Home-based flower studio gives students first-hand experience

Stacey Harrison

Contributor

February 2, 2026

RIB LAKE – Some students in North Central Wisconsin are getting firsthand career experience before they even start college, thanks to local businesses opening their doors to mentorship programs.

One of those businesses is Green Bee Floral Designs, a home-based flower shop in Rib Lake run by Naomi Cychosz and her husband, Eric. 

Cychosz said she structured a semester-long mentorship around her “philosophy of learning by doing,” giving students real-world exposure to the day-to-day operations of the business.

Katie Niggemann, a senior at Medford Area Senior High School, was one of the students to take part.

Through a program at her school, Cychosz said Niggemann spent two class periods per day at Green Bee Floral Designs for one semester.

“[Katie’s] got a taste of how [a] go-with-the-flow, home-based flower shop can be,” Cychosz said. 

Cychosz said Niggemann’s time at Green Bee Floral Designs gave her practical, firsthand insight into running a small business, supporting her interest in entrepreneurship and greenhouse work.

“This career is so focused on artistry, I have to kind of let her come up with things…,” she said. “In the beginning, I really did have to show her how to place everything. But now I can lay out the recipe for her, and I observe her create it, and I wouldn’t have done anything different, so she really has come a long way in those instincts as a designer.”

Designing, Cychosz said, was just one part of the experience. 

Niggemann, she said, was also able to see how she handles day-to-day operations – from phone to online orders, choosing a vase, filling out a card message, working in the garden and sanitizing and cleaning up.

Basically, Cychosz said, Niggemann experienced everything that goes into the behind-the-scenes of a florist shop and flower farm. 

With her expertise in greenhouse management and Niggemann’s interest in the field, Cychosz said much of their mentorship has taken place in the garden.
“I feel I can offer her more specific knowledge of what she’s looking for,” she said. 

Niggemann said she enjoyed her semester-long experience and looked forward to starting her days at the flower studio.

Cychosz said this is the second mentorship she has offered.

A few years ago, when her business operated out of a more traditional retail space, she said she hosted a similar mentorship with another student.

She said she would “definitely say ‘yes’” if another student expressed interest in the future.

Green Bee Floral Designs

Because Green Bee Floral Designs is home-based, Cychosz said most orders are placed online or over the phone.

“It’s not traditional in the sense that someone can stop and shop and get knick-knacks,” she said. “We do day-to-day offerings like birthdays, anniversaries and I do funeral work, but what really puts bread on my table would be weddings.”

Traveling across the state for weddings is a big part of her work, Cychosz said, and Niggemann had the opportunity to help with on-site arrangements last summer.

One distinctive feature of Green Bee Floral Designs’ home-based studio, Cychosz said, is its on-site flower farm.

“My husband and I decided to pivot the business, and that’s why I’m no longer [located in] downtown Medford,” she said. “We bought this property that was set up to be a hobby farm and refreshed it to be a U-pick flower farm for the community.”

Now, during flower season, Cychosz said the farm is open for anyone in the community to visit.

“When we kick the season off, we have a couple of weeks where we do tulip-picking in the spring,” she said. “That’s more structured hours because there’s a limited offering. When the field is in full-bloom, mid-summer to the frost, it is all sunlight hours self-serve.”

During that time, Cychosz said visitors can use a kiosk to pay the $20 fee, grab a vase and snippers and wander the field to select their own blooms.
The “mission” behind the U-pick flower farm, she said, was to “offer a safe outdoor recreation option for the community.”

Blooming roots

Though she started the business in a traditional downtown Medford retail space, Cychosz said she and her husband moved to a home-based studio in the fall of 2021.

She said the move was influenced in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reshaped how she ran the business.
“I knew early on I wanted sustainability behind my floristry business…,” she said. “It was only when the pandemic shut me down that I realized if we don’t have imports, I don’t have a job.” 

That day, Cychosz said, she planted seeds and realized she needed to learn both how to grow flowers and how to sell them directly, cutting out middlemen.

The pandemic-focused closure, she said, became the catalyst for her to embrace full sustainability in her business.
“From seed to arrangements, it’s all from me,” she said. 

Cychosz said her passion for the work continues to guide how she runs the business.

Though she often refers to it as a “young florist’s game” because of the stress and pressure that comes with wedding flowers, Cychosz said the work remains one of the most rewarding aspects of her business.

“There’s a moment on the wedding day where I get to walk into the bridal suite and present the bouquet to the bride,” she said. “She might have a curling iron in her hair – she’s got a lot going on – but the world stops when I hand her that bouquet. And it’s a moment that’s so special to both her and me. It’s really unmatched. I would do it all… to feel that moment.”

She said the emotional side of the work is also one of the most challenging aspects of being a florist.

“[There might be one day] where at 9 a.m. I have a bridal consultation on FaceTime, and I have to bring the energy of, ‘Wow, you’re going to have the best day of your life’ – amazing ideas,” she said. “And then maybe at 10 a.m., I have a mother coming in to choose funeral flowers for her son. So, the emotion is the best and the worst. I’ve learned to live and comfort in times of grief, and I didn’t anticipate that coming into the career.”

Head to greenbeeflorals.com for more details on Green Bee Floral Designs.