LANARK — When it comes to saying something with flowers, it helps to find someone who knows the language.

Rosemary Flikkema speaks it fluently.

The Lanark shop owner understands the power of flowers and how to harness it. Whether she’s helping someone send a simple greeting or a message from the heart, she knows what it takes to turn petals into prose.

It takes a special touch — and that’s not just a phrase, it’s the name of her flower shop.

Flikkema is the florist who brings 33 years of experience and confidence to The Special Touch, helping customers turn a kind gesture into a lasting memory, using the colors from a palette of petals like paint on a canvas to create unforgettable art from the heart, neatly arranged and topped off with a special touches — a thoughtful note tucked into a bouquet, a ribbon tied just right, or a gift to go along with the flowers.

Her time in the business has helped Flikkema understand that a flower shop is a place where expressions of happiness and heartbreak can be wrapped up in the same careful hands, and she thinks about that when creating floral arrangements for occasions, from celebrations of love to celebrations of life. Every bouquet carries a story — a silent beauty that speaks volumes — be it a bride’s joy, a family’s farewell, or a simple thank you from one neighbor to another. It’s that meaning behind the work that helps keep Flikkema inspired.

“For me, the best part is creating or designing an arrangement, and having people come back later and say, ‘Wow, those flowers are great,’ ‘They lasted a long time,’ ‘I’m so happy that we got them,’” Flikkema said. “That’s the perk to the job.”

More than just flowers, the shop also carriers gifts to go along with them.

“We’ve incorporated gift items because most of the time flowers go along with some sort of gift,” Flikkema said. “We have jewelry, clothing and little decorative items that people can use in their homes that maybe someone would say, ‘She’d like that.’ Or a husband can come in and say, ‘I need something; what can I give besides the flowers?’”

Customers can find concrete angels, wind chimes, pottery, candles and inspirational signs. In December, the place glows with Christmas decor that warms shoppers’ hearts when its gets cold outside. She even makes wine, cookie and dip baskets for customers who want to go beyond bouquets.

Still, flowers remain Flikkema’s pride and joy.

“My mainstay has been with the flowers,” she said — and that mainstay’s staying power is important, she adds.

“We are able to keep our flowers the freshest that we can so that people enjoy their long-lasting look.”

Longevity, she said, is part science and part patience, a blend of good sourcing, careful handling, and constant attention to detail that ensures each bloom last as long as it can.

“You want to make sure your water is clean so that you don’t get any mold in them, because that will get up the stems and will kill the flower,” Flikkema said. “You really have to be clean about taking care of them.”

Some flowers, she explained, are especially finicky. “Roses and hydrangeas require a special solution to be put in the water in order to open up the stem for water intake, otherwise they will clot,” she said.

Flikkema’s arrangements are guided by instinct, but also by geometry — a thoughtful blend and careful balance of artistry and precision that’s kept her business thriving.

“I fall back on one of the rules of thumb: When you have a container, you make your flower arrangement two-and-a-half times higher than the height of the container,” Flikkema said. “It gives you perspective, and it gives you height. The other rule of thumb is that you do things in threes; you want it to be a triangular effect because people’s eyes are able to follow things if they are in a triangle.”

The shop doesn’t have its own greenhouse, but Flikkema gets her flowers from all sorts of places — California, South America, Hawaii and the Netherlands among her sources. She’s watched the flower landscape expand dramatically through the years, with the international market becoming much more prevalent than it used to be, she said, which has led to a greater palette of petals from which to choose.

“The ability to get an assortment of flowers has greatly increased over time,” Flikkema said. “At the very beginning, when I first got involved in flowers, there were certain flowers that you could get, but the types of flowers that you can get now have definitely grown, and the quantity also has.”

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is flowers’ place in special occasions, especially weddings.

When it comes to weddings, Flikkema likes to be able to say “I can” to couples’ ideas for their “I do’s”

If a bride has a particular variety in mind, or comes in with a picture and a question — “Can we get these flowers?” — Flikkema likes to answer “Yes.” She can find out whether they’ll be available for the special day and let the budget-minded bride know how much they’ll cost.

The wedding trend lately? It’s all about the peony.

“One flower that’s been popular lately for weddings has been peonies,” Flikkema said. “Peonies are a flower that has a short time span in which it appears, but we can get ones that have a little bit longer of a period of time because there are growers out there who will grow them. It depends on their growing conditions. There still is a time frame on peonies, and I can’t get them in the winter.”

