We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meredith McGraw Bishop a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Meredith, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I’m a Nashvillian of twenty-two years. I met my husband here, started two businesses here, and am raising a family here. I’m also a believer, and have made Covenant Presbyterian my home church for all of these years.
When my children became school-aged, we chose The Covenant School- a sweet, tiny, church-affiliated school- for their earliest elementary years. Though they have moved on to other schools at this point, the memories & friendships formed within those halls remain strong for each member of our family.
On March 27, 2023, the sanctity of those same halls of earliest life formation was violently ripped. Like a stone thrown into a pond, the ripples of this act expand ever outward, touching everything within reach. I knew four of the six victims very well. Two of the little 3rd graders were my daughter’s friends- their parents my friends- one of them my pastor. My middle child used to sit in this very class of innocent souls, learning alongside them.
Nashville has been forever changed- marked by this cruel, heartless act of terrorism. But Nashville has responded with its own act of protest- a battle cry of love for hate, beauty for ashes. It has been beautiful to watch this wave of goodness rise up and overtake the ripple of hate- swallowing it whole- and leaving a sea of red & black bows in its wake.
As a creative, my most meaningful work has taken place entirely since March 27th. Every arrangement I have been asked to make for a victim’s family since March 27 has had such depth of feeling poured into it. With every stem I choose from my garden- purple for Hallie, pink for Evelyn- my heart pleads for it to come untrue. With every placement of a flower into the arrangement, I lift a prayer of mercy for the recipient. Mother’s Day arrangements were particularly heartbreaking for me to make, identifying as I do with the women I count as true friends.
Pink was Evelyn’s favorite color, and alongside the red and black bows, many Nashvillians have placed a light pink bow, myself included. During the earliest days of reeling, as we came to grips with the reality of the loss, my hands needed something tangible to do. Almost without thinking, they reached for a cross frame, and I began to fill it with light pink flowers for Evelyn. I was able to leave this with her grieving family as they planned her burial and funeral- the first of the six in that awful week- and pray that their child’s lovely spirit could be felt surrounding them, loving them, waiting for them.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a sustainable, urban flower “farmer” and design studio located in central Nashville, Tennessee. My company- Bloom & Bounty- grows heirloom flowers from seed here in our urban gardens, which I arrange and use for local events, flower deliveries & bouquet subscriptions. I also teach all aspects of gardening through workshops and gardening talks, and have an online Studio Shop selling home & garden goods and antiques.
I felt led to start Bloom & Bounty after having my third child, and moving to a property with space to dream and create. While I am a florist, my passion is growing. I have felt a strong connection to nature since childhood which has continued to impact me to this day. Like many Southerners, I have vivid memories of running through my grandfather’s bountiful Mississippi garden, stopping to smell the sweet peas or admire the gladiolas. I fantasized about getting married under his lush muscat grape orchard. As an adult, working a small cutting garden in order to surround myself with flowers has been a habit since my first college rental home in Athens, Georgia—if I had access to a patch of ground, it would not remain barren for long. The magic and emotion found in flowers has rarely been duplicated in any other area of my life.
I grow all flowers sustainably, organically, and using a no-till gardening method, which I have found to be so beneficial to the bio-diversity of the soil life, in turn feeding the plants and beneficial insects living in my gardens, and eliminating my need for harmful chemicals. I call them “Old World” flowers, which signifies the through-line they have with gardens of yesteryear. Heirloom flowers have not been genetically-modified to breed out (or in) any traits, and as such, they still have scent, movement, and life within them…which has become harder and harder to find in arrangements using flowers grown thousands of miles away and bred specifically to eliminate energy-wasting traits such as scent (as pollinators aren’t needed in a greenhouse). I feel such joy when connecting with customers who purchase my arrangements and find delight in recognizing flowers that they themselves have not seen since childhood- such as sweetpeas or bachelor buttons.
Personally, as I’ve aged & experienced the highs and lows of a human life, I have come to deeply appreciate the healing power of therapeutic gardening. This is something even the Ancients knew, but as we spin faster and faster toward a digital existence, we seem to have severed the thread binding us to profoundly human, healing activities. Gardening may be chief among them. I have healed from personal losses as my hands worked the dirt, as the birds spoke into the silence, as the seeds unleashed their magic, and as my mind and psyche were allowed to wander into hidden recesses I needed the space and stillness to enter. To that end, I have come to love the education part of my business…speaking to gardening clubs, leading gardening workshops, and sharing my passion for what I believe to be an almost secret key to emotional, mental and spiritual health with the Nashville community.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The impetus behind my business is a call to beauty.
I believe Dostoevsky was correct when he famously said “Beauty will save the world.” This isn’t cliche, though it can sound cheap and surface. In fact, it points to a profound reality- the three transcendentals of truth, goodness and beauty are inextricably intertwined, and point us to the highest human good-the infinity of the human soul. The three only live in their unity- truth taken abstractly is an empty word, goodness a mere feeling, and beauty an idol. The power lies in their indivisibility. Truth IS goodness, perceived by the human mind. Beauty is the same goodness and truth, embodied in a solid form.
As an enneagram four (and I get it- it’s annoying to talk about the enneagram at this point!) beauty often leads the way for me. But it’s a portal, not a destination. A portal to meaning. The beauty of gardening & creatively arranging the garden’s bounty (& ultimately gifting it) is no small thing: the beauty of a sprouted seed points to hope; the beauty of a feeding bumblebee points to the connectedness of humans and nature; the beauty of an arrangement, the stems dancing in the vase, reaching around a neighbor still searching for the sun, points to the power of life; the beauty of gifting an arrangement of flowers to a friend in either of the two human poles of need or celebration points to the power of friendship to touch, see and uplift.
So yes, there is a mission driving my creative journey, and it is this: beauty is a “way in” to the things that matter.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Personally, the connection with other people is very rewarding to me. Of course I love to hear positive feedback on my creations, but what really thrills me is when someone seems to “get it”…when someone feels the passion poured into my arrangements from seed to vase, and looks and SEES them for what they are…little miracles. Vases full of “hope” infused into a normal day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bloomandbounty.com
- Instagram: @bloom_bounty
Image Credits
Meredith Bishop