Photo courtesy of Greenhouse Flora Collective
Katie Meerstein and Kevin Canfield pause for a photo. Canfield founded K Aubrey Flowers 30 years ago in Old Town Alexandria. Meerstein held a grand opening of her new shop, Greenhouse Flora Collective, in the same location Saturday.
Greenhouse Flora Collective opened this month at 1401 King St., in the space that housed K. Aubrey Flowers for nearly three decades. The shop marked the change with a grand opening celebration Saturday, Sept. 12, featuring a ribbon cutting, floral demonstrations, kids’ activities and a giveaway.
K. Aubrey Flowers was founded about 30 years ago by Kevin Canfield, who moved to the Washington area from Mississippi in 1991 and found his way into floral design before opening the King Street shop.
The handoff started in a classroom. In November 2025, Katie Meerstein signed up for one of Canfield’s floral design workshops. He had been quietly looking for someone to take the business into its next chapter, and somewhere between learning to spiral stems and a handful of conversations, he asked whether she had ever thought about buying a flower shop. She said yes — after, as she put it in a public post on the shop’s Instagram account, a lot of conversations and input from her “personal collective.” The sale closed in March 2026, and Canfield stayed on for several months afterward, passing along his approach to design and the customer relationships he had built over three decades.
Canfield announced the sale publicly in mid-May, writing on Instagram that after 30 years it was time to hand the shop to “the next creative generation.” He thanked customers for three decades of loyalty and friendship, said it had been an honor to make flowers for their weddings, celebrations and ordinary Tuesdays alike, and wrote that Meerstein would carry on the heart of the shop while bringing her own creativity and vision to it.
Meerstein, who describes herself in her own post as a creative, a mother, a reader and a tennis player, says she had no lifelong ambition to own a flower shop. What drew her was something adjacent: “The one thing I have always loved is making someone feel loved,” she wrote — and flowers, she argues, do that better than almost anything, turning up for birthdays and breakups, new babies and hard goodbyes. They’re fleeting, she acknowledges, but she counts that among the best things about them. Of following Canfield, she wrote that her job isn’t to replace what he built but to honor it and build on it — with the occasional call to him for backup.
The new shop describes itself as a collective of growers, artists and makers rather than a florist alone. Alongside arrangements, it carries plants and curated goods, takes on weddings and events, and plans a year-round schedule of workshops covering flower arranging, houseplant care, holiday wreath making and collaborations with other local shops. A flower subscription is also available. Meerstein has said she wants the space to hold local art and conversations that outlast the shopping trip.
Greenhouse Flora Collective is at 1401 King St. and is open Tuesday through Saturday, with Sunday afternoon hours and closed Mondays. Details are at greenhousefloracollective.com.
