Drive by Flora
Anouck Bertin is one of the sweetest humans on the planet with great personal style and an abundance of creative energy. After growing up in Mexico, Anouck's journey has led her to Paris, New York and now her beautiful home in Pasadena on the East Side of Los Angeles, where she has dedicated most of her time to growing and arranging equisite flowers. Anouck posts weekly when her arrangements are ready for drive-by pick ups, so if you live in the area remain on standby. But I'll be first in line.
What was life like in Paris and why and when did you decide to move to New York? I know you worked for the likes of NYLON Magazine, started your own blog and shot 1000’s of polaroids. So tell me a little about your time in the Big Apple? Do you still have all of the polaroids?
After working 4 years in editorial magazines in Paris, I definitely had my eyes on NY. I didn’t feel like I belonged in Paris and felt more drawn to the US culture and lifestyle. In 2005 I negotiated a 2-year contract with a photographer in NY and became his studio manager in exchange for a visa sponsorship. NY was more my speed and I felt at home very quickly. After my 2 years as a studio manager, I freelanced for a bit creating editorial content for magazines, but quickly landed my first corporate job and stayed in corporate for 15 years. I did shoot a large number of polaroids at that time and still have them in a closet. They sort of mostly documented that period. It was 2005 and blogs had just started, and honestly I don’t know how the internet still pulls this up. It's been more than 15 years hahaha.
Now, I know you work as an independent creative on a whole host of projects, but your real passion is now growing and arranging flowers. How did this come about?
I always had a passion for flowers! It started young, as every other Sunday when I was growing up I would be in charge of getting my mom’s flowers for the house. My dad would drive me to the cemetery close by and I would get these big red Gladiolus from the same seller and this went on for at least 10 years. Any walk in the woods or fields, I would be picking a handful of wild flowers and arranging them throughout the house. The first time I came to LA in 2013, I was renting an amazing back house in Silverlake. My landlords lived in the front house and I became really good friends with them. We decided to grow flowers together throughout the yard and even got chickens. It was incredible and I learned so much from them. I went freelance in 2017 and moved to a house in Pasadena with a small yard. The space has been challenging as it is not big, but so far I have been able to grow around 100 different kinds of flowers and have created a bunch of micro-climates for them. This year I needed more space so I expanded by getting a lot at the Solano Community garden. I have continued to learn tons through their volunteering program, it’s like going to farm school. I’m fascinated by the growth process, and the patience and dedication it takes here in LA to grow each stem. The heat is a real challenge, but whenever you succeed it’s euphoric.
“This year I was looking to expand as I wanted to start the drive-by and casually sell some stems to support my flower collections”
When did you decide LA was calling? And how long have you been on the West Coast? What was the main attraction here? And what are the downsides?
I came to LA because a work opportunity brought me to the West coast, it was actually my second time living in LA. I’m still on a non-immigrant visa and have been for 15 years, so I have moved a lot around and mostly lived where the corporate jobs were. That has included multiple back and forth traveling between New York City, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Los Angeles. I love LA the most as I find it the closest to being home, it’s very similar to Mexico City in some sort. The space that LA has to offer has suited me and I feel I have finally achieved a healthy work-life balance. I have also been allowed to allocate more of my time into growing flowers while keeping working in the industry. The big downside are heat and drought, it's a battle to keep a garden alive. It requires doubling up in strategy by creating micro-climates to allow all sorts of flower species to survive and thrive. I like a good challenge, but ideally I secretly dream about going back home to Mexico City and pursuing this full-time down the line. I just have so much more to learn before I take that journey and build the business, so while I figure all that out I don’t mind switching gears.
Tell me about your beautiful home in Pasadena and also your allotment space?
I always loved Pasadena and was determined to find an affordable space with some sort of outdoor space that would allow me to experiment and grow. I also rescued a pup from mission road in DTLA that is pretty hyper and needs lots of outdoor activity. Pasadena is perfect for that, we walk up to 8 miles a day all across the city and discover such gems. I’m at the border of Pasadena and Altadena so I have the best of both. This year I was looking to expand as I wanted to start the drive-by and casually sell some stems to support my flower collection. And also make friends happy by sharing some of my stems, so I got in touch with Solano Community Garden & the Lavender Hill Farm, which is a teaching garden for at-risk youth established on the slope above the community garden. The property is nearly 5 acres just over the hill from Dodger Stadium. I fell in love with the place, the community, and everything there was to learn. I have been volunteering on the farm side ever since and have a plot on the community garden side where I was able to expand.
What types of flowers have you been growing and do you have any plans to expand the business? I know you’re doing wonderful drive-bys where people can pick up stems directly from you?
I grow 100+ varieties of flowers and because I don’t have a huge outdoor space I quickly had to learn how to layer and rotate the square footage. I have a lot of varieties, but quantities for each variety become a bit of a challenge.
The main varieties I grow are: In the spring mostly Narcissus, Anemones, Ranunculus, Sweet Peas, Carnations, Snapdragons, Peonies, Hellebores, and all kind of Poppies (Shirley, Icelandic, Peony, Hungarian, and Papaver Poppy).
