The Story Behind the Candles...

When we were first planning on opening a specialty nursery and we settled on the chocolate name we had no idea that we would be offering chocolate themed gift items. Two years ago we were told that we "had" to experience the chocolate candle offered by a small company called Northwest Reflections. One look and sniff and we were hooked! Up until this point the idea of chocolate candles only evoked emotions of "why would someone want a sweet smelling candle?" Well, this elegant representation broke all stereotypes and we immediately placed an order so that we had them in our little nursery gift shop when we opened the following Spring ('05). When we moved here to Whidbey everyone in the community was extremely kind so we tended to give the candle as a "thank you". Well, from these thank you gifts one of the candles ended up in the front entry of a local restaurant and a couple in bed and breakfasts. Soon thereafter we began getting swamped with customers clamoring for the candles (forget the plants!) and people were getting upset that we were only open Fri-Sun and demanded more access to get their candle fix. In fact, people would ignore our "closed" sign and insist that they needed to buy some chocolate candles before they left town. We had created a chocolate monster. Then, with all of this "retail" activity a neighbor commented that we were "pushing the envelope" in regards to zoning, so the next day we went into town and found the little ice cream parlor was available to sub-let. Before that day it had never entered our minds to open a retail shop but demand for the candles forced us to make the decision so we decided to "go-for-it" and Chocolate Flower Farm ~ The Garden Shed was born.

Since then, the candles have become an integral part of who we are at The Garden Shed and the store would not be the success that it is without them. Meanwhile, the artist that owned Northwest Reflections found himself overwhelmed since he had created such a quality line of candles and he had a difficult time keeping up with demand and "burned out". He announced to us that he was quitting candle making so that he could blow glass instead. What were we to do without our signature chocolate candles?! So we did what anyone would do ... we panicked and bought the company. We moved all of the equipment into what was formerly Bill's workshop, we were trained in all of the subtleties of making exquisite hand poured and hand fired candles and here we are!

Our next chapter is in sharing the chocolate candle with other retailers and we welcome all wholesale inquiries! We are certain that you will find, as we did, that it will quickly become one of your best-sellers!

P.S. We now are also offering our highly popular Chocolate Garden Seed Kits for wholesale as well. We welcome your inquiries. ~Marie & Bill