True Heart Flower Farm

BY SARAH MANSHEIM

Photos courtesy of Alaina Hower, Erica Agee Photography, and The Oberports

Alaina Hower, the grower and floral designer who owns True Heart Flower Farm is figuring that out as the COVID-19 pandemic has derailed most of the weddings on her books. 

“Many of my early Spring weddings have indefinitely postponed,” she says. “Weddings I planned to design in April, May, or June are being rescheduled.” 

Now, Hower is coming up with fresh ideas for her cut flower business while also planning for future weddings.  “I’m even more eager to create gorgeous bouquets for these folks once this storm passes and they are able to once again celebrate together,” she says.

But with large gatherings a long way off, Hower is focusing her business plan to individuals and smaller venues, mainly households whose members could use a little cheering up. 

“I’ve always offered delivery bouquets alongside wedding design. This year, with fewer weddings, I’ll definitely have more weekly bouquets available for purchase,” she says.

Hower is offering bouquet drop-offs in downtown Lewisburg while also offering meet-ups with her customers who live further out of town. Through deliveries and meet-ups, Hower seeks to balance personalized customer service with necessary social distancing. 

“My heart will be in my flowers, and you’ll know that even if you don’t see me when I bring a bouquet your way,” she says. 

Hower grows all of her flowers from seed, a unique aspect of her business that sets her apart from many other floral designers. This past May, she planted flowers in the high tunnel she leases at Sprouting Farms, a non-profit farm and resource center located in Summers County. This is her fourth year in business, and before COVID, she was ready for her busiest season yet, with 10 weddings on her books as of March. Hower was looking forward to booking nearly every weekend between June and October, prime wedding season in West Virginia. 

Over these last four years, Hower has become well-known for her stylish and innovative approach to floral design. Her use of native, wild plants and found feathers alongside more traditional blooms result in arrangements that are both whimsical and elegant.

Like many entrepreneurs, her path to True Heart Flower Farm was a winding one. Hower, 32, had made quick haste out of Lewisburg after high school, heading to college in Pittsburgh, and then back again to Lewisburg and the local New River Community and Technical College. She worked in the kitchen at the local Irish Pub until she was “laid off-ish,” when she then began landscaping and creating flower beds in people’s yards in downtown Lewisburg.

Her yardwork evolved into making bouquets, and when a friend who was getting married asked her to do the flowers, Hower jumped in.

“I was like, ‘am I gonna do this?’ It’s a fun and creative outlet, so I decided, ‘Yes!’” she says of her first wedding. Her flowers were a hit, and she was asked to do more weddings.

“Before I had the high tunnel, I knew I wanted to grow my own flowers. I had been harvesting flowers out of people’s beds and ditches and fields–I called it guerilla gardening,” she says. “When I started out, I didn’t know very much–I still don’t know very much. But I picked a tunnel and have been growing flowers there ever since.”

Hower may claim to not know much, but the way she handles all aspects of her business belies that claim. Beyond the growing and arranging of the flowers, Hower creates her own advertising and social media campaigns, photographs her gardens and floral arrangements, and stays busy year-round, the winter months filled with a successful season of wreath-making (her wreaths are glorious too).

How does she know what to grow? “I’m on Instagram all the time, looking at what’s trending and things that have a good vase life,” she says. But mostly, she says, it’s intuitive. “I just grow what I like. I grow zinnias, dahlias, yarrow, snapdragons, everlasting strawflowers, and eucalyptus. Most brides like roses, and I order those with Chris Glover from Greenbrier Cut Flowers. I’ve learned a lot from him.

“I still harvest wildflowers out of fields and ditches. I have some secret spots, and I try to be conscious and not pick a whole field,” she says.

During summer, balancing the weddings with the high tunnel is a delicate process. July is peak season in the 2,000-square foot high tunnel. Inside, three, 100-foot rows are bursting with blooms, and outside, an additional 100-foot bed is popping with flowers too. 

Despite the balance in the busy seasons, and the downturn of COVID, Hower loves what she’s doing.

“At the end of the day, my hands are dirty, my feet are dirty. I have a suntan. It’s so fulfilling.”