Samuel Caldwell started Dune Wildflower in the autumn of 2014 out of a converted garden shed at the edge of a coastal property he was renting at the time. He had spent the previous six years working as a landscaper, mostly on large residential gardens, and had grown increasingly interested in the cutting side of it: which stems held, which wilted by noon, which dried into something worth keeping. The shed had no heat and one extension cord running from the main house. The first winter, he sold bundles at a Saturday farmers market and made enough to buy a secondhand cooler.
The business moved into its current studio space in the spring of 2018, a converted outbuilding behind a row of shops about two miles from the coast. The space is not large, around 400 square feet of working room, but it has a proper walk-in cooler now, a long wooden workbench Samuel built himself from reclaimed timber, and enough wall space to hang the drying bundles that are always in rotation. That same year he started working with two small flower farms in the region, buying direct rather than going entirely through the wholesale market. The relationship with those growers changed the quality of what he could offer, and it changed the pace of the work.
Today Dune Wildflower does subscriptions, event work, and made-to-order arrangements. Samuel still cuts and builds everything himself, with occasional help from one part-time assistant during the busy spring and summer months. The dried work has grown into roughly a third of the output, partly because customers kept asking for it and partly because Samuel finds it genuinely interesting as a form. The studio is open for pickups Tuesday through Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome when the sign is out, which is most mornings.
The Harvest Dried Wreath is one of the more involved pieces we make. It takes five days because several of the materials need time to set before the wreath can be handled without damage. This is a walkthrough of the process, partly so customers know what they are getting, and partly because it is a piece that home crafters sometimes want to try themselves.
Read more →The weekly subscription is the part of the business Samuel started with and has kept closest to the original idea. A bundle of whatever is best that week, wrapped and ready. No fixed recipe, no substitution policy, no algorithm deciding what goes in. Here is what it actually looks like from week to week, and what to expect if you are considering signing up.
Read more →Dahlias have a reputation for being short-lived, and it is not entirely undeserved. Left in a warm room with no preparation, a dahlia can look tired within two days. But with a few straightforward steps done right after you get them home, most varieties will hold well for seven to ten days. This is how we handle them in the studio.
Read more →Today Dune Wildflower does subscriptions, event work, and made-to-order arrangements. Samuel still cuts and builds everything himself, with occasional help from one part-time assistant during the busy spring and summer months. The dried work has grown into roughly a third of the output, partly because customers kept asking for it and partly because Samuel finds it genuinely interesting as a form. The studio is open for pickups Tuesday through Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome when the sign is out, which is most mornings.
The first winter, I sold bundles at a Saturday market and made enough to buy a secondhand cooler.Samuel Caldwell spent six years as a landscaper before opening Dune Wildflower in 2014, working mostly on large coastal residential gardens where he developed a close attention to which stems cut well and which dried into something worth keeping. He has no formal floristry training; what he knows came from the work itself, from the growers he buys from, and from a short apprenticeship with a flower farmer in the region in 2013. His two most-requested arrangements are a loose autumn bundle built around chocolate cosmos and dried amaranth, and a winter dried piece using glycerine-preserved eucalyptus and bleached lunaria. Outside the studio, he keeps a small kitchen garden and is a reliable presence at the Saturday coastal market.
For a standard fresh bouquet, 48 hours is usually enough. For event florals or anything with specific colour or flower requests, we ask for at least two weeks. Dried arrangements need five days because we build them to order and some pieces need time to set properly before they travel.
We deliver within eight miles of the studio in Carmel on Tuesdays and Fridays. Outside that radius, arrangements are available for pickup Tuesday through Saturday between 9:00 and 17:00. For event work, we travel further and factor the distance into the proposal.