A little more about Dahlias and Dreams!
A creative studio focused on
the art of flowers & gardens
creating beauty for your heart and home
Who doesn’t love an origin story?
If you've ever felt uplifted, lighter, and happier when you have fresh flowers in your home, or a blooming green garden, it is no coincidence— flowers and plants are scientifically proven to uplift our spirits and purify the energy in our spaces, raising the vibration of our hearts and homes almost instantly.
This is the feeling I experienced when I found flowers while navigating a major life transition over the past 4 years, and largely contributed to helping me see the beauty in natural living and everyday life— a feeling that helped bring me back to myself! I wanted to express my creativity, and have a direct connection with beauty and nature-- and dahlias/flowers felt like a natural medium for me.
I created Dahlias and Dreams to share this beauty & energized feeling with others!
Women who enjoy a beautiful home environment and desire local expertise, help/education to bring nature, color, and texture into their lives with flowers and plants— for "small to medium scale" events and gardens.
In my experience, the flower industry is monopolized by international factory growers, and there is a need (and love) for local-grown flowers, garden design, education, and partnership rooted in listening, patience, passion, and beauty! I have also experienced a feeling of over-masculinity that ‘landscape design” sometimes carries with it. This was polarizing for me as I designed my own gardens and landscapes over 4 years… I see gardens as graceful natural parts of our home and I wanted to create and offer a more feminine way to envision, dream, plan, pick, plant, and your garden to enjoy for years and years!
More than just “flowers”, it’s feminine creativity. IYKYK! Creativity allows us to relax, let go, expand our minds, and express ourselves through multi-faceted ways that ultimately result in something that looks, feels, smells, sounds or holds the element of beauty in it. Beauty makes our homes, dinners, events, and everyday celebrations more graceful, whimsical and adds a touch of wonder, color, and texture.
I hope you love the creative offerings, and I look forward to helping vision your floral dreams, and creating beauty alongside you!
Hi I’m Jess Seilheimer!
LLife brings us down many paths, and an unexpected one lead me here.
After two decades as an executive in an ad agency in NYC, I took a big leap in 2020 and moved to Centerport/Long Island— and in 2022 I divorced my career to pursue a relaxed, creative lifestyle at the beach, developed new friend groups, became an active community member, renovated my home and leaned into my passion for growing flowers (specifically dahlias)!
It's strange to share a large life shift in 2 sentences! It's important to mention how exciting yet difficult these changes were for me to make, acclimate, and sustain into my everyday mindset, beliefs, and behaviors. I took an 18-month break for deep reflection, a lot of healing, and personal growth. I experienced extreme transformational events and serendipitous moments during this timeframe!
In 2022, I found and joined the Centerport Garden Club (so amazing) and answered the niggle I had to lean into flowers, farms, natural living and gardening— *and my return to designing as part of the garden club and associated NY State flower shows.
In the winter of 2023 I was lucky to learn from the best flower farmer ever, Erin Benzakein @Floret in the Skagit Valley, WA. I participated in her robust 6-week Flower Farming Workshop-- — materials and instruction that I reference on the daily! Her workshop educated me across 6 areas: seed, cut flowers, growing for market, tools and soil, business and marketing. What an experience! Thank you Team Floret☀️
I created Dahlias and Dreams to share this energized feeling with other people!
Today in 2024, I never expected to turn a creative passion in a part-time reality OR have a microflower farm in my backyard! But I did, and I do!
I love to grow and share these specialty cut flowers, floral arrangements and design dream gardens, and lead creative workshops with others — raising the vibe of every heart and home!
*fun fact- I went to college for Fine Arts in 1992, and 5 years later graduated with a degree in Communications and Journalism. Life came full circle back to my creative roots, and I’m grateful to be able to utilize all the practical, business, and marketing skills I have learned over the years to bring Dahlias and Dreams to life for so many to enjoy!
My values include altruism, creativity, flexibility, supporting local businesses, price equity, and harmony with nature. I am LGBTQ-friendly and support diversity and inclusion for all.
Featured Press
Huntington Historical Society- Apple Festival Oct 2024
https://huntingtonnow.com/apples-and-more-at-historical-society-festival/
Huntington Historical Society- Apple Festival Oct 2024
https://tbrnewsmedia.com/huntington-historical-society-hosts-annual-apple-festival/
I live on Long Island in Centerport, NY (zone 7b)
Fresh cut flowers, bouquets & floral design
All flowers are grown with love in my backyard
July- October 💜
For the off-season months on Long Island which are Oct-May, I have partnerships with J. Merullo Imports, A.Perri Farms, Emmas Garden & other local wholesalers for fresh cut flowers, perennials, annuals and winter greens
Being a grower relaxes me.
I love being in harmony with my plants.
Having a flower stand is the most fun, brings all the smiles 🤍
I love sharing beautiful blooms with others who love them, and meeting friendly new people every weekend
Floral design lights me up 🤍
I express myself through whimsical, feminine, flowy elevated floral designs in beautiful unexpected ways.
I started designing as part of the Centerport Garden Club activities. I entered a few flower shows and loved the creative process, how energized/free I felt
(but I didn’t, and still don’t love the competition/judging at flower shows!)
I follow sustainable design protocols (I try not use flower foam often, protect the earth!)
I also enjoy utilizing unique vessels to hold the designs I create.
I also enjoy volunteering to lead floral design classes with kids age 6-12 at the Harborfields Library- they are so creative!
