Botanical Blooms Blossoms

Sheri Washington knows weddings. After all, she's been providing flowers to marriage ceremonies and to people organizing other happy occasions for nearly 15 years, running her business, Botanical Blooms, out of her home in Denville.

But Washington, who is the preferred florist for the Newark Airport and the Park Ridge Marriott hotels, was looking for a central location from which she could bring her flowers to weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and other celebrations.

"My husband told me, 'You're getting too busy,' Washington said with a laugh as she sat in the Roosevelt Avenue store on Friday, as the sun brightly shined through the windows and glanced off the Hawthorne yellow-painted walls. "You need to stop doing it in the house."

So Washington opened up shop in Chatham, where her store is filled with flowers that donate the space a fragrant flavor. (She singled out the stock flower, which she called "the best smelling flower ever.") She is renting space from Dance Innovations, which is also located in the Town Square shopping center in Chatham.

She has been arranging bouquets for as long as she can remember. "Even as a young girl, I used to love doing crafts and gardening and creating," she said.

After working with flowers for some time, she said, it made sense for her to begin selling them.

"Everyone would ask me to do stuff, so I said, 'I might as well start a business,'" she said.

Washington said she "loves" Chatham for its charm and for its central location.

She considers flower sales to be a good business, even when economic times are tough.

"There's a really big need for bridal flowers," she said. "Even though it might be a recession, people are still getting married."

Washington will sell flowers from her storefront, but she will continue to do weddings in the meantime, with an eye toward making her customers relaxed and happy.

"It doesn't have to be stressful," she said. "It's flowers."