With time slipping away, Laura Damon Hanson was determined to give her friend Naomi, in the final stages of her 5 ½-year battle with cancer, one last experience with peonies, her favorite flower.
She didn’t realize it would be so hard to find peonies in March. Luckily, a small yet powerful network of floral professionals was positioned to help — once she connected with them. What followed that initial connection is a testament to faith, love, determination, community and, most of all, the impact of giving and receiving flowers.
A Bond Through Time
Hanson and Naomi met in their hometown in Wisconsin as teenagers working a summer job. They bonded, and a life-long friendship ebbed and flowed as they entered adulthood. Naomi traveled as a missionary, eventually landing in Texas. Text messages, phone calls, social media posts and other small exchanges kept the two friends connected in recent years.
Naomi entered hospice in February and is intentionally spending her final days doing what she loves, mostly spending time with her family.
Back in Wisconsin, Hanson reflected on her friend’s circumstances and life. She quickly zeroed in on peonies. The bold, fragrant bloom was a presence throughout Naomi’s life. Her mother grew them in Wisconsin, and as an adult Naomi often posted pictures of her mother’s peonies.
Hanson wanted her to have one last smell of the familiar aroma, one last look at the fluffy petals and brilliant sphere. She wanted to give her the physical connection to something that had been a presence throughout her life.
“She always loves peonies,’” Hanson recalls thinking. “This is something that she deserves to see before she dies, and she deserves to experience them one more time.”
On a Mission
She searched online. She called florists throughout Houston. She called grocery stores. She struck out again and again, because the flower is seasonal and not widely available in March. Undeterred, she found a peony community group on Facebook and posted her story. Someone suggested she reach out to a floral wholesaler.
On March 1, Lisa Nason, marketing director at Kennicott Brothers, saw the private Facebook message Hanson sent Kennicott.
“She reached out and literally asked me for a miracle,” Nason says.
Nason, in Chicago, quickly went to work. She couldn’t fulfill the request through Kennicott because the company doesn’t have a branch in Texas, but she knew there were other options.
She typed a quick message to the Society of American Florists’ WhatsApp group of NextGen floral professionals, which she had joined a month earlier. Christine Rodriguez, who had just attended SAF’s Next Gen LIVE! event in Dallas and joined the group four days prior, answered immediately: Allure Farms could help.
“When I read the message on the group chat, I felt it deep down in my soul and heard a voice in my spirit say, ‘Send the flowers no matter what the cost,’” Rodriguez says.
She sourced the peonies from a farm in Israel — the only country producing the flower in March, Nason notes.
A Gift of Faith and Flowers
On March 5, 50 stems of Sarah Bernhardt pink peonies arrived in Texas, to Naomi’s overwhelming surprise. It wasn’t lost on Hanson or Naomi that the peonies came from the Holy Land, Hanson says, and Naomi was “in absolute awe of the generosity and community” of floral professionals who facilitated the delivery.
The exhilaration spread. On the WhatsApp chat pictures of the delivery received likes from the 130-member community. It was a strong reminder of the power flowers have to spread joy and the force of a tightknit networking community, Nason says.
“It’s such a beautiful example of what makes the Next Gen community so special,” she says. “People stepping up, coming together, and making a difference. It’s the kind of story that truly showcases the heart and community of our industry.”
For Rodriguez, the experience has been profound, deeply intertwining her faith with the support of the floral community.
“It really opened my eyes to see the immense opportunities that are out there to keep making it our responsibility in this floral community to keep the stems growing, the education flowing and nature thriving as we keep our world an exquisite place filled with love,” she says.
Naomi sees the hand of God at work. “When someone asks her who sent the peonies, she just says, ‘God sent them to me,’” Hanson says.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Naomi Swenson passed away on March 19, shortly after this article was published. SAF is grateful that our industry played a role in bringing some joy and light to her final days.
Sarah Sampson is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
