Blooms of Hope

2021 Spring Collection

I distinctly remember the evening I met Kimberlee several years ago. We sat next to each other at the table of a mutual friend’s party.

I remember how her laughter and her exuberant spirit put me at ease in a room full of people, a situation that sometimes makes me feel small. She chatted with me and other guests comfortably. She told me she loved my perfume. And at the end of the night she said, “I really like you, Connie. I can tell we are going to be friends.”

Kimberlee is an artist. Her particular medium is florals. She runs her own florist business, Botanica Floral Atlanta, and she’s wickedly talented. Her distinctly gorgeous flower arrangements grace movie sets, hotels, large events, and people’s homes and offices. Her Instagram feed is like perusing a high-end luxurious magazine.

And while her botanical displays are phenomenally posh, Kimberlee is the most down-to-earth, nurturing soul you could meet. She lights up a room with her bright and loving soul.

While we usually hung out at parties hosted by our friends, it was last February when our friendship bloomed and grew deeper roots. Earlier in November 2019 the previous year, my mom had been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, and we were beginning her chemotherapy journey in February.

That first morning sitting in the lab where the hospital takes blood to test counts and prepares my mom’s port for IVs, I remember feeling nervous for her. We were sitting in the waiting room, when all of the sudden, Kimberlee came walking out from the lab area into the waiting room. Her head bald from chemo, I blurted out “Kimberlee?” She turned around with her giant bag in tow, and immediately smiled her warm, gracious smile and greeted us.

I explained that my mom was having her first chemo session, and from there Kimberlee became a chemo mentor, explaining what to expect, what to do for pain, what to do for other symptoms, sharing her story, and encouraging us that we would be fine.

She would call us often to check on my mom, even in the midst of all of her own therapy, while also working full time as a florist. She never made us feel bad about asking questions or calling her. She is a saint.

At the end of summer, Kimberlee learned she’d lost her insurance. Combined with slowing business due to the pandemic, the medical bills have piled up in crippling amounts. Every time she went in for chemo or radiation, the bill was enough to ruin you in one session let alone a year of treatment.

And yet, Kimberlee continues to give of herself, day in and day out with grace and selflessness. Because that’s just who she is. She doesn’t allow the fear of her situation to stop her from nurturing others or from giving her best version of herself.

So in my small effort to give back some of the incredible amount of love she has given us over the last year, especially, I created this collection to honor Kimberlee. Because she is a beacon of Hope.

For every purchase you make of the Spring of Hope collection, Plein de Bonté Studios will donate 50% of the profit to help Kimberlee with her medical expenses. And during the popup event time period, 20% of the profit from any original art will also go to Kimberlee.