How a Love of Zinnias Turned Into a Flower Shop

The Beginning

Back in 2014, Sandy Merchel was spending her summers at farmers markets, buying armfuls of zinnias and sunflowers just to have them around her kitchen. She wasn’t a florist. She worked in tech marketing, and flowers were her escape—something tactile and real after a day of spreadsheets. One Saturday, a friend asked if she could put together flowers for a small wedding. Sandy spent an entire Friday night in her garage with floral wire and tape, and when the bride saw the arrangements, she actually cried.

That moment cracked something open. Three months later, Sandy gave notice at her marketing job. She rented a tiny 400-square-foot stall at a local farmers market in SE Portland and named it Sandy’s Flower Shop. She didn’t have a storefront website or an Instagram account. Just flowers, a cash box, and the names of three local growers she’d befriended over years of weekend shopping.

Behind the Blooms

Twelve years later, we’re still small. We have one brick-and-mortar location on Belmont Street and a team of three full-time florists: Sandy, Marcus (who joined in 2018 and handles all our wedding orders), and Elena (2020, our dahlias person). We don’t use imported flowers shipped from thousands of miles away. Instead, we work with three growers within fifty miles of Portland—Wildflower Meadows in Sauviem Island, Thistle & Vine Farms over in Wilsonville, and Blooming Grounds Collective just outside the city.

What that means in practice: our inventory changes weekly. In June, we’re drowning in peonies and garden roses. In February, it’s hellebores and eucalyptus. We’ve never promised someone a specific flower if it’s not in season locally, and we’ve refused orders that required importing flowers that came with a huge carbon footprint. It makes us slower, sometimes more expensive, but it’s worth it.

Our Design Approach

We don’t really have a “house style”—each of our florists designs differently. Marcus leans into greenery and negative space, very modern and minimalist. Elena can’t help herself with color combinations that shouldn’t work but somehow do. Sandy tends toward dense, romantic arrangements with lots of texture. But we do share one rule: nothing looks like a grocery store bouquet. We use floral frogs, we prune deeply, we think about the vase as part of the arrangement, and we always—always—use clean water and proper conditioning.

Our two signature arrangements are the Belmont Garden (named for our street), which changes seasonally but always includes dahlias, garden roses, and lush greenery, and the Portland Rain, a moodier arrangement of blue-grey eucalyptus, brunia, and pale pink spray roses. People order these without calling or browsing—they just come in and say, “I’ll take a Belmont Garden.”

Values We Stand By

We pay our growers fairly. We’ve watched other florists squeeze their suppliers on price, then complain about quality. We’ve chosen the opposite road: we’ve kept the same three farms for over a decade because we believe in steady, predictable business for them, and because we actually trust their practices.

We’re closed Mondays. This isn’t a hustle flex—it’s because everyone needs a break, and we have a small team. We don’t offer same-day delivery because the orders would pile up and we’d start cutting corners. If you need flowers in two hours, we’re not the shop for you, and that’s okay.

We listen. When a customer came in saying our roses were wilting in a day, we didn’t blame them or their vase. We changed suppliers and drove out to Wildflower Meadows to see the new bunch being prepped. We stayed for three hours asking questions.

Local Partners & Growers

We work exclusively with three farms that we’ve visited, whose practices we understand, and whose owners we consider friends. Wildflower Meadows on Sauviem Island grows garden roses, zinnias, and sunflowers on about eight acres. Thistle & Vine Farms specializes in dahlias and unusual foliage. Blooming Grounds Collective is newer—started by two former finance people who got tired of their old lives and now grow eucalyptus, spray roses, and hellebores.

Having these relationships means we can text someone at 3pm on a Tuesday and ask, “Do you have any pale peach garden roses?” and actually get an answer. It means we know exactly how our flowers are grown, how far they’ve traveled, and that the person growing them isn’t getting underpaid.

FAQ

Do you deliver?

We offer local delivery within Portland (zip codes 97214–97225) for orders placed at least 48 hours in advance. Delivery is $15. We do not offer same-day delivery.

What if you don’t have the exact flower I want?

We’ll suggest what we do have in season, or we can special-order—but with a two-week lead time. We won’t compromise on availability just to say yes.

Do you do wedding flowers?

Yes. Marcus handles all wedding and event work. We book about 25 weddings a year, so we fill up fast. Consultations are free, and we typically need three months’ notice.

What’s your substitution policy?

If a specific flower isn’t available on your delivery date, we call you to confirm before swapping in something similar. We don’t just substitute without asking.