Inspired by “apothecaries, ateliers, and overgrown gardens of a bygone era,” Rebecca O’Donnell, a former creative director of beauty brands like Laura Mercier, Burberry Beauty, Fresh, and Estée Lauder, left New York City and founded a flower shop in the ultra-charming Hudson Valley. Brimming with dried varieties found in both O’Donnell’s native Australian countryside and her upstate cottage gardens, The Quiet Botanist, whose entrance is tucked at the end of a long, flower-draped alley, is a reminder that flowers can be as moody as they are celebratory. Bundles of wild grasses hang like brooms along the muted green walls, dripping with dark romance. Long palm fronds and cotton stems sit in buckets and pails next to bunny tails dyed in pale blue and deep magenta, under a chandelier made entirely of—you guessed it, dried flowers. It’s a rustic countryside retreat that any floraphile can only dream of, and with artfully arranged seasonal live flowers and objects for the home and garden, plus a botanical apothecary offering natural beauty products, you can take some of it home with you. No water necessary.

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