 The Bob Amos Band, one of the most popular, high energy bands in all of Vermont, will welcome spring with a special benefit concert and CD release party at 7:30 pm Friday, May 14, at the North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury. A benefit for Catamount Arts, the performance will feature songs from the band’s new CD “Wide Open Blue” which will officially go on sale that day. The Bob Amos Band consists of nationally known singer/songwriter Bob Amos on guitar and lead vocals, Gary Darling, who also fronts his own band Gopher Broke, on mandolin, Amos’ son Nate, a 2009 graduate of St. Johnsbury Academy, on drums and vocals and Amos’ daughter Sarah, a junior at St. Johnsbury Academy, on percussion and vocals. In addition to songs from the new “Wide Open Blue” CD, the band will also perform a selection of other songs from Amos’ previous CD’s and a few high energy covers of some classic golden oldies. For 15 years, Amos toured as lead singer, guitarist and songwriter/arranger for the awardwinning bluegrass band Front Range, which toured throughout the USA and Europe, and recorded 8 CD’s, including 5 for Sugar Hill Records. The group features soaring harmony vocals and intricate guitar work set in a high energy folk framework.The songs from Amos’ new CD range in influence from folk to bluegrass and Celtic, and from country to rock-a-billy. Tickets for the event are available by calling the Catamount Arts Box Office at 1-802-748- 2600 or by visiting the Box Office on Eastern Avenue in St. Johnsbury from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. GOODRIDGE LUMBER ALBANY, VERMONT • 755-6298 12th Annual Log Home Seminar Co-hosted by Goodridge Lumber, Inc. and Perma-Chink Systems, Inc. The same workshop will continue to be held two different days: Saturday, May 15 OR Sunday, May 16 9 a.m. - 12 noon (both days) 25 % FOR: Builders, applicators, new and existing log home owners. WHERE: Goodridge Lumber Warehouse - Irasburg, Vermont OFF Transition Lenses Lenses darken in sunlight and return to normal under regular light conditions. Offer Expires May 31, 2010 Attend the discussions and demonstrations with Goodridge Lumber and Perma-Chink Systems. Learn about log home construction and the products used in their construction, maintenance and restoration. Both new and existing logs benefit from the Perma-Chink family of products - cleaners, preservatives, sealants, stains, finishes, log home screw and more. See a demonstration of media blasting with Perma-Chink’s Blaster Buddy. There is no charge for this seminar. In order to reserve your space and workshop materials, call Goodridge Lumber at 755-6298 or visit us at www.goodridgelumber.com The Log Home Care and Maintenance Authority
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May - The North Star Monthly

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