The Cottage Flower Shop offers home-grown beauty
“I want to make this a happy place — a place people want to be,” Mechel Wall said of her new shop — The Cottage Flower Shop.
Wall recently purchased the building on the corner of North Curtis Avenue and McCulloch Street that has housed flower shops for decades.
“I’m a flower artist,” Wall said, adding that as much as possible, her flowers will be American grown. She owns Wallflower Farms and will grow many of her own flowers.
“Last year was my first year growing on a large scale. It was hard to sell to other florists so I started doing more design work myself,” she said. “The timing was right; the building was available so I went ahead and bought the building.”
A graduate of Brigham Young University, Wall worked at a floral shop while in college. She and her husband, Barry, moved to the Northwest Arkansas area in 1994 and to Pea Ridge in 2012. She said she began a wedding business right after she and Barry were married.
“I did flowers and rental equipment,” she said, adding that she sold all of that after awhile but when she started “farming flowers,” she got back into the wedding business.
In addition to flowers and floral arrangements, Wall plans to offer
art work including book marks and prints from various artists in the Ozarks and a jewelry line from Eternal Hope Nepal that is sterling silver jewelry all handmade by artists in Nepal.
“Nothing will be mass produced,” she said.
Wall offers bridal consulting; she hired India Carlson from Fayetteville
to help in the shop and manage the bridal work.
“We’ll work on everything together so there will be a consistent style and look,” Wall said.
“We will always have fresh flowers, from Wallflower Farm about nine months out of the year,” she said. “The rest of the time, we will try to buy from
American-grown farmers. We want to have all American-grown flowers whenever possible.”
“I knew that I would be buying flowers through the winter, after that … when I have my own flowers, it will be easier,” Wall said. “I’ve hired someone to work the farm … we open at noon to give me the morning to work at the farm.”
In addition to the flower shop, Wall plans to plant inspiration gardens including a cottage garden, raised beds, shade garden with a water feature, a cutting garden and the community garden.
“We’ll never have to move the community garden again,” she said excitedly. Wall has managed the community garden for several years, offering the opportunity for people to grow their own food.
“We’ll have workshops once a week,” Wall said. Classes will include buying food from farmers market and preparing locally seasonal available — “we’ll go to farmers market, buy food, leave class with a box of food and recipes. Demonstrate how to prepare the recipe — see and taste.”
A flower arranging class will teach cutting flowers, principles of design, structure and technique. Gardening will teach how to put in a raised bed and starting seeds in a soil blocking method.
“It’s completely sustainable — you start in a little block of soil. Then, we’ll plant the whole community garden … people can come
and weed, water, pick …
“Hopefully, it will inspire people to do a garden of their own,” Wall said.
Prices for classes will range from $10 to $35 and are mostly for teens and adults, although she does plan to have some specific children’s classes including how to start seeds and making something for “mom.”
Practicing what she teaches, Wall plans to separate her trash for composting and recycling, as well.
“We’ll take care of corsages and boutonnieres,” Wall said, adding that she plans to kick off a program at the high school launching a “Pea Ridge style” with the flowers for Colors Day.
A full-service flower shop, Wall said she will provide flowers for weddings and funerals.
Wall was the founder of Benton County School of the Arts and served as founding board president for 12 years. In Pea Ridge, she serves on the Parks Commission. She and her husband have eight children and eight grandchildren. She said she is also a published author and wrote a book based on “ancient scripture about a family who faced a trail of faith … written from a woman’s perspective” that will come out in the spring.