In the summer it is all about Lilies, Hollyhocks, Foxgloves, Black-Eye-Susans, Echinaceas, Dahlias and Cosmos. I also have all sorts of tomatoes and glass corn.
In the fall, Chrysanthemum and mostly I let the garden die back and start planning for next spring. I reset the whole space, dig up the bulbs, corms, re-organize and assess what did well and where. I came up with the idea of a ‘Drive-by’ because it can be spontaneous and based on the blooms/stems that are ready to harvest. I post the drive-bys on my instagram and they are based on a first-come, first-served basis. I do start a sort of waiting list if I run out of blooms and contact the wait-list prior to posting a drive-by. But also if someone wants some stems for a special occasion, they usually reach out and I send them pictures of what I have and they can come pick them themselves or I can drop-off for an additional fee (East side).
“I came up with the idea of a ‘Drive-By’ because it can be spontaneous and based on the blooms/stems that are ready to harvest”
What about a flower truck that stops around LA on the weekends?!
I’m a terrible driver, don’t give me a truck to drive! I think I would be more into getting an old/vintage gas or service station and turn it into a real flower drive-by. I have my eye on one in Altadena. It's perfect and I really hope one day it goes on the market! But I think my next step is to get a resale certificate and partner to reach out to Gather Flora who connects full regions of farms and florists through a streamlined online marketplace - making local flowers accessible for all. They just took residence at the flower market downtown selling local growers.
What type of music are your flowers listening to?
Obviously they listen to Philip Glass!
Top 5 flower related tips for LA?
Go volunteer on a Saturday at the Lavender Hill farm
Starts at 10AM – 545 Solano Ave – Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hortensia cooks amazing breakfast for the volunteers!
Get a Membership at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens: 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108. www.huntington.org
In May members of the LA Opera Orchestra present evening performances of the opera On Gold Mountain in the Chinese Garden. It’s incredible!
Gear up on gardening tools and gear with Niwaki, my absolute favorite gardening gear. Of course it's Japanese inspired and the most amazing versatile tools. www.niwaki.com
Visit Nuccio in Altadena. They are growers of rare Camellias and Azaleas since 1935. Everyone has a shady spot in their garden that needs a friend! www.nucciosnurseries.com
Signup for classes & workshops with Joan Stevens aka Mama Botanica in Pasadena. She is the sweetest and a wonderful inspiration for local growers. www.mamabotanica.com
Drive by Flora
Anouck Bertin is one of the sweetest humans on the planet with great personal style and an abundance of creative energy. After growing up in Mexico, Anouck's journey has led her to Paris, New York and now her beautiful home in Pasadena on the East Side of Los Angeles, where she has dedicated most of her time to growing and arranging equisite flowers. Anouck posts weekly when her arrangements are ready for drive-by pick ups, so if you live in the area remain on standby. But I'll be first in line.
What was life like in Paris and why and when did you decide to move to New York? I know you worked for the likes of NYLON Magazine, started your own blog and shot 1000’s of polaroids. So tell me a little about your time in the Big Apple? Do you still have all of the polaroids?
After working 4 years in editorial magazines in Paris, I definitely had my eyes on NY. I didn’t feel like I belonged in Paris and felt more drawn to the US culture and lifestyle. In 2005 I negotiated a 2-year contract with a photographer in NY and became his studio manager in exchange for a visa sponsorship. NY was more my speed and I felt at home very quickly. After my 2 years as a studio manager, I freelanced for a bit creating editorial content for magazines, but quickly landed my first corporate job and stayed in corporate for 15 years. I did shoot a large number of polaroids at that time and still have them in a closet. They sort of mostly documented that period. It was 2005 and blogs had just started, and honestly I don’t know how the internet still pulls this up. It's been more than 15 years hahaha.
Now, I know you work as an independent creative on a whole host of projects, but your real passion is now growing and arranging flowers. How did this come about?
I always had a passion for flowers! It started young, as every other Sunday when I was growing up I would be in charge of getting my mom’s flowers for the house. My dad would drive me to the cemetery close by and I would get these big red Gladiolus from the same seller and this went on for at least 10 years. Any walk in the woods or fields, I would be picking a handful of wild flowers and arranging them throughout the house. The first time I came to LA in 2013, I was renting an amazing back house in Silverlake. My landlords lived in the front house and I became really good friends with them. We decided to grow flowers together throughout the yard and even got chickens. It was incredible and I learned so much from them. I went freelance in 2017 and moved to a house in Pasadena with a small yard. The space has been challenging as it is not big, but so far I have been able to grow around 100 different kinds of flowers and have created a bunch of micro-climates for them. This year I needed more space so I expanded by getting a lot at the Solano Community garden. I have continued to learn tons through their volunteering program, it’s like going to farm school. I’m fascinated by the growth process, and the patience and dedication it takes here in LA to grow each stem. The heat is a real challenge, but whenever you succeed it’s euphoric.
