CeCe’s Gardens is permanently closing its doors Monday, July 31 … everthing is on sale. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

After 32 years of providing floral arrangements, gifts and plants to Los Alamos, CeCe’s Gardens at 127 Longview Dr. in White Rock is closing its doors for good. The business’ final day will be Monday, July 31, which is actually the same date it first opened.

Everything at the store is on sale at 55 percent off. Owner Christie Kelly said she decided it was time to retire; as a result, closing her business is not a sad occasion.

“It’s a happy occasion because I didn’t get forced out,” she said.

Kelly added that retiring means she can tend to her own garden and work on her arts and crafts.

CeCe’s Gardens was started by her mother. Kelly explained her mother ran a greenhouse out of her back yard. At the time, it was the only greenhouse in town. When her father got sick and her mother stayed home to care for him, Kelly stepped in to run the business. She continued to run it for 17 years. Three years ago, Kelly stopped the greenhouse operation but still offers floral arrangements as well as a huge variety of gift items. She explained the greenhouse was discontinued because plants were getting more and more expensive and harder to find. It’s a trend that is being experienced throughout the state, Kelly said, adding the drought has made it harder for things to grow.

She said the greenhouse offered all kinds of bedding plants in the spring as well as hundreds of poinsettias for the holidays and lilies for Easter.

“The greenhouse used to smell so strong at Easter time,” Kelly said.

Kelly said she does floral arrangements for every occasion including weddings, baby showers and Mother’s Day.

“It’s the best business to be in,” she said. “You get to do it all.”

Kelly really bonded with her customers, saying she got to know whole families. “My customers are great,” she said. She invested a lot into her business, too. Every couple of years, Kelly would travel to Oklahoma to take classes on floral arrangements. “I always came back with great ideas,” she said.

Kelly has worked in some capacity at the gardens since she was 19 years old. During that time, the business has changed a lot. She said it used to rely on walk-ins and now everything comes in through the Internet.

“I never figured that would happen,” she said.

She said floral arrangements have changed, too. Flowers use to be placed in foam, now they go into vases. Kelly added that Gerber Daisies are becoming incredibly popular but remembers when she used to place carnations and daisies into baskets.

While Kelly has deep roots in the community, she is not a native Los Alamos resident. In fact, Kelly said her family moved 21 times before arriving in Los Alamos when she was 14 years old. She said her father was a computer technician and back then computers were too big to move, so people did.

Looking back on her time in the flower and plant business, one memory sticks out. Kelly said once she found a woman sitting on her business’ porch at 10 a.m. on a Saturday with buckets of flowers. She hoped Kelly could do floral arrangements for a wedding happening at 1 p.m. that same day. Although Kelly was able to provide the woman with some guidance, she had to turn the job down because there just wasn’t enough time.

Saying goodbye to the business is a little bittersweet, Kelly said. “I’m going to miss it a lot.” Still, she said she won’t be missing the long work hours.

She said she will miss her customers, many she has known “forever”. She added she will miss the flowers, which can really brighten someone’s day. “I think I will miss thatthe most … making people happy all the time. It’s a happy business,” Kelly said.

CeCe Gardens has served the community for 32 years. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com