White or pink, it doesn’t matter, she said: “I think women who are choosing now like the big, full look of it,” she added. “They like the peonies. They’re showy blooms.”

Hydrangeas, she said, have become a year-round substitute for couples who crave the same lush fullness but want to stretch their budgets.

Navigating brides through timing and cost is something she’s learned can be as delicate as the flowers themselves.

“Usually I recommend that you talk to a florist when you find out when you’ll be married and have an idea what you want,” she said. “First of all, book the date. Not all florists can do multiple weddings on one day. Then give your florist an idea of what your color scheme is, and what it is you’re looking for. I can be looking out for that trend. The earlier you get them involved, the better they can look out for you as far as having what you want.”

Another change in wedding flowers: bouquets with a natural look.

“It used to be that everything was in a plastic holder for weddings, so that there was water for all of the flowers,” she said. “Now, the trend is that you don’t have that plastic, and just have it look as if they went out and grabbed a bunch of flowers. It’s a trend that’s lasted for quite some time. Most girls are liking the look of having just gone out and picked them.”

For all the joy and celebration that flows through her work, there’s a somber side to the flower business, too: Funerals are occassions where arrangements serves as memorials to loved ones, the brightness of their beauty bringing light to a dark day.

She deals with funerals, she said, “as gently as I can.”

“I know how hard it is, no matter when it happens,” Flikkema said. “We try very hard when the family comes in to give them all options, whether the funeral is a traditional service or a cremation.”

One option is to incorporate cherished memories into the floral displays. “We try to help the family find something that’s special to that person,” she said. “I’ve put golf clubs in casket pieces, I’ve put hats in casket pieces, I’ve put rusty wire in casket pieces. If they have something that is a representation of that person, we try to incorporate it as best we can. It can be very special for the family to have that as the lasting remembrance.

Flikkema can deliver her special touch to communities within 15 miles from her business — Lake Carroll, Shannon, Forreston, Chadwick, Mount Carroll, Pearl City, Milledgeville — and for those wanting to send flowers outside the area, she can help them skip the wire services and the middleman markup.

“If you want to send to a funeral in Chicago, for example, I know of the florists there,” she said. “I can call them up and have them get this done for you and charge a minimum fee.”

When it comes to a busy time for blooms, Mother’s Day, surprisingly, outpaces even Valentine’s Day. It’s the busiest stretch of Flikkema’s year, when families call from near and far to send a reminder of love, and husbands and sons stop in for last-minute bouquets.

“Most guys think of red roses,” Flikkema said. “We get a lot of red roses. Sometimes guys come in and are very set on wanting a dozen red roses. With some of them, I can tell them, ‘Why don’t we do three or four red roses and some other flowers that will be more longer lasting?’ Sometimes they’ll take that option. We let them know that, yes, most women want the rose, but if you put other ones in there, they’re usually just as happy, if not happier. Roses will last a good five to six days, but these other flowers will last two weeks.”

Flikkema wasn’t always a florist. In fact, her early life was more test tubes than tulips.

She grew up in Arlington Heights and earned a degree in medical technology, a field she expected to spend her career in. But when she became a young mother, she felt a pull toward something that would let her stretch her creativity, and herself, a bit further.

The shop had been in town for a couple of decades before Flikkema purchased it from Patti Kloepping in 1992, and she began her creative journey through flowers. She added the gift selection after a few years of owning it. She also owns the entire building, which she’s turned into a mini mall, home to a few small businesses that share the spaces; the largest of which is Twice-Sold Tales, a used bookstore operated by the Friends of the Lanark Public Library.

“I needed an outlet,” Flikkema said. “I was newly married with twins and a 16-month-old, and after a while I was like, ‘I’ve got to do something out of the house.’ I needed to find something to do other than being a mom at home, and find something that was creative. Patti, at the time, had been looking for a way to sell, and so we came to an agreement.”

Even during her school days, flowers interested her, so The Special Touch was a good fit — and decades later, it still is.

“I’ve always been interested in flowers and plants, how they grow and where they come from,” Flikkema said. “It seemed like the right niche for me. I took a couple of courses for design, but a lot of it you learn on the job. You see what people are liking, and try and do something similar to what they like.”