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You pass them in the village and sit near them at the diner—but everyone in the Hudson Valley has a story that would surprise you. This is a podcast for getting to know your neighbors. We’re stripping away the surface level to find the human heart of our region, proving that even the person next door has a journey worth sharing. Discover your community all over again.
Nancy Lee
I had another business before I had this business.
And I got to a point where I was like, I can't do this anymore. I
and I struggled with, what am I going to do, you know, what am I going to do? I can't do this. I'm, you know, it was like a crisis.
Jen Lee
You're listening to Hudson Valley Story Catcher, and I'm Jen Lee. You know, for months, as I've thought about the idea for this show, the song that always comes into my head is a song from my childhood, a song from Sesame Street called Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? And as an adult, I'm still really mesmerized by this idea.
I still want to know the people in my neighborhood. I want to know my postal carrier and my barista at the coffee shop. I want to know the person who plows the streets and cuts off the dangerous tree branches. But it can be hard to know your neighbors when you live in a place with a lot of farmland, a lot of space between the houses.
When you're in a season of life where you're maybe not visiting a dog park with a bunch of other people, or you're not at school, drop off meeting a bunch of other parents. You don't really have these same routines built into your life that put you in proximity to people all the time. But I still want to know who are the people in my neighborhood, even if my neighborhood is a village, or a hamlet, or a valley.
And so this show, I'll be meeting the people in the Valley and talking to them and catching their stories and sharing them with you so that we can all know each other. Now, for today's episode. You know, I think about the kind of moments in our life–there are a lot of ordinary times, but then there are moments that stand out, moments where we're injured or sick and suddenly hospitalized.
Moments when we've had a promotion. Moments when we're having a birthday or an anniversary, or we've experienced a really great loss, and one person and place that can intersect with us in all those times, is our local florist, our floral designer, and our local floral shops. And so I wanted to speak with Nancy Lee from Red Hook's Petals and Moss Floral Design, because I know that she's lived here a long time.
She's raised her children here. Her work has taken her to other parts of the world. Her grandchildren now live in other parts of the world, but she still comes home here to Red Hook. And this is the community that she calls home.
Jen Lee
Thanks for talking to us, Nancy. Is there anything else we should know about you?
Nancy Lee
I'm just very passionate about what I do. And and, inspired by nature most of the time.
Jen Lee
And I just want to say we're speaking here in mid-January 2026, where you're back from a well-deserved holiday, and also, I believe, from the Pasadena Rose Bowl. What was that like, and what were you doing there?
Nancy Lee
It's it's an amazing experience. I've done it before in 2016 and 2017 and 18.
My mentor, who I met at the Botanical Gardens in New York when I took classes, is the one who kind of got me involved with the Rose Bowl floats.
It blows me away that every single thing on these floats is made out of something floral, you know, except for the mechanic, being the steel structure and the, you know, the foam for the base of the decks and stuff like that. But everything else on there is flowers.
Jen Lee
I didn't even realize that everything is made of flowers. So on a single float, how many blooms are we talking?
Nancy Lee
Well, just for example, the base decks are all made out of dried and seeds,
and volunteers from the community come and place those flowers. We had four floral designers in my team, and we had
4000 flower roses just on the deck. And then there are multiple other floral arrangements that we did. (Sorry.)
Nancy Lee
[To a customer who has entered the shop.] Hi. If I can help, let me know.
Jen Lee
[To the listeners] Now, we have just started this conversation and already a customer has walked in the door.
Nancy starts to ask him things about what he's working for, what he needs. He and his wife are about to become parents for the first time. She due any moment now. His phone is on mute because it's being blown up with texts from friends and family checking in on them, wondering if there's news. Is the baby here yet?
It's clear he slipped out to get some coffee, maybe a pastry, and then these flowers to brighten the space around them while they wait. And while his wife labors.