“This year I was looking to expand as I wanted to start the drive-by and casually sell some stems to support my flower collections”
When did you decide LA was calling? And how long have you been on the West Coast? What was the main attraction here? And what are the downsides?
I came to LA because a work opportunity brought me to the West coast, it was actually my second time living in LA. I’m still on a non-immigrant visa and have been for 15 years, so I have moved a lot around and mostly lived where the corporate jobs were. That has included multiple back and forth traveling between New York City, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Los Angeles. I love LA the most as I find it the closest to being home, it’s very similar to Mexico City in some sort. The space that LA has to offer has suited me and I feel I have finally achieved a healthy work-life balance. I have also been allowed to allocate more of my time into growing flowers while keeping working in the industry. The big downside are heat and drought, it's a battle to keep a garden alive. It requires doubling up in strategy by creating micro-climates to allow all sorts of flower species to survive and thrive. I like a good challenge, but ideally I secretly dream about going back home to Mexico City and pursuing this full-time down the line. I just have so much more to learn before I take that journey and build the business, so while I figure all that out I don’t mind switching gears.
Tell me about your beautiful home in Pasadena and also your allotment space?
I always loved Pasadena and was determined to find an affordable space with some sort of outdoor space that would allow me to experiment and grow. I also rescued a pup from mission road in DTLA that is pretty hyper and needs lots of outdoor activity. Pasadena is perfect for that, we walk up to 8 miles a day all across the city and discover such gems. I’m at the border of Pasadena and Altadena so I have the best of both. This year I was looking to expand as I wanted to start the drive-by and casually sell some stems to support my flower collection. And also make friends happy by sharing some of my stems, so I got in touch with Solano Community Garden & the Lavender Hill Farm, which is a teaching garden for at-risk youth established on the slope above the community garden. The property is nearly 5 acres just over the hill from Dodger Stadium. I fell in love with the place, the community, and everything there was to learn. I have been volunteering on the farm side ever since and have a plot on the community garden side where I was able to expand.
What types of flowers have you been growing and do you have any plans to expand the business? I know you’re doing wonderful drive-bys where people can pick up stems directly from you?
I grow 100+ varieties of flowers and because I don’t have a huge outdoor space I quickly had to learn how to layer and rotate the square footage. I have a lot of varieties, but quantities for each variety become a bit of a challenge.
The main varieties I grow are: In the spring mostly Narcissus, Anemones, Ranunculus, Sweet Peas, Carnations, Snapdragons, Peonies, Hellebores, and all kind of Poppies (Shirley, Icelandic, Peony, Hungarian, and Papaver Poppy).
In the summer it is all about Lilies, Hollyhocks, Foxgloves, Black-Eye-Susans, Echinaceas, Dahlias and Cosmos. I also have all sorts of tomatoes and glass corn.
In the fall, Chrysanthemum and mostly I let the garden die back and start planning for next spring. I reset the whole space, dig up the bulbs, corms, re-organize and assess what did well and where. I came up with the idea of a ‘Drive-by’ because it can be spontaneous and based on the blooms/stems that are ready to harvest. I post the drive-bys on my instagram and they are based on a first-come, first-served basis. I do start a sort of waiting list if I run out of blooms and contact the wait-list prior to posting a drive-by. But also if someone wants some stems for a special occasion, they usually reach out and I send them pictures of what I have and they can come pick them themselves or I can drop-off for an additional fee (East side).
“I came up with the idea of a ‘Drive-By’ because it can be spontaneous and based on the blooms/stems that are ready to harvest”
What about a flower truck that stops around LA on the weekends?!
I’m a terrible driver, don’t give me a truck to drive! I think I would be more into getting an old/vintage gas or service station and turn it into a real flower drive-by. I have my eye on one in Altadena. It's perfect and I really hope one day it goes on the market! But I think my next step is to get a resale certificate and partner to reach out to Gather Flora who connects full regions of farms and florists through a streamlined online marketplace - making local flowers accessible for all. They just took residence at the flower market downtown selling local growers.
What type of music are your flowers listening to?
Obviously they listen to Philip Glass!
Top 5 flower related tips for LA?
Go volunteer on a Saturday at the Lavender Hill farm
Starts at 10AM – 545 Solano Ave – Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hortensia cooks amazing breakfast for the volunteers!
Get a Membership at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens: 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108. www.huntington.org
In May members of the LA Opera Orchestra present evening performances of the opera On Gold Mountain in the Chinese Garden. It’s incredible!
Gear up on gardening tools and gear with Niwaki, my absolute favorite gardening gear. Of course it's Japanese inspired and the most amazing versatile tools. www.niwaki.com
Visit Nuccio in Altadena. They are growers of rare Camellias and Azaleas since 1935. Everyone has a shady spot in their garden that needs a friend! www.nucciosnurseries.com
Signup for classes & workshops with Joan Stevens aka Mama Botanica in Pasadena. She is the sweetest and a wonderful inspiration for local growers. www.mamabotanica.com
ALL CULTURE IS A CONVERSATION LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA © MR. WREN 2025
ALL CULTURE IS A CONVERSATION – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
© MR. WREN 2025