Moving from a career as a chiropractor to one as a florist might not seem like the easiest transition, but for Denise Mills, founder of Fig & Flower in Annapolis, it was completely natural.

While a chiropractor, Mills enjoyed working with her hands and growing flowers in her home garden.

“As a florist, you’re always moving, you’re always on the go, which is really fun, which I loved when I was a chiropractor,” Mills said. “[Flowers] make people happy, and even if it’s a time of sorrow, they bring comfort.”

The ways a florist creates relationships with customers is similar to what chiropractors do with clients, she said.

Mills began arranging flowers as a hobby during the pandemic and it made her think about the future of her chiropractic business. She had two offices, and staffing was becoming an issue, so she decided to retire.

Soon after, Mills signed up for a florist class that was only meant to take one day. When she received the flowers for it, she found that she had accidentally been sent 10 times the number she needed. Working with so many flowers led her to the FlowerSchool New York for a two-day class, which turned into a full week of training.

Mills says the school taught her how to identify flowers and the knife skills needed to make sure each flower is the right length. She also studied at London’s Catherine Muller Flower School.

After graduating, she worked with luxury florists in New York like Belle Fleur and Designs by Ahn, where she created arrangements for such brands as Gucci and Tiffany, which sent arrangements with large orders.

Around a year and a half ago, Mills’ youngest child went off to college. Mills and her husband then moved to their second home in Annapolis from Bethesda.

She started Fig & Flower and is in the process of building a new storefront.

Word spread quickly. Catherine Meloy was given a bouquet from Fig & Flower for Valentines Day and soon bought more for a dinner party.

“Denise went ahead and put together two incredible centerpiece flowers for this dinner party. And I will say that now a neighbor of mine called and said, ‘Where did you get those gorgeous flowers? I want to order some.’”

Located in a building on Fourth Street, Mills hopes to be open in time for Easter and Mother’s Day, both of which are big flower occasions.

“With flowers, there’s a level of scale,” Mills said. “So, when you have retail, you can offer more of a selection. … I want to do some classes in the back.”

The new store will have plenty of flower displays and a cooler for fresh bouquets.

Mills said her process for coming up with bouquets starts with getting to know the customer.

“It depends on kind of the look you’re going for. So different looks have different flowers,” Mills said. “You have to know which flowers like certain things. Some flowers love cold water, some flowers love hot water. Some flowers you want to put in the cooler right away, some flowers you want to let bloom a little bit longer. Some flowers can be poisonous to animals.”

With that information, Mills can start assembling a bouquet, also taking into account stem lengths, textures, and movement — using different types of flowers to help create visual interest and complexity.

She offers various preset bouquet themes, too, such as ‘citrus,’ ‘sunset,’ and ‘pastel.’

Karen Walsh, a longtime member of the Annapolis Garden Club and flower fanatic, was impressed at Mills’ knowledge and understanding of flower arrangements and her use of unique flowers in her bouquets.

“She’ll be an amazing, amazing addition to the floral business here in Annapolis,” Walsh said. “This arrangement had beautiful, beautiful roses in it, just magnificent roses, which a lot of florists can get. But in addition to that in her arrangement, [it had Lenten Roses]. Lenten roses are something that grow this time of the year in people’s personal gardens, and rarely do you see a florist who will incorporate those kind of flowers.”

Mills said that she sources flowers from as close as Silver Springs and as far as Holland.

Fig & Flower may be the only florist in Eastport, but it is one of many across Annapolis, like Flowers by Donna, Dazzling Florist and ‘The Annapolis Flower Man,’ who has been selling flowers in front of the Reynolds Tavern downtown for more than a decade.

Have a news tip? Contact Benjamin Rothstein at brothstein@baltsun.com, 443-928-1926.