Together, he and Nancy pick out some roses, and I watch her work her magic on her counter with greens and accent pieces with beautiful paper wrap, ribbons. All the while, she's talking to him about the joy that children are. And as he leaves, she says she hopes the baby comes before the snow, and we continue the conversation.
[Back to Nancy] So after being up at Pasadena and the Rose Bowl, what's it like then to come back to be be back in your shop again for the first time in a couple of weeks?
Nancy Lee
It's actually been a wonderful reentry. I had a lot of orders that I had to sort of fulfill and do. And, you know, I, I really love the community here, and I love Red hook, and I'm, I'm very well supported by everybody around here, which is, you know, wonderful to come home to. I did visit with my family out there.
Nancy Lee
So I'm kind of sad because I miss them. It's my youngest granddaughter and we had a lot of fun together. So, I took a week after the Rose Bowl and spent time with them, and it was lovely.
Jen Lee
Can you give us a sense of your journey to this point? How did you find your way into doing floral design and having the shop here?
Nancy Lee
That was a bit of a challenge. And, I,
I had another business before I had this business. I had a line of hand-painted kids clothing, which is over there, that you could see a piece of. But I did that for over 25, 30 years, and I did that because I wanted to be home with my kids.
I was a single mom and, wanted to, you know, raise them and provide for them. And I got to a point where I was like, I can't do this anymore. I can't, you know, do this kind of work. I was traveling every weekend. I sold to stores, I sold online, I sold at craft fairs. And it was just a lot of work.
I had people that worked for me to help build the inventory, and I struggled with, what am I going to do, you know, what am I going to do? I can't do this. I'm, you know, it was like a crisis.
And so I just started to journal and list the things that I really loved. And one of them was gardening.
And, I decided to take some classes in the winter because my, that business was seasonal. So I would, you know, from spring till fall, I'll be making garments and selling. And then in the winter time I was a ski instructor. And so in January, of 2015, I think it was, I took some classes at the Botanical Gardens in New York, in the Bronx.
And I was like, oh, this is what I want to do. And I took the the knowledge that I learned from my mentor and worked with him freelance after I took my few classes and felt confident I could do what I was doing. And, it just kind of expanded from there.
Jen Lee
And can you give us a sense, I know that you in addition to running the store here, you also do events like weddings in addition to large scale things like parades. But how have you found that your work in your shop here connects you to community?
Nancy Lee
Because I feel like I have a sense of, I'm in one place, I'm not traveling everywhere, and I see, you know, local people coming into the shop and I'm, you know, making deliveries, you know, for people that call in for orders for flowers. And, you know, during Covid, it was a really scary time for everybody. But for me, it was kind of a blessing because people couldn't see their family,
so they ordered flowers, and I would do no contact deliveries and people would come and pick up stuff from the shop. But it was a a time that I could give back what people were, you know, just feeling so separated from.
You know, it's always very, very joyful to have someone, a bouquet of flowers and they smile and they're happy.
Jen Lee
And I imagine that you're often intersecting with people on different occasions, whether it's like holidays or occasions in their life, too. So, yeah, I, I think it's different maybe to connect with someone in a moment like that.
Nancy Lee
Absolutely. I mean, you know, we do all gamuts from weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals. You know, there have been a couple really special funeral pieces that . . . I don't do a lot of funerals, but, you know, I, I like to be challenged. I like to be creative. And there are several pieces that I've done for people that they were just so appreciative because it was so, so appropriate for the person that had passed.
Jen Lee
And that seems to be a real theme in your design is to like, take the person that you're working with into consideration, and so you're bringing your own sensibilities, but also thinking about theirs. How do you do that?
Nancy Lee
It's just, well, like, for instance, when I'm doing a wedding, I ask the bride, the couple to fill out a worksheet so I can get it better idea of what their aesthetic might be and who they are and what they're looking for. And, you know, what are the likes? What are their dislikes? What is the venue like, what are their favorite flowers?
Nancy Lee
What are their favorite colors? And, you know, having that makes it makes it easier to create something for them that they really will enjoy and, you know, fulfill what they want to, to, create for their special day.
