Moultry’s cheery shop draws in customers from the neighborhood, as well as corporate clients including Toyota, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Before opening her business, she earned certification through the U.S.D.A.’s Master Gardener program at the University of the District of Columbia and graduated from a two-year floriculture program at the Community College of Baltimore County. She also worked for three years as a planner at the Dixon Group, where she coordinated logistics and floral designs for congressional events in and around Washington. “It’s an adrenaline rush, keeping up with the timeline, the flowers, the placement of everything,” she says.
Today, Moultry creates custom arrangements that are modern with a touch of whimsy, using unusual colors and pulling in elements of the outdoors. “That’s what I like my arrangements to look like, an extension of my garden, with sticks, stones, apple blossoms, everything natural,” she says.
For a 2009 reception honoring Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual Legislative Conference, Moultry used mums, hydrangeas, and deep purple ornamental kale, with an eight-foot-tall arrangement of birch bark and orchids for the stage near the podium. “Everything is very bright, colorful, and out of the ordinary,” says Kim Rudolph, Kilpatrick’s chief of staff. “She is just a pleasant, nice person. Give her a budget and she’ll stick to the budget and make it very creative.”
