Blumen Haus, Barrels and Blooms celebrate flowers, décor, Iowa wines

Flowers, family and faith.

These are the elements that have helped Susan Matrise, Amana, hold her life together.

Not only hold it together but launch two new businesses while facing a cancer battle, the global COVID-19 pandemic, the derecho and losing a parent to dementia.

“Flowers are a happy thing,” Susan says. “They’re therapeutic.”

In 2020, she purchased the former Kitchen Sink building in Amana. The approximately 4,000 square foot retail space on the ground floor had been empty since the Kitchen Sink closed seven years prior. The second floor contains several apartments. The 1872 sandstone structure was perfect for Susan’s dream business, Blumen Haus, which translates from German as “Flower House.”

“That was a testament of faith,” she says. The 151-year-old building needed work, both inside and out, but she felt it projected the ideal charm to house the floral boutique she’d always dreamed of owning.

“The sky’s the limit with this property,” she adds.

Susan’s love of flowers began as a child, gardening with her mother. An Amana resident for 30 years, Susan bought a lot in the village with the notion of putting up a greenhouse that would allow her to incorporate more flowers into her life. That notion turned into a dream of owning a floral boutique specializing in live arrangements for special occasions, plus décor, gifts, artwork and antiques. Becoming owner of the building located near Hotel Millwright, Millstream Brewery, the Brau Haus and the Amana Furniture and Clock Shop, she was ready to make the dream reality.

Then COVID hit. As Susan began remodeling the building’s interior in June of 2020, delays and supply chain shortages plagued her at every turn. Work on installation of a 1,500-gallon pond, complete with waterfall, on the courtyard in front of the business ground to a halt.

When the derecho roared through Amana in August of 2020, Susan felt blessed her building escaped serious damage although neighboring homes and businesses suffered substantial roof and tree damage.

In 2021 she was two months shy of being cancer-free for five years when she got the news her cancer was back. The cervical cancer she had conquered previously had metastasized, spreading to her bones, liver, lungs and lymph nodes.

The former Army combat medic, mother of six and grandmother of five boys, with two more grandsons on the way in the fall, was given five to 15 months to live. That was 18 months ago.

Susan thanks God and looks forward.

Her mother, then suffering from the late stages of dementia, had been living with Susan since 2019. She passed away at the same time Susan found out her cancer had returned.

Susan kept going.

In May of 2023, she purchased the former White Cross Cellars building, adjacent to Blumen Haus. Newly dubbed “Barrels and Blooms,” this sister business carries native Iowa wines, including Tassel Ridge and Tabor Home.

In spite of her ongoing chemo treatments, Susan is optimistic and focused. She is moving forward with interior renovations at Blumen Haus and assists customers at Barrels and Blooms.

“Technically, I’m Stage 4,” she says. “Most people in palliative care aren’t in the condition I’m in.”

Susan’s goal is to have Blumen Haus open by July 4, with a grand opening to take place before Oktoberfest.

Her fiancé, Joe Parcell, is handling the interior restoration and remodeling. As expected, it’s not a fast process.

“Any time you remodel a building that’s over 100 years old, you never know what you’re getting into,” Susan says.

The interior’s fresh new look includes new lighting, closing off some areas of the multiroom ground floor while opening up others and adding a walk-in cooler. Spalted maple provided by Tim Krauss of Amana Forestry now covers the ceilings and support posts. A work area will serve as the hub for floral creations, while a different area will serve bridal couples planning their event. Gifts and décor, including artwork by Lisa Lammey, will be available in a retail area.

The 1,500-gallon pond in front of the building, surrounded by giant boulders, has been ongoing project. Prairie Creek Nursery, Cedar Rapids, is the current contractor and Susan hopes to have it completed soon. When finished, it will be stocked with koi fish. Landscaping around the pond will follow, with plans for covered seating with lights around the water feature.

Although the interior of Blumen Haus is not open to customers yet, Susan has annual flowers on sale for summer color at Barrels and Blooms. Through the spring, she purchases flats of annuals at a twice weekly plant auction in Kalona. The variety is a rainbow of Midwest favorites ranging from petunias and marigolds and everything in between.

“You never know what you’re going to get there,” she says. Decorative planters and garden art are also for sale. In the future she hopes to carry nationally recognized brands of garden stock from companies like Moravia, Proven Winners and First Edition.

As the season shifts to summer, the focus will change to selling garden produce, then shift again in the fall to pumpkins, gourds, mums and other autumn décor. She hopes to host Saturday morning farmers market next year.

What has kept her going through three years of setbacks, delays and illness?

“There’s power in prayer,” Susan says. “God must have a purpose for me, I’m still here.”

She doesn’t take her illness lightly but she doesn’t dwell on it, either. Launching a new business while battling cancer means having a Plan B. Joe and her children are always there to step in and help.

“I’ve made provisions for the future,” Susan says. “If something would happen to me, the family will take over. In the meantime, I want to give hope to others fighting cancer.”

Comments: Melinda.Wichmann@southeastiowaunion.com