Jen Lee
That makes a lot of sense, because one thing I've thought about is often when people come to you, they might just be coming in with the thought of like, make it pretty. But for anyone who looks around the store, on your socials and knows your work, it's clear that there's often something more than just prettiness that you're able to bring.
Jen Lee
Do you have a way to describe what that is, or the way you kind of tease it out?
Nancy Lee
I think a lot of it comes from my artistic eye that, you know, it's it's really pretty funny. I never I never took an art class. I never did anything. But I come from a very creative family. My father, he used to make furniture and he used his hands. He taught me everything I know about tools, and I was kind of his boy.
And my mom is an amazing artist. You know, to this day, she's 92. She makes these little miniature books and does classes with, you know, her local neighbors just for free because she likes to do it and she likes to be around that. So there's always been art in my family, and I think the fact that I am, I love to be outdoors, outside, outdoors.
I love to do all activities outside. So I'll ride my bike and I'm always looking around at what, What's that? What can I find? You know, here it is. There it is. And being very observant, just with the natural elements around me, kind of pulls it together. You know, the color senses, color palettes, what works?
What doesn't work? And, you know, it's an experiment sometimes, but it and I do it with fresh and dried flowers. So it's a really cool asset to have. I think.
Jen Lee
Can you tell us about a time that you started to realize either or give a sense of either the power of nature or the impact that it had on you to be outside and out in the world?
Nancy Lee
I would say probably working in my garden, and I find it very meditative to just be out there and, you know, if I ever if I had a problem or I had something happen, I would always retreat to the garden and putting my hands in soil and cleaning up, planting. I never really planned my garden, but I would say, like, buy this plant, do this, do that, and create spaces.
And to this day, I mean, I have a beautiful garden and I grow a lot for the shop and season and it's just there's a satisfaction, there's a reward, and it's not materialistic. It's it's just a really great feeling, you know, that you get from from having nature around you and listening to the birds and, you know, not always looking at your phone and just that kind of thing being in tune to nature.
You know, there's a big thing now about tree hugging and forest bathing. And I think I've always just done that as a kid. You know, my mom used to take us on walks and, you know, I was just exposed to that kind of thing all my life. You know, I love the sea. I love the sounds. I love, you know, the sunny days, and I love the dark days.
It's so it's all a part of it.
Jen Lee
Yeah, that made me think: there's got to be a certain way that it grounds you in, like, the changing of the seasons and the moving of time, too–because you're watching your garden go through winter, spring, summer, fall. So have you noticed anything about that as you're working in there, too?
Nancy Lee
I always get a little bit of relief, you know, in, in the late fall/winter, because I know if the garden is going to go to sleep and it has a totally different look than it does. Of course, in spring, summer, and fall. But I know that I'm going to get a little rest. And because it's, it's a lot of work, but I just I really love it.
You know, and my kids always say to me, Mom, do you ever sit still? And I'm like, no! You know, I just I see something that needs to be done and I want to do it, you know, and even to this day in the garden, you know, look at the garden and I'll go, oh, okay, I could move that bush over here and that would be better location for it and me. And so on and so forth.
So it's an ever changing thing. And I think that also is great for your mind because you're always challenged. And to create an oasis space like that is just really wonderful.
Jen Lee
I think one thing I'm thinking of is you're describing this is the way that often we think about ourselves in our bodies as having, like, two modes, like: work or rest. But another thing I'm hearing in what you're sharing is this idea of tending, whether that's outside in the garden or tending, or living spaces, or storefronts. Have you ever thought about it that way?
As tending?
Nancy Lee
No. But it's interesting you say that because I think when you can relax a bit and like the wintertime, you, you reflect on things that you might want improvement on, you might want to grow in, you know, it gives you some time instead of always being on the go kind of thing. I've, I've always been one to want to take care of other people,
Nancy Lee
and I'm learning now: It's important to take care of myself, too.
