I’m Bethany and I’m greedy for miracles.

I started Butterkup Flowers in 2013, a small floral design studio in the basement of my Takoma Park MD home. I specialize in free flowing organic designs in unconventional containers - flea market finds, heirloom silver plate, copper-leaf on tin cans, upcycled tea tins, etc. I am obsessed with the unexpected.

But my obsession had a traditional start. I had worked for years in a florist where the conventional wisdom was that American didn’t care where their flowers came from - or that they were doused with chemicals and often had their gorgeous smell bred out of them for the sake of sturdy stems that could withstand weeks in cargo holds. Conventional wisdom held that this was merely “market forces at work” and it would take a miracle to revive the American-grown flower economy.

Well. Guess what I found in my travels through Mid-Atlantic? Hundreds of Miracle Workers and their unconventional flower farms.

I now work with a variety of flower farms in Maryland and Virginia - so closely in fact that I spent a year as a farm hand at M and M Plants in Dickerson, MD, where Mark and Madgie McGaughan taught me the hard and soul-enriching work of making flower miracles happen.

I’m also bringing these miracles to urban micro-farms in the backyards of homes in Takoma Park and Silver Spring. Reclaiming suburban spaces brings a host of the miracle workers we overlook: butterflies, bees, and birds, to name a few. Growing without chemicals mean all these little miracles can coexist while tender bits of natural magic soften the edges of our world.

Modern Life is hard on our tender human souls. We shouldn’t settle for convenient, standardized flowers. We shouldn’t have the smell bred out of us. I hope you’ll take time to recharge with some unexpected miracles.

Visit my blog or IG often to see what's local and lovely today and everyday!

Photos by me!