Story Time
The name Twin Flower Botanicals is much more than a superficial nod to my being the mother of twins with floral/botanically inspired names. While I don’t mind that it may appear that simple when you see me at a market with Tilia & Dahlia at my side, I’m pleased to invite you to learn a bit more about what makes me tick, and how I have come to recognize that working with plants is indeed my life’s work. I hope you stick around as we traverse through the seasons so you can learn the full story and degrees of nuance which are present in how I came to name my business and pursue my passions. Stay connected by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on social media in order to learn the origin story of Twin Flower Botanicals LLC.
Meet the owner
I’m Janelle King, owner and operator of Twin Flower Botanicals LLC, currently based in Western North Carolina where I was drawn to explore the ancestry on my mother’s side as well as dive deeper into the herbal studies that were my original inspiration to begin formally working with plants. My grandparents were the first in more than five generations to uproot from the Asheville area, which is how I ended up being born all the way across the country in Spokane, Washington after my grandfather’s career in the US Air Force resulted in his retiring there. I have now found my way to the mountains of Southern Appalachia to deepen my studies in herbalism and start up a sustainable cut flower & medicinal herb farm, as well as producing small-batch handcrafted herbal preparations.
I hold a degree in Greenhouse/Nursery Management and have worked on and off in the industry since 2008. I became passionate about sustainable agriculture and cooperative business in 2010 when I took my first food co-op job, and am currently involved with my third cooperative business project. I also spent 2-1/2 years traveling before the twins were born, including living out of a converted school bus that was painted electric purple with gold rims.
With my Sun in Cancer, Moon in Virgo, and an Aquarius Ascendant, I’m a bit of an enigma even to myself. Since becoming a mother I have also become more dedicated than ever as a Norse Pagan, eclectic witch, and radical feminist.
Meet the twins
Twin twins. Gemini squared. It’s a little bit like having quads, depending on the day. Tilia and Dahlia were born 13-weeks premature in May of 2016 in Albuquerque, NM. These “Viking-Leprechaun” warrior princesses spent 102 & 114 days in NICU, but you’d be hard-pressed to know it if you aren’t their mama or daddy. As of September 2021, they have already traveled by car to 28 US states! They are wildly different yet deeply bonded. They are expert tray washers, garlic planters, wheelbarrow pushers, and calendula harvesters.
Tilia wants to be an artist-firefighter-chef-librarian-ballerina when she grows up; and as of this writing, Dahlia wants to be a baby-take-care-of-er and sticker maker (while this morning she wanted to be a unicorn hunter.)