Jen Lee
Kind of turn that same care inward. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Another thing that I noticed is that when you describe your design style, you talk about wildness, about it being wild and natural. And I really wanted to hear from you about wildness. It can be easy to go through and not feel like we have any wildness in our lives, but there's obviously some value that you see to it that you're bringing and infusing into your work.
What do you think wildness brings?
Nancy Lee
A sense of freedom to some people and to myself, of course. And it's it's the ingredients that I find when I go weekly for flowers or what's growing in the garden, foraging and finding that special thing that then gets the base to be created, you know, something from that. I love to use a lot of natural greenery and foliage and, you know, not just flowers, because I think they all have their own beauty.
Nancy Lee
And again, back to the artistic, pulling the textures and the and the colors and that into it has a lot of, a lot of play and style in, in the style of arranging.
Jen Lee
Yeah. And even when you describe working alongside your dad or your mother doing her books, and then I'm sitting here watching you, like, craft a bouquet for a customer there just there seems to be something like really familiar and familial in it, too. So here it's like kind of circular. Back to childhood.
Nancy Lee
Yes, yes, I would agree. I feel like it comes pretty natural to me. When I went and took the classes, it was about certain design techniques and so on and so forth. But then you, you know, over the years and it's been almost ten years now, you develop your own kind of style of what you're doing. And, you know, there's no . . . there are there are right and wrong in floral design,
but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Honestly.
Jen Lee
Yeah. And even when you're talking about not planning your own garden necessarily, that seems to also be an invitation of its own for wildness or exploration.
Nancy Lee
Yes, absolutely. Making it more natural, like Pierre Deux and, you know, those wonderful designers, because it is it is beautiful, you know, just the way God created it.
Jen Lee
What are the ways now that you are able to pass on or impart to your kids and your grandchildren some kind of appreciation with nature or relationship to the natural world or the beauty? Is there a way that you're able to invite them into the joy you get from it?
Nancy Lee
Oh, absolutely. I'm they know I'm always talking about flowers and foraging and what can we find? And just on this last trip to California, I was babysitting my little 20 month old granddaughter and took her down to the park. And we played in the park. And then we walked around the lake that that was near their house. And there was this tree.
And I don't know the name of the tree, but it had these amazing long pods hanging down from it, and it had rained the night before. So of course, I reach up and I grab one of the pods and the raindrops fall on her head and she laughs. And so then I got another pod and I was like, Okay, these are our drumsticks.
And so we kept walking around the park and she's got these two little things. And, I took them from her and I was like, banging on the garbage can. And so she started to do like, her little drumming and just smiling. And in any walk that I do with any of my grandkids, it's, you know, picking up a leaf and looking at the colors or a flower that's growing and, you know, just handing it to them.
And then they they go on from there and they all love the garden now. So it's wonderful.
Jen Lee
That sounds really magical. It's like an invitation to wonder, and like, discovery and this idea like that we don't need to look at human made things for our only source of joy or delight.
Nancy Lee
Yeah, exactly. You don't need materialistic things. You know, the toys that you can buy from the toy store. You can create all of that in the woods, in a garden or wherever, you know, outdoors. You are, you know, at the beach? You can look for shells, you know, rocks and create things with that. And it's just being aware.
And I think I've always been aware in my life and growing up as a kid, and I'm passing that on to my children or my grandchildren.
Jen Lee
And what do you what do you think those of us who are listening to this and thinking like, we haven't had that experience or that same kind of work, is there like any tips you were given how we can move through the world? Just kind of like borrowing your kind of lens, or view on things. What is it that we could notice, or what does the pace look like?
Where do we put ourselves?
Nancy Lee
Just be very observant of nature, you know? I mean, go outside and look what's around you. And wherever you go, whether you're driving in the car or you're riding your bike, or you're skiing down the mountain or whatever it is, just be aware of what's around you and let your mind just kind of go to: What, what could I do with that?
