My Secret Garden

Needed last minute flowers and this awesome shop stayed open a few extra minutes. Flowers were beautiful and locally grown.

The flowers that were in the flower arrangement from My Secret Garden were the most beautiful I had ever seen — so exotic

I was introduced to my My Secret Garden by my then boyfriend who is now my husband. He used to send me the most gorgeous arrangements from My Secret Garden when we were dating in college. As a result, I wanted them to be my florist for my wedding. She wanted to charge me $ 22.00 for each peony which was significantly more than the other florists in town. A friend of mine who is a high-​end florist featured in Martha Stewart Weddings in Chicago told me that Ruth was grossly overcharging me. I had already placed my $ 250.00 deposit with her before I realized how overpriced her services were. I did my research and when I told her that the actual cost of a peony was less than $ 10.00 I was greeted with the same snottiness that the previous reviewer experienced. I suggested that she do my church arrangement and that I would use a different florist for my reception but she said that she «didn’t want anyone else to get credit for her work» and refused my suggestion. I had originally wanted a «shabby chic» style wedding and after I told her that I felt her work was out of my budget, she told me in a very condescending tone that she didn’t feel that my wedding fell into the category of «shabby chic.» I was really turned off by her attitude and used Kent’s florals. I had a beautiful wedding with all the peonies I wanted that was featured in several popular wedding blogs and The Knot magazine. I’m very happy that I did not do business with Ruth. She is obviously very talented, but that does not make up for her arrogance and her inability to be gracious and provide good customer service. She also needs to realize that she is Columbia, Missouri and not New York or Boston where it is expected to be charged ridiculous prices. I will never get another arrangement by My Secret Garden.

Beautiful designs and friendly staff, they helped me pick the perfect floral gift.

This review is based solely on the customer service (or lack thereof) provided by the owner, Ruth. The girl who greeted my mom and I inside the store was very sweet, and the flowers, albeit arranged in far-​from-​innovative ways, appeared to be high quality.
My fiancé and I are both Mizzou alums and are planning our upcoming wedding in our favorite college town. My mom and I booked an appointment at My Secret Garden for a wedding flower consultation with Ruth. In the words of Julia Roberts ala Pretty Woman: «Big mistake. HUGE.»
Everything about Ruth’s attitude was appalling from the beginning of the consultation. Before the meeting I was asked to fill out a sheet ranking quality of flower designs, cost, and service in order of importance to me from 1 – 3. This struck me as odd, as no other vendor has asked that of me, presumably based on the assumption that all 3 of those factors are obviously important to everyone. I ranked cost second, behind quality and ahead of service. Apparently, Ruth interpreted my ranking to mean I wanted to be treated like a second class citizen and had a flower budget of approximately $ 14. Neither of which, believe it or not, was true.
Ruth began the consultation by immediately making insulting comments about my being very budget conscious. This was without ever asking what my budget was, mind you. For the record, it is significant and she will not see a penny of it. She kept talking about «cheaper alternatives» rather than quality, types of flowers that matched my color scheme, or what was in season during my wedding month. When I asked her whether it was ok for me to transport the arrangements from the church to the reception myself, she looked at me uncertainly and told me that if I broke any of the vases I would be responsible for paying for them, and that I wouldn’t want that expense. As though perhaps grown women ready to spend thousands of dollars on flowers are generally a.) incapable of carrying vases without dropping them, or b.) too broke to go to Hobby Lobby or wherever her ho-​hum vases come from and buy a whole new case if they feel so inclined. Not so much.
On top of her inappropriate side comments about my allegedly small budget, she was completely dismissive of my colors, theme, and the general tone my fiancé and I want to set for our wedding. Our colors are bright, our ceremony will be quirky and very personalized, and our reception will be free from fussy foods and restrictive seating arrangements. Formal just isn’t what we’re going for. Despite my detailed description of what we wanted and all the pictures I brought in, Ruth continued to recommend completely run-​of-​the-​mill, traditional options that clashed with our style. She either doesn’t listen, doesn’t care about her customers, or isn’t imaginative enough to create arrangements in more than one style. Any of the above strikes me as a significant problem for someone in the service industry, especially the wedding industry.
In sum, I am at a complete loss as to how this woman is still in business, especially when the people and arrangements at Allen’s and Kent’s are both so stellar. I certainly hope no out-​of-​town bride has the misfortune of dealing with Ruth and mistakenly believing she is representative of Columbia’s character. To anyone buying flowers in Columbia, do yourself a huge favor and stay far away from My Secret Garden. Until they get a new owner, anyway.

Bought bouquets on Saturday to give to the organizers of a charity event on Sunday but they were wilted by the time we handed them to them in front of hundreds if people. It was embarrassing. We spent a third of our small budget on the bouquets because we really wanted to show our appreciation and they looked like they were purchased at aldi’s. When we went to the shop to ask for replacements for a few of the browner flowers, the owner, Ruth, accused us of not showing her flowers the proper amount of respect. She was extremely rude and refused to replace them. I am sorry to have to leave this review because previously I had considered their work unmatched but her behavior was absolutely inexcusable. I am normally forgiving and reasonable but it was too much. I will never patronize their shop again.