Sarah's Scapes now offering fresh flowers

With her landscaping and greenhouse business thriving, the owner of Sarah's Scapes is ready to chase a dream: She's now offering fresh flowers.

"We started this the first of the year; I've always wanted to do it," said Sarah Bessinger, who's been in the landscaping business for almost 20 years. "So I'm trying to create space to do this, too, and just offer it to the community."

Bucyrus only has one flower shop, she said, and more are needed.

"I know years ago, we used to have three or four of them, and we're down to one. I thought it would be nice to carry it on so we have more in town," Bessinger said.

Sarah's Scapes has some arrangements available for cash and carry, so people can visit the shop at 2082 Wyandot Road and select something ready to go. They can call to place an order, too, she said.

"I'm also doing weddings; I have one wedding already scheduled, so I'm happy about that," Bessinger said. She's also available to do funeral flowers.

Handling the fresh flowers in addition to the landscaping and greenhouse will be a lot of work, she acknowledged.

"But I thrive on being busy," she said. "And I also have extra help in the landscaping department now. I brought on an extra woman to help me facilitate arranging the landscaping and going out and monitoring the crews. So she's going to be here. So I'm hoping I can do this like about three days a week during the summer, that I'll be here and be available. Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm planning on going out with the landscaping crews. And then the greenhouse, I have people to help with that. I'm just trying to kind of facilitate all things, so then we can offer the community a lot of things."

She's working toward a point where she'll do the landscape designs and estimates, then have her employees handle the installation work.

"I'm in my 40s and that ship has sailed, kind of," Bessinger said. "You know where for me, it's lost its luster ... I've moved on."

She still cares about the landscaping work, she said.

"I just think it would be better if I just kind of get some younger guys to run it, and that want to run it," she explained. "I've got a guy right now who really enjoys it and wants to do it. So I'm hoping that I can feed into that and nurture them to grow."

Bessinger's also working on a solution to an obstacle her retail business has always faced: "getting them to come."

"You know, we live in a small town, and this setting isn't the best, here on this back road," she said. "It's trying to get them to come in and know that we're here. So I think that maybe the more that we offer, the more help it will be."

New site on Ohio 4 South in the works

She's also expanding the business, building a second location at 1380 Ohio 4 South.

"It's been a slow process with COVID and the delays and all that," she said. "But I'm hoping by midsummer or at least by fall, we'll be open there."

Plants grown in the 30-by-40-foot greenhouse at the Wynford Road location will be hauled to the Ohio 4 site for sale, Bessinger explained.

"Over there, people drive by every day," she said. "This road, they've got to see it on social media to come here. If it gets a little more traffic driving by, then hopefully that will help. And then I'll have more room over there, because I carry some nursery stock and things for people. If they want to do their own landscaping, they can come in here and I can give them pointers of how to do things and what they can do."

She wants to be able to be in the shop more, offering that kind of help and creating flower arrangements — which is what she's always wanted to do.

Bessinger said she remembers her grandmother doing floral designing for Cameo Floral Design and other places, and her mother enjoyed arranging dried flowers.

"So I've been doing dried flower arrangements, too, which are making a comeback," Bessinger said. "They used to be real big in the '90s ... they went away for a little bit, and now they're coming back. The Millennials really like them, so we're doing that. And then fresh flowers, again. I always wanted to do the fresh flowers."

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Sarah's Scapes now offering fresh flowers; Ohio 4 site in the works