First you notice the flower wall - brimming with blooms, brightening the space, and making people happy. Next you see the slender young woman smiling just off to the side, or standing near a Jeep Wrangler adorned with florals of all sorts. You’d never guess she coordinated the event’s star attraction, but for Lindsey Neff, founder of Larkspur Botanicals, her work often speaks for itself.
“I go for joy-seeking projects,” she says. “Flowers to the people, that’s what it’s all about.”
Who Is Lindsey Neff, Founder Of Larkspur Botanicals?
Neff has operated Larkspur Botanicals for 13 years, and the design firm has garnered international recognition with its unique floral activations. With clients including Disney, Google, CO Bigelow, and Bath and Body Works (which recently hired Larkspur for its viral Bridgerton collaboration), the company is solidly rooted in mainstream culture. But for Neff, a longtime consumer and advocate, bringing “floral femme energy” to the cannabis industry is a full-circle experience. Her environmental installations at venues and exhibitions like The Stone Age, On The Revel’s Revelry Block Party, the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo, Ascend Cannabis, and numerous dispensaries are the talk of the town.
“We’ve collaborated with a lot of brands to show how we can bloom cannabis,” Neff states. “Even with high regulations, dispensaries can’t just look one way, like ‘Apple store but make it cannabis.’ You want to give people a nice time and experience… If they see blooms making the space inviting, they’ll stay longer.”
How Did Lindsey Neff Start Larkspur Botanicals?
A New Jersey native and mom of two, Neff comes from a family of “medicine women” with green thumbs. Her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all shared a vocation and talent for cultivating plants. At age 18, the iconoclast left home to pursue her other passion, music, in Nashville; she worked in audio production for several years, first on Music Row and then back up north. When the recording industry hit a rough patch, Neff took an unexpected job with a private investigation firm. To combat the stress from her role, she started floral design as a hobby - but the side hustle soon evolved into her main one.
“I built this business from the immigrant mentality I was raised with,” the entrepreneur affirms. “You just grind and run. I sought solace in my craft, and the more I poured into it, the more it gave me.”
How Did Larkspur Botanicals Enter The Cannabis Space?
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Neff’s business actually increased; alcohol brands wanted to do activations to capitalize on how many people were drinking more at home. But as New Jersey and New York legalization rolled out at the same time, the owner realized she could do the same for her beloved magical plant.
“I’m applying to cannabis the same [principles] we did elsewhere, but curated,” she explains. “We’re taking pre-roll packs and showing you how to make cool floral decoupage. [Packaging] can be repurposed as an earring holder or traveling case, which we did for alcohol bottles. There’s an eco-friendly mission to reusing. It creates community and space. But I wanted to do it for cannabis specifically.”
Neff’s first official cannabis-centric installation was for The Stone Age, an immersive artistic and educational exhibit that ran in New York City in Fall 2021. Sasha Perelman, co-creator of the experience, gave the flower expert a concept around terpenes and asked her to “freestyle.”
“Can you name another florist where you can just send them a terp profile and they’ll match it with botanicals?” Neff laughs.
See Larkspur Botanicals' blooms at New York's Lenox Hill Cannabis Co dispensary:
See Larkspur Botanicals' terpene candlemaking project for Jetty Extracts at On The Revel's Revelry Buyers' Club, May 2024:
See Larkspur Botanicals' pressed flower tattoos at Boston Pride 2024 with ASCEND Cannabis:
What Makes Larkspur Botanicals Different In Innovating Cannabis Events?
But that’s her gift in innovating cannabis events. Everything Larkspur offers is custom, whether that’s a plant wall designed with your brand’s colors, bouquets that mirror the scent of your new edibles line (“I’m giving you flavor, but with florals”), or pressed flower tattoos that make excellent conversation pieces at parties.
“My creative is my commodity,” Neff declares. “It’s hard sometimes… I’ve lost jobs because I work with cannabis and adult brands - or even a crossover like Elevatem, a cannabis-based sexual lubricant! But I’d rather do what I’m passionate about and carve out a niche.”
Why Are Larkspur Botanicals' Floral Installations So Important?
She shares a story that proved the visceral impact of her business. In June 2022, Neff had been featured at the New York City Flower Show while her marriage was ending. Though she was going through agony inside, she put on a brave face, dark sunglasses with flowers glued to them, and spent the whole day at her installation. While there, the artist discovered every attendee reacted to her piece with palpable thrills and delight.
“Whatever else they were going through, for one second, we zapped them out of their shit,” she remembers. “They’d be happy, grab their loved ones and take a picture… and they zapped me out of my shit. That’s why I do what I do. Now we’re de-stigmatizing cannabis with visuals and showing happy flower powered moments that bring joy and tell a different story of cannabis.”
Larkspur Botanicals creates permanent floral installations to bring good energy into your space in the most natural way, and vibe organically. And it’s all thanks to its leading lady, who has finally committed to making her joy blossom.
For more about Larkspur Botanicals, visit larkspurbotanicals.com or follow @larkspurbotanicals on Instagram.
*A version of this article originally appeared in Honeysuckle's 18th print edition. Click here to order and choose your element - Fire with Bun B or Ice with Queen P!
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Featured image: Lindsey Neff, founder of Larkspur Botanicals (C) Mary Ellen Handy @mellen.ds
