Kathy Apodaca
Orchidist Extraordinaire
Kathy was working for The Grove Homescapes before The Grove Homescapes knew she was working for us. She would stop every day on her way home from her REAL job and help us put plants away when we were finishing construction of the old Grove Laundry in Pacific Grove. She stayed with the team and moved over to Carmel with us when we opened Homescapes. In 2006, Kathy retired with her husband Art to Arkansas and now tends to an enormous greenhouse of orchids (when she's not relaxing in the hot-tub they installed in said greenhouse.)
Mitsuko Gammon
Buyer, Translator & Ikebana Specialist
Mitsuko came to The Grove when Michael Weidner left to open his own flower shop in Monterey. Though trained in ikebana and floral design, she was quickly poached from the flower shop to become an assistant buyer with Thompson. She relocated to Homescapes Carmel when the shop was opened in 1999 and became so familiar to the customers for her knowledge and energy that many thought she was the shop's owner, a fact the actual owners enjoyed and exploited when they wanted to be anonymous. In 2006 Mitsuko made the leap to retail shop owner when she opened Cha-ya in Pacific Grove.
Michael Weidner
Floral Artist
Michael approached Beau and Thompson in 1996 in the days before the opening of The Grove and introduced himself as a Flower Artist. He'd heard about the Orchid rail we'd built around the mezzanine, he'd seen us operating a little flower shop in the gazebo that we'd opened in June and he asked if we were planning to operate a flower department in the new store. Thompson answered with a quick and immediate "No" after having spent months killing flowers. But Michael made a proposal to us that we couldn't refuse...he'd run it all himself. And with his addition to the team, The Grove Homescapes became the most stylish shop any of us had ever seen. Homescapes, Carmel has always thanked our lucky stars that Michael showed us by example what it means to be an artist. Michael passed away in 2003.