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On North Main Street in High Point, you might notice some giant sunflowers that seem to produce tomatoes on the same plant.

They are growing in the window at Just Priceless, a creative floral design studio owned by Sami Price.

Just Priceless moved to this location at 1313 N. Main St. in October. Until then, it had been located at Millis Square for about six years.

Price grew up in High Point, graduated from High Point Central High School and went to UNC-Charlotte to major in fine arts.

When Price was a child, her mother, Janice Carter, had a small flower business in her basement. She did arrangements for weddings and for the furniture market.

“My mom is very artistic and can do anything,” Price said.

When Price was newly married, she did some of the “grunt work” for her mom. Her mom would make a table arrangement, and Price would make 12 more just like it.

“I copied her arrangements then. I didn’t do anything from scratch,” Price said.

Later, she decided she wanted to do something to satisfy her own creative urge. At first she did painting and also worked at a retail garden center as a buyer. One of her favorite things is designing and setting up displays.

When Price decided to open her own flower business, she used the name Just Priceless. A friend had suggested this name for a stenciling business Price had years earlier.

“The first job I had with flowers was decorating for the Junior League at their Holiday Market,” she said. “I used mostly faux arrangements and garlands mixed with a few fresh things. The market was in November, so I mixed fall things with Christmas items.
“I love to use flowers not normally used, for a different look.”

She gets many of her flowers from a grower in Cary, whose flowers are organically grown.

“ I love working with his lilies,” she said.

She said she sometimes likes to work with a monochromatic color scheme, using varying shades of the same color.

Nancy Averett has worked with Price for several years. They first met more than 22 years ago when Price and her husband moved in with Price’s parents while their own house was being remodeled. It was years later that she and Averett began to work together.

Much of her decorating is for weddings and showrooms.

“We have done many of the arrangements in the commons areas at the International Home Furnishings Center,” she said.

Price enjoys working on weddings for all different budgets. “I like to give the future bride as much for her dollar as she can spend,” she said.

Some weddings have offered memorable experiences.

“At one wedding, we were through decorating and waiting for the caterer to bring the cake so that we could put flowers around it,” Price said.

On the way into the building, part of the cake fell off. The caterer took the five-tiered cake back to the store to fix it.

“When they brought it back and set it on the table, we noticed it wasn’t exactly the same on all sides,” Price said. “We turned it to get the sides to look the same and used three times as many flowers on it than we had planned.”

Another time, the Just Priceless team had done bouquets and boutonnieres for a wedding and had been decorating most of the day. The bride’s bouquet had gotten frozen in the cooler.

“We were in Greensboro, and Nancy went back to High Point to get more flowers to redo the bouquet,” Price said.

Averett remembers a woman who called to see if they would make a money tree. “When I told her yes, she couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I think she had talked to several other places, and they told her they couldn’t make a money tree. When she picked it up, she was thrilled. Later we got a thank you card and a gift certificate to a local restaurant. It was nice and totally unexpected. When I asked her if she liked the tree, she said no. Then she finished by saying, 'I loved it.’”

In the shop, you notice a variety of containers, each of which seems to be unique.

Every year, Price and Averett go to a gift show in Atlanta and pick out containers for customers who come into the shop.

“We enjoy what we do,” Price said. “We also enjoy meeting new people. It is a happy job. Even if it is a sad occasion, flowers can be a bright spot.”

If you have information about High Point, please contact me at mjohnson2@triad.rr.com.