On not-so-good days, Kali Rabaut sees her flowers as inventory, or product, instead of living beings. “When I notice that, I know that I am not in the right place for me,” she recently told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

Rabaut—a farmer-florist who’s exhibited at the MFA St. Pete and Hotel Haya—doesn’t see her flowers as individuals, but she does mostly call them by she pronouns and tries to be open about what the garden is telling her about life.
[content-1] On CL’s late-April visit to Blue House Florals in Tampa Heights, her 3,000-square foot home was in bloom with a mix of spring flowers nearing the end of their time and summer plants starting to sprout.

Zinnia, blanket flower, marigold, snapdragon, dinner plate dahlia, straw flower, amaranth, celosia, bee balm, sunflower, camellia, larkspur, and cosmos are just some of the stems we saw—and they’ll surely make their way to Rabaut’s designs as part of Mother’s Day deliveries.

See more from her garden above.