By TARA LEMM
tlemm@northkitsapherald.com
KINGSTON — Rarely did her husband give her flowers. Occasionally he’d give them, but only if picked from the garden.
She got chocolates instead.
“He always said ‘Why do you need flowers? You have them,'” recalled Florene Wynn.
It’s not unromantic, it’s fact: She did have flowers. Acres of flowers.
She also made her life’s work arranging nature’s most colorful bounty so others could find joy in her vibrant creations.
Since 1985 Wynn has owned and operated Kingston’s only flower shop, Cut & Dried Flower Shop. That all changed Dec. 12, as Wynn had a stroke, crippling the left side of her body. As a result, she is currently Martha & Mary, a rehabilitation center in Poulsbo.
Wynn’s health is returning, but her Medicare dollars have run out and she’s moving to Liberty Shores on March 23 for at least a few months. Her hope is to return to her in Central Valley home in a few months.
But she won’t be able to return to her shop, it’s near impossible to design floral arrangements without her left hand. She must sell the business.
“I loved doing flowers for a wedding and making corsages for the children for the proms and dances. Those days are gone,” Wynn said, while sitting in a wheelchair at Martha & Mary Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not going to be able to run the business by myself so the business is up for sale. I was hoping someone could buy it who’d keep it running so Kingston could have the flower shop.”
Wynn got her start in Kingston by supplementing her daughter’s Upper Crust Bakery with a few bouquets. When the bakery moved to the shopping center people kept asking about the flowers. Her daughter gave her an old Coke cooler to stock. Wynn would take $100 over to Seattle, buy her product from wholesalers and refill the cooler. When she sold out, she’d take her earnings back over to Seattle and start the whole process again.
Wynn opened an independent shop in 1990 when Thriftway burned down and the bakery closed.
Flowers are Wynn’s archetype. Dahlias are her favorite.
“When we lived in Bremerton my parents grew dahlias on one whole side of our yard,” said Wynn’s daughter Charlotte Wynn. “My dad would stand in them and you couldn’t even see him. She’s always had flowers.”
When the Wynns purchased a farm in Central Valley in 1960, Wynn cultivated two acres of flowers.
Wynn loves flowers because they’re beautiful and make people happy, she said.
While at Martha & Mary, Wynn has enjoyed being on the receiving end of the flower business — Charlotte joked her mother can now critique the work of others — and has even had the opportunity to keep designing.
Martha & Mary has a green house and she’ll help the staff with a little designing.
Admittedly, Wynn will miss working with flowers. Above all, she’ll miss the people.
“I hate to sell my shop,” she says, “I’ll miss my customers. I enjoy working with the public.”
Wynn’s lease on the shop, located at 27099 Miller Bay Road, is good through the end of the year.
For more information, call (360) 297-4233.
