Maggie Bailey said she found her love of floral design by joining a floral guild at her church a few years ago.
“It turned out that I actually really liked flowers, so [floral design] kind of stuck,” Bailey said.
In mid-August, Bailey and her husband, Mick, opened Bramble & Bee in Tomball. The shop offers floral services for celebratory events, including weddings and holidays.
Owner Maggie Bailey prepares a garden-style bouquet, similar to those that will be available for Valentine’s Day.[/caption]
Bailey, a self-taught floral designer, has prepared event flowers for four years and previously owned a flower studio in the River Oaks community near downtown Houston. However, the shop’s small size did not allow her to showcase the range of flowers available, as there was no space for a cooler to preserve the flowers.
In addition to ready-made bouquets and floral design space, the Tomball storefront also features a boutique area with items such as ceramics, succulents and gift items.
“The boutique side that has nothing to do with flowers has been really fun—pairing retail with flowers,” Bailey said. “We set our shop up so you can come in and work, also.”
Bailey said she draws inspiration from English floral design. She offers hand-tied bouquets, which are wrapped in paper rather than gifted in a vase.
“You should be able to just take your bouquet, unwrap it and put it in a vase, and it will look magical,” she said. “We really love a garden-style bouquet that looks like it could have grown that way.”
The floral arrangements feature seasonally available flowers from both the U.S. and other countries, Bailey said.
“We wanted to bring in flowers that you can’t really find anywhere else,” Bailey said.
As the Tomball shop grows, Bailey said she hopes to offer more workshop sessions in which customers can learn about floral design and other arts, like calligraphy.
Bailey said she enjoys the relational aspect of floral design now that the larger space lets her do more events.
“Now we get to meet people on their wedding day, [and then we get to do] all the different events in their lives,” she said. “We have people we just get to celebrate with all year, which is great.”
Bramble & Bee[/caption]
