All About Thistle Bee & Me

ABOUT ME

Hi, my name is Amanda Duncan and I have always loved flowers. Coming to this country from England in 1981 at the age of 16, I immediately caught the entrepreneurial bug and have owned a number of creative businesses in my life here in the USA. There have been two constants in those experiences; 1. That as a creative I can find joy in any artful pursuit - landscape drafting, web design, business consulting, graphic design, candle making, soap making, teaching craft classes, at one time I was even a personal chef... and,  2. Though not in order of importance, the joy I feel when my customers are happy is my driving force! I will go to extreme lengths to make sure I deliver a WOW. 

A day spent at San Francisco Flower Market is my version of a shopping day at the mall or a picnic on the beach. The selection of flowers available from all over the world is just mind blowing. I fill my car to the gills every time - I have no restraint. In recent years the local growers popping up around Placer, Sacramento, El Dorado, Yuba, Nevada and Yolo Counties have become spectacular. I make every effort to reach out to each one and visit them when possible, to see what they're growing and how I can incorporate their beautiful flowers into my events. Flowers in season and grown locally are the ideal solution to a sustainable floral industry and healthiest for our environment and our world.  

What I love most about being a florist is the instant you see beautiful flowers you feel and emotion. They're very powerful. They elevate any place or moment and create feelings of joy, appreciation and memory.

Flowers are little miracles of evolution creating joy and lifting spirits everyday and while we admire them for their fragrance and beauty, the bees who keep our bellies filled and our planet alive benefit from the variety grown here in volumes. We are very lucky in our region with plenty of water and amazing weather perfect for growing just about everything and the bounty is not lost on me in any way.

After years of freelancing florals for friends and family, I am elated to finally do what I love full time: designing beautiful blooms to make life’s special moments more memorable. If you have an event or an idea for a gift, or even just a day when you need a floral intervention, please send me a message or give me a call. I would be happy to design the flowers you need. 

WHY FLOWERS?

As a kid growing up in England, I was always aware how every year marched to the beat of the next wildflowers coming into bloom. Snow drops always came first and were the real sign that freezing cold temps were about to change. In Spring and Summer, I wandered the Hampshire countryside finding the most ancient of woods filled with carpets of wild bluebells or primroses. Summer paths beneath arches of age-old hazelnut trees and miles of golden barley fields. I still don’t know how I ever found my way home but always did. Sometimes with arms filled with blooms. On one occasion a mass of daffodils for my Mum, who summarily followed me a few miles out to where they had come from. In retracing my path over styles and belly climbing through hedge rows only to find out they were actually from someone’s garden… the owner of the daffodils was very forgiving… Did you know if you let daffodils go 'wild' they will cover acres of grassy nooks and crannies? All you need is time. They were stunning and luckily the hundred or so I had picked made an insignificant dent in the thousands of wild daffodils blanketing a very old garden, it was ancient. And, while my Mum was horrified and embarrassed by my apparent theft, it left me with an indelible memory of those beautiful yellow trumpets of every variety gently waving in the breeze just waiting to be admired. I'll never forget them. Needless to say, I have always loved flowers and even more so, love to share them. Although I now understand and respect that a wildflower needs to stay put and so I take lots of photos to remember them by.

My Nan is my biggest inspiration, Beatrice Taylor. She always had a garden filled with flowers. In England at a time weather ruled the seasons with an iron fist and anyone who could successfully create and maintain a garden did so by shear hard work and knowledge. My Nan always had flowers - Roses, hyacinths, daffodils, daisies, sweet peas. Even when she had a garden that had very little light, she found a way. I think of her every time I finish an arrangement. I don't waste a bloom. I just know how much she would have loved doing this. So, in honor of her, the English countryside, Queen Elizabeth II, God Rest Her Soul, and for all of those yet to be given a Thistle Bee arrangement, know that I will always do my best for every one of you.

I look forward to creating new floral moments that create joy for all of my customers every day.

Yours truly,

Amanda Duncan