Days after a fire ripped through the Winter Haven business, a popular flower shop is struggling to pick up the pieces.
O'Connor's Flower Haven has been a mainstay in the city for almost 30 years.
The Wednesday afternoon fire destroyed the Havendale Boulevard flower shop's greenhouse, along with an auto shop next door.
The greenhouse used to be filled with beautiful plants and flowers. Now, dry brittle plants and drooping petals remain.
It is hard for flower shop owner Bernice O’Connor to walk through the rubble now. "It makes me want to cry every time I look at it,” O’Connor said Saturday.
"You're talking about 3 to 5 years to grow them back," she said of some of the most rare plants she was growing.
In 29 years in business, O'Connor and her husband have been through hurricanes and hail storms, but this is a hurdle they might not be able to overcome -- that is, if it weren't for their customers.
"A lot of these customers are telling me if I've lost a rare plant that they've purchased from me, they'll give me a start to come back," O’Connor said. “I think our customers are going to give us the will to do it again."
O'Conner said they've managed to salvage a few types of flowers and they still have a rose garden across the street that wasn't damaged.
"Just watching them grow -- there's just, there's miracles in the plants."
O'Connor is hoping for a miracle herself: to recover from the fire.
The O'Conners plan to rebuild a little farther back from the street. They hope to have their business somewhat back to normal within in a year.
The Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.
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