Stephanie Easterling is the owner of Wildflowers Floral Design in Fairhope. It’s a bustling place full of people, flowers, and merchandise for the home. Twenty-two years ago, Stephanie came to Fairhope for a Mardi Gras weekend and was hooked. Stephanie says she was inspired by the flower beds in Fairhope. “The town was absolutely beautiful, like a Norman Rockwell painting.”

She saw an apartment right around the corner from where her store Is now that had a for rent sign with the monthly rent posted. She knocked on the door, realized it was vacant, poked her head inside, and decided then and there to leave a check on the counter with a note saying she “would take it.’ She didn’t move in for a year.

At the time, she was a top-producing pharmaceutical sales rep, living in Montgomery.  Her company didn’t want to lose her, so they reassigned her territory to include the Scenic 98 Coastal area. After working a while more, Stephanie decided to take a sabbatical and worked at her new Fairhope friends, Lee Postle and Tracy Corte’s gift shop, Something Else. 

Getting restless and feeling the need to “do something,” but not sure what, her friend told her “wherever we travel, the first thing you always do is find a flower shop,” and Wildflowers was born in a little cubby hole off of Church Street. Stephanie would get a bucket or two of fresh flowers and make a few arrangements to sell. A year later, she took a big step and rented a retail space in the building Wildflowers is in now, at 50 South Church Street.

The building sits on the site of the old Corte home in Fairhope. The late Dan Corte built the building. “Wildflowers has always been a floral and gift shop,” Stephanie says, “The name Wildflowers is more about personality and less about a field of flowers.” She outgrew her space and moved to the other side of the building with twice the room. She also has a warehouse where Wildflowers custom builds everything she needs for events.

Stephanie and her team of 20 or more create designs from beginning to end. Not just the beautiful floral arrangements they offer but the entire event. Whatever is needed, they make it happen. The majority of their custom designs revolve around social events, weddings, Mardi Gras balls, and birthday parties. They also do corporate events and they don’t all involve flowers.

She usually starts with a consultation and site visit that leads to a “design deck” or the “inspiration look” if you will. Wildflowers will design and curate everything needed specific to the client. They can build walls, order tents, rent furniture for seating, design custom lamps and artwork, and do anything  needed to create “the look.”  For weddings and Mardi Gras, they usually have a year to pull things together. They welcome 3 -4 months for parties and corporate events.

 The Something Else ladies, Lee and Tracy, now run the retail side of things at the store, everything from buying merchandise at market to keeping track of the inventory. Wildflowers features a large gift department and Rachel Sims oversees the retail operation of the store. 

Supply chain interruptions were challenging because half of the flower producers had gone out of business during Covid. Stephanie says most people were flexible regarding using available flowers when planning events. “There have been a lot of rollover events that had been postponed and are now happening. “It’s been busy.”

Stephanie marvels at how the community supports small businesses through thick and thin. From hurricanes to Covid to recessions, “People go out of their way to make sure you survive.” Then she had a catastrophic event. She contracted Covid and had to be life-flighted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham. It was touch and go for a long time. She was there a full month before returning home. She was overwhelmed by the support she received from the community and her Wildflowers team.

In her absence, Wildflowers received hundreds of calls a day, and handwritten notes from strangers wishing her well were delivered to the store. She was out of commission for months and months. Her staff decided to carry on through multiple buying seasons and even took care of her house. People from all over were following her trials on social media while thousands of people said they got vaccinated after her illness. 

Stephanie is grateful that she and her business were propped up in her time of need. “Sense of community is the most important aspect of this area,” she says. “Wildflowers has been part of the community’s greatest joys and greatest sorrows. When I stood on that corner 22 years ago, I knew I wanted to live here. It felt like home the minute I arrived.”

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