June Newsletter
FLOWER SHOP CHRONICLES
Introducing "The Rainbow"
Happy Birthday Bell and Trunk!
Mother's Day Gratitude
“Hope will never be silent.”
June is PRIDE Month!
In honor of Pride month we are featuring a LIMITED EDITON floral arrangement that is sure to make a statement. Move over “The Bohemian”, “The Garden Inspired “ and “The Sweetheart” and make room for Bell and Trunk’s loud and proud love child, “The Rainbow”. Color runs riot in this bouquet of Red, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Blue, Green and everything in between. As a LGBTQIA+-owned business it only feels natural to express our pride and gratitude through colorful blooms. This selection is perfect for that special drag queen, unicorn, dyke, butch, fairy, fag hag bear, twink or ally in your life.
Bell and Trunk is Celebrating 13 Years!
(The picture to the left is of the store widow in 1977 when it was a barber shop; photo courtesy of Peter Linenthal. The one on the right was taken on Mother's Day 2021 by Molly Graves.)
Bell and Trunk isn’t the new kid on the block anymore. On June 22nd we celebrate 13 years of business. This age may evoke images of awkward teenage youth, but I assure you, after surviving a recession and now a pandemic, we have reached full maturity. We’ve had our ups and downs and a few lean years but it has been absolutely worth it. When I took over the business in 2008 I had high hopes of making people happy for a living, learning strangers’ stories through flowers, and finding a way to express myself creatively and independently. Bell and Trunk did not disappoint. I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons along the way, but wouldn’t trade where Bell and Trunk is right now for anything. The people who come to Bell and Trunk for flowers not only support us financially, but also make us a better business by sharing their stories, their passions or their talents. The act of giving flowers to a loved one, to a cause, to a moment in time--or even to one’s self--creates an openness and connection that perpetuates even more growth. It’s only natural that we flourish when our customers do too.
I am currently working on tracing the history of Bell and Trunk Flowers along with the space 1411 18th Street for an upcoming newsletter. (Did you know I bought the business from Maxine and Joel, the current owners of Plow? Next time you are savoring those decadent lemon ricotta pancakes you know who to thank! ) If you have any memories or anecdotes you’d like to share I’d love to hear about it. Email me at vanessa@bellandtrunk.com.
Thank you for a Wonderful Mother's Day
A record number of special moms received their blooms from Bell and Trunk this year.
Thank you Jennifer, Molly and Zoe for sharing your talents with us. And a special thank you to my daughter, Elise, for pitching in too.
Mother's Day is a complicated holiday in this family. For almost 13 years my daughter, Elise, has had to share the day with her high maintenance younger sister, Bell and Trunk. In its nascent years, Bell and Trunk had a bottomless need for attention. Elise learned as a pre-teen that the best thing she could do for her mom around this time was to keep herself preoccupied. Fortunately, Elise was born with an uncommonly high level of maturity. The days were grueling, and the nights were wrought with intermittent sleep. My own wonderful mother just learned to be grateful for a greeting card.
Things have changed a lot since then. Bell and Trunk has reached a level of maturity and refinement that amazes me. In fact this year, we smashed all of our sales records! Elise stepped in to support Bell and Trunk in its dizzying level of productivity — and even managed to surprise mom and the team this year with a delivery of chocolate covered strawberries. Our relationship to Mother’s Day has evolved and we have learned to celebrate together in our own way. Rather than breakfast in bed and a leisurely drive down the coast, Mothers Day to us is a feeling of pride and celebration of accomplishment.
While Bell and Trunk will continue to be the flamboyant diva who commands all the attention on Mother’s Day, being Mom to Elise fills me with a profound sense of joy and love every day. Together we have learned to embrace the intensity of this holiday and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thank you Joyce Joyce Joyce Shulman for sharing your talents and capturing with your camera the raw beauty of Mother's Day for us!
And an extra special thank you to the sweet little boy who came for flowers for his mom and brought us lemonade from his lemonade stand. Hopefully some day we’ll catch your name!
Warmly,
Vanessa
“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change”