Or what does that tree really look like to me kind of thing, or that cloud, you know, and just kind of take that into your day and into your thoughts and see where you go with it.
Jen Lee
I love that. I'm always trying to, like, bring things from the outside, inside.
Nancy Lee
Yeah, I mean, you look at the the wind that blows the branches off of the birch tree, and then you go around the garden and you're picking up the branches that are falling. But just pick up one branch and look at it and like, I'll stick it in the snow and just let it be there in it.
That in itself is is an art of nature kind of thing. Just be aware of what's around you.
Jen Lee
That's really beautiful, the art in nature and I'm really present to that just looking around the shop here. On the flip side, is there anything that goes missing when we cut off that connection, or we don't tend to that awareness or connection in ourselves?
Nancy Lee
I think you're missing a lot of things out of life if you don't pay attention to what's around you, whether it's looking at nature and flowers and art, or listening to your partner about what might be ailing them. You know, you just need to make yourself aware every day of things that are happening.
Jen Lee
And can you just tell us before we go what your granddaughter thought of the rose Bowl parade?
Nancy Lee
It was pouring rain, the first year it's rained in, I think 25 years, so we didn't go to the actual parade. What we did was go that afternoon when it cleared and they parked the floats on a street in Pasadena, and you can actually walk around them and see them up close. She absolutely loved this one float that–a lot of them all have different animation features on them–
but there was this one float that was filled with the little seahorses and and fish, which she calls "vooves." And she's starting to talk, doesn't talk regularly, but it also had bubbles flying out of it.
She just loved walking around looking at this float. And she pointed and she would go, "bubbles, bubbles, bubbles." And she just loved that float.
And just looking at all of the other floats and the like, the animals that were on them and the flowers that were on them. Then we got to take pictures of my Star Trek float, which is what I worked on. So it was lovely. And she, you know, I mean, she's under two, so she doesn't really understand what it was, but she had a great time.
Jen Lee
I think the other thing that's nice about children that age is that you can see just on their faces and in their expression, such a clear expression of the delight that we're all kind of feeling, but we've maybe learned to try to like, play it cool.
Nancy Lee
Yeah, exactly. And in fact, when I was working, on the float, my other granddaughters from Ireland were messaging me via text, and I was sending the pictures. They were like, Where are you? And I'm sending them pictures of the, you know, the different flowers and the arrangements in the floats. And they were like, oh, wow. Oh, wow.
They were just, you know, enamored by the whole thing. So it was it was another cool experience.
Jen Lee
As they should be. As they should be.
[both laugh]
That's great. I love that they get to see that side of you as well, that they get to not only know you relationally as grandmother, but also get to see your work in the world.
Nancy Lee
Yes, absolutely. And, you know, oftentimes they'll FaceTime me in the shop and I'll just kind of walk around and show them different things. And it's just like, oh, oh, oh! You know, so it's it's lovely. And, it's makes me feel good that they understand who I am, and not just their grandma kind of thing, you know?
Jen Lee
Yeah, I absolutely know, you get to be a little more three dimensional. Thank you so much for talking to us today about the art of nature and helping us slow down, look around, notice the beauty all around us, and for all the like, whimsy, and wonder that you're also bringing into your work here in the shop and in your events.
Nancy Lee
Great. Thank you. It's been wonderful talking with you as well.
Jen Lee
Thanks for listening to this episode of Hudson Valley Storycatcher. If you enjoyed the story, the best way to support the show is to share it with a friend or neighbor right here in the Valley. This podcast is a community project, and the best stories often come from the people you see every day. If you know someone in the Hudson Valley with a story that needs to be caught, I want to hear from you.
Please send your guests recommendations to HudsonValleyStorycatcher@gmail.com or to learn more, you can visit us at HudsonValleyStorycatcher.com.
Until next time, keep your heart open and your ears ready. Every neighbor has a story. I'm Jen Lee. Thanks for catching this story with me.