Something More Than a Flower Shop

By Anna Hagen
Contributing Writer

When Kimberly Hess’s children were leaving the nest, years ago, she thought about gardening to fill her time. She didn’t know much about it. But with the help of a friend and a little bit of sunshine, she started a small garden on her farm just outside of Halstead, Minn.

Hess didn’t yet know that flower arrangements were a talent of hers. She didn’t feel ready to sell her goods at weekend-long farmers markets and street fairs. She didn’t want to sit for hours at a time selling her flowers—she wanted to team up with somebody else. 

She began bringing in buckets full of any plants—dead or alive—from her farmland into her friend’s flower shop to be sold. “Bring in anything you have,” her friend would say. And with no clue as to what she was doing, Hess collected vegetation from around her farmstead— prairie grass, weeds, twigs, flowers, random brush—and continued to bring in bucket after bucket of intentionally planted (and unintentionally planted!) bits and pieces from her garden and surrounding ditches.

Her friend had never added sticks, weeds, grass or brush to her vases, and people bought arrangement after arrangement.  They liked the more organic look instead of just done-up flowers. Her buckets of bits and pieces soon became a hit at her friend’s shop.

Hess spent the next ten years turning her 150 acres of prairie farmland into a colorful haven of wildflowers and herbs and continued to bring in buckets of grabbed materials to her friend. But that wasn’t the end.

Her first client as a freelancer was the Hotel Donaldson in Fargo, which asked her to create eighteen vases in just three days. “Three days!” she gasped, “Can’t be done!” But she finished just hours before the deadline. Five days later the HoDo asked for more. And again, five days later they asked for even more.

Though Hess never thought in her wildest dreams that she would be self-employed, she soon had a small route, including Hornbachers and a handful of flower shops, to which she would deliver her arrangements of flowers and brush.

Just a decade later, she is opening up her own flower shop called Prairie Petals in downtown Fargo at 623 NP Avenue, next to the Drunken Noodle and Wasabi Sushi.  Her shop features locally grown flowers, herbs, microgreens, dried brush and fresh seasonal produce.

And when asked what sets her apart from other flower shops in the area, Hess laughed and explained that the use of brush, twigs, weeds and dried plants really throw a twist on her arrangements and are used just as much as the colorful, typically used, flowers.

No two arrangements look the same and she does everything from corsages and wedding bouquets, to gigantic decorative vases. She chooses each piece carefully in order to create the perfect array of aesthetics and color.

“Each arrangement needs main characters, a supporting cast and some fillers,” she explained. But with the use of her own imagination and a little creativity, she throws a twist into each vase.
She strategically relates her arrangements to the home in which they will live. “It’s like picking out accessories for the day,” she says, “You choose your outfit before you reach for the jewelry.” By studying the setting in which her arrangements are going to be placed, she can better cultivate her plan of attack for each arrangement.

The doors are now open and the Prairie Petals are waiting to be picked. And with locally grown flowers and produce, where better to get the finest of ingredients.

“There is a huge garden all around me in the world,” Hess says, and she wants to share it with you.

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If You Go

What: Prairie Petals
Where: 623 NP Ave
When: M-F 9-6; Sat 11-3
Info: 701.364.0151