Plant expert sharing her love from planting to arranging

By Robert Williams

Editor

Catlin Heinecke has been elbows deep in the dirt since childhood and part of that existence came with a dream. In the past six months, she has brought her ambition to life in the form of The Bloom Bar, which launched last November.

“It all started when I was kid; I was out in the garden with my mom and dad,” said Heinecke.

She shares her passion for plants offering floral arrangements, seasonal pots, flower bed planting, creating maintenance plans all in a welcoming space for growth and knowledge that she can operate out of her garage or on the road at vendor shows and the like.

“This was always kind of a dream in my back pocket,” she said. “My roots are always deep in getting dirty. I think there is so much joy and passion in the dirt.”

Heinecke is originally from Cloquet and went to college at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, where she met her husband Mike, a Perham native.

Heinecke pursued a degree in horticulture and agronomy and upon graduation, rural living was a priority and the couple settled in Vergas. 

“My aunt and uncle have a dairy farm up in Mahnomen and they have greenhouses; we came here on weekends and in the summertime to see them, so always had those roots in the dirt,” Heinecke said.

Heinecke’s early employment was a mix of retail jobs from selling guns at Scheels to working at Maurices in Detroit Lakes, Perham Health, Lakeland General Store in Dunvilla and Brown Eyed Susans in Pelican Rapids.

Currently, she is the Mission Ambassador/Retail Manager at Lake Region Healthcare supervising volunteers and running the gift shop.

“People are definitely my thing,” she said.

The Bloom Bar went from pipe dream to reality with a quick decision.

“One random day, I just said I’m going to do it,” Heinecke said. “It’s truly been a dream come true.”

Her latest appearance was at a vendor show in Pelican Rapids at the end of March.

“My vision for what The Bloom Bar is truly like a bar style,” she said. “You come in and you pick your stems. I want you to leave feeling educated so we talk about your greenery. Talk about your filler and focal flowers.”

Heinecke insists that her customers be hands-on as part of the learning experience, especially with arranging.

“I want you to leave and feel like hey, I learned something today,” she said. “Can I do a vase arrangement, for sure I can, but I want you to find the joy in what I find the joy in. More than just the business side of things, I want to help you grow too.”

Heinecke has a very bubbly personality, but she is serious about using her knowledge of horticulture, soil and crop production to help people with their plants.

“If you have a plant question, let’s talk through it. How can I help your plant grow better? I’m sharing my love for the dirt and flowers with people,” she said.

For now, Heinecke is going to concentrate on vendor shows where it is easy to interact with customers. 

“We’re going to grow and do shows; when we do classes we can bring the bar wherever it needs to go,” she said.

Heinecke will also be doing summer pots this year.

“If a business has a need for outside pots I can do the planting and a maintenance plan; if you want plants for the lake deck, let me know, we’ll do those too,” she said.

Heinecke utilizes a Minnesota wholesale product during the offseason and utilizes their land in rural Vergas during the growing season.

“I think there is a value in that Minnesota-grown,” she said.

Heinecke grew up utilizing her mom’s sugar shack and shares the area’s passion this time of year of tapping the trees in her yard.

“It’s part of growing and part of this whole cycle of things,” Heinecke said. “My big goal is to be real and transparent,” she said. “It’s not a glorious storefront and there aren’t big and beautiful things, but this is all real. It’s something you can do at home.”

The Bloom Bar is also something that can be used to entertain groups in their own homes.

“I would love, looking forward, if a group of women wanted to get together at their house and provide their own wine, I’ll bring the bar and let’s hang out. If we wanted to do summer pot classes, if you want to get together with your girls and you provided your pots I’ve got soil. I’ll get the plants for you. Let’s plant some summer planters. Let’s have fun and get our hands dirty.”

The Bloom Bar began with winter pots in late 2024, then moved on to a successful Valentine’s Day.

“It’s those milestones you get through,” she said.

The Pelican Rapids vendor show was another success she celebrated in the first year of business.

“Just to see the joy that it brought to people; this is why I’m doing it,” said Heinecke.

She got to experience sharing her passion with one lady in Pelican Rapids who loved flowers but told Heinecke to pick them for her.

“I said, no, I want you to pick it!” Heinecke said.

The step-by-step learning experience Heinecke loves to share made for a pleasant experience for both she and her customer.

“It’s been fun; I’m excited to see where we grow and how we grow and then we need to bloom,” she said.

Heinecke also spreads her knowledge via social media. Between winter pots and Valentine’s Day she began Grow your Knowledge videos on Fridays. In it, she discusses her own successes and the occasional failure in a realistic look at plants.

“I try to be really real in front of that camera,” she said. “My tulips aren’t growing. They may have rotted; I don’t know. I try to focus on educating my clients too.”

For Valentine’s Day she partnered with Lana Grefsrud of Hillbilly Laser in Pelican Rapids.

“We did custom mugs with floral arrangements inside; I think part of the small business world is collaboration. In a small town, it’s so important. It’s not me against you; it’s how can we work together? It’s been great to have people in my corner.”

Some of those people in her corner of those she used to work with, like in Dunvilla.

Heinecke will be at Lakeland General Store on Saturday, April 12 painting tin cans, making little bunnies out of them and planting soil and seeds in them.

“We’re trying to engage all generations,” she said.

For more information, visit The Bloom Bar on Facebook. Heinecke can be reached at (218) 260-6463 or Thebloombarmn@gmail.com