Atwood has always been part of our family story.

Like many Dutch immigrants in the 1950s, my grandparents came from the Netherlands and built a life here through faith, patience, and hard work. My grandfather began as a landscaper and gardener, helping grow flowers, before buying a farm just outside Atwood. There, he and my grandmother raised nine children and built a dairy farm rooted in this community.

Years later, when he retired from dairy farming, my grandfather bought a little house in Atwood, just around the corner from the Elma Memorial Community Centre and Lion’s Park. He and my grandmother took great pride in their flowerbeds, growing everything from foxgloves and ornamental hostas to ornamental thistle.

As a six-year-old farm boy, I could not understand growing ornamental thistle on purpose. On the farm and in the produce garden, thistles were something we weeded out. But now, as the local florist serving Atwood, a little accent of thistle has become one of our favourite touches in a bouquet.

My grandparents have both passed on now, but I think they would be happy to know that their grandson is still helping make and deliver beautiful flowers to Atwood.

Every time I make a flower delivery to Atwood, I think of my grandmother’s flowerbeds; the beauty she tended, the pride she took in them, and especially those thistles.

So when we deliver flowers to Atwood today, it feels personal, because It is a place tied to our family, our work, and our love of flowers.