It takes a good eye to make art with flowers.

Gayle Brown and Jamie Hayre, the florists at Craft Nook, said they love creating art with their wide selection of roses, carnations, gladiolus, tulips and more.

Brown, who is from Lexington but resides in Winchester, has been a florist for nearly 40 years. She has worked for the Craft Nook for more than 10 years and is a certified Kentucky Master Florist. Hayre, on the other hand, said he left the hair industry about two years ago to pursue his new passion for flowers and has been with the Craft Nook since April 2018.

Brown said she met Hayre, a Lexington native, at the annual Kentucky Florists’ Association convention and was impressed by his work.

This week, they are particularly busy as Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year, Brown said. They have worked on more than 150 floral arrangements to be sent on Valentine’s Day, excluding the flowers sent on the remaining days of the week.

Winchester Sun: How did you get into the flower business?

Gayle Brown: I was in FFA in high school. I worked in the greenhouses and stuff like that school. They had a co-op, and it was like if you could get a job in your field, you could get paid for that and still get class credit. So, I bugged a lady at a place called Designs by Duke in Lexington back in the ‘70s. I bugged her enough that she finally hired me. So, yeah, basically through FFA.

Jamie Hayre: After doing hair for 30 years, I wanted something new and different and exciting and challenging. And something also that I am passionate about which flowers. I love working with flowers, and you have to follow your passion to be happy, and I thought why not give it a try. So, here I am.

WS: What do you love best about being a florist?

GB: I love my customers, making them happy. It makes me happy when they come in and say “oh, that’s gorgeous, that’s just what I wanted,” when you can kind of get in their head and figure out what they want too. And of course, I’ve done it ever since I was little. My granny and mamaw had gardens, and they would encourage that stuff, putting them in vases. I grew up with it, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

JH: Probably the interaction with people and making people’s days special. It’s very personal. Not only dealing with Valentine’s Day especially is very personal but you do a lot of funeral work, and that’s something that is very personal. You have to bring some comfort to the family. And then weddings. People trust you to do something that is going to be in their memories and pictures for the rest of their lives. So, I feel like that’s a great honor to be able to do that.

WS: What are your favorite flowers?

GB: I’m more toward the tropicals just because I don’t get to work with them a lot. I do have a couple of customers that do enjoy them. I do have some bird of paradise and protea … but I do have some tropical flowers. It’s just something I don’t get to work with all the time …

I like all the flowers. That’s like if someone asks me what’s my favorite color. It depends on what day it is and what mood I’m in because I like them all. And that’s fun because you get to work with them all. It is an artistic scheme. We’re called flower artists because you do get to do different designs and work with different materials. It’s kind of like our canvas.

JH: Probably tulips, I would say. It’s very rare and certain times of the year they come.

WS: What separates you all from a shopping mart when it comes to purchasing flowers?

JH: What separates us, from say, Kroger, is quality. When we are buying, we buy straight from the wholesalers and growers. So, we get fresher products and typically longer stems and higher grade, Grade A, flowers. Drugstores, grocery stores, things like that, they buy what’s been cut down so many times, by the time you get them, your flowers are like 10 inches long. When we get them, they’re like 18, 20 inches long, fresh. So, flowers in grocery stores are much older by the time they get to them than by the time we get … We get flowers daily.

Like I said the difference between a grocery store and us is quality. You get much better quality, and nicer developed flowers because they buy lower grade product to save the money so they can pass that onto customers.

GB: (Grocery stores) also have the buying power like Kroger of how many stores Kroger has, so they get a better price on that too.

WS: What has been the most rewarding experience during your florist tenure?

GB: Probably coming in second best in the state in 2012, that was pretty awesome.

JH: Right now, I am pursuing becoming an AIFD, which is the American Institute of Floral Design. Since I’ve been chasing that dream, it’s been very rewarding because they have international conferences every year and you get to meet new people from around the United States. I’ve met lots of friends through the floral industry throughout the United States … that’s something you never would get to do if it wasn’t for this industry … that’s very good in my heart, and I plan on doing that in July, hopefully.

WS: What is the weirdest thing you have seen or experienced during your floral career?

GB: I could tell you what I don’t like that they ask for is when we have to spray things black like for a 40th or 50th birthday. It’s not even that weird, but if you’re going to spend that money, why wouldn’t you want it to be pretty. Or sending old flowers, I don’t want to put my name on that … but it’s what the customer ordered. They’re the ones paying for it, so you do what they want … We’ve had interesting color combinations.

JH: One of the things about this is it changes daily, you really never know when the phone rings what’s going to be the request. It’s always a surprise, you never know. Nothing surprises me.

WS: What are some flowers people should order more often?

JH: I would say carnations. Carnations used to be a real popular flower, and they went out for a while just because they were so inexpensive. People didn’t realize they went away from them. So, they’re making a comeback big because there are so many more varieties of carnations than there are of roses. So, not only can you get different colors and different varieties, you can get the longevity of them. They last longer than a rose. You can probably get two more weeks out of a carnation than you can a rose … Flowers has gotten to the point that it’s a treat or for special occasions which I think is sad because I think people should enjoy them every day. It brightens up their life, brightens up their home. I wish people would get into the habit of enjoying them every day. Carnations are a good price point where people can do that.

GB: Carnations would’ve been what I said also. I think part of the problem is people tend to associate them with different things. Like gladiolus, carnations, most people associate them with funerals … Flowers shouldn’t be looked at that way. It should be looked at by its beauty … what has been created and grown for its beauty, not for where it goes to … I love beautiful gladiolus.