Living her dream by working with fresh flowers, plants

Kris Trejo, owner of End of the Rainbow Gardens, is living her dream. On Mother’s Day 2005 she opened a flower shop right in her own front yard. Because she home-schools her three children, she didn’t want a career that would take her away from the house. That, combined with her lifelong love of gardening and flower arranging, made her choice a natural.

The house that was built in the 1920s sits on five acres and belonged to Kris’s father, Mike Matcham. He was a beekeeper in Fallbrook and owned Beebo’s Beesness for 20 years. Raised in Orange County, Kris came to Fallbrook for weekends and holidays and spent two years at Vallecitos Elementary in Rainbow. She loved the stability of her father’s home, and 13 years ago, she and her husband bought it. “All David wanted was a condo and a gardener,” says Kris. “Instead, he got five acres and a tractor.”

With the help of David’s father, her gardening mentor, Kris started growing vegetables and selling them at a stand outside their home. Even if the Trejos weren’t there, customers were welcome to pick whatever vegetables they wanted and leave the money in a basket at the curb.

Now Kris, with the help of her family, does the flower arrangements for small weddings, quinceañeras, baby showers, funerals and other events, as well as selling flowers and plants on her site. She is known for her personal touch and the freshness of her flowers. Leftover flowers are delivered to churches and nursing homes.

End of the Rainbow Gardens isn’t Kris’s first entrepreneurial enterprise. At 21, she opened a clothing consignment store, Kris’s Unique Boutique, on Main Avenue. She also began foster-parenting teenage girls. David inherited the foster-program when they were married and they have cared for 11 foster children over the years.

Kris has what she always wanted — a flower shop of her own — and it’s going very well. “Kris worried about people finding us,” says David, “so I put up a big sign on Old Hwy 395.” In the year and a half the business has been open, sales have tripled, so the sign must be working. What’s next for Kris? “I envision my property filled with fields of flowers,” she says. “People will pick their favorite flowers and create their own arrangements.” Sounds like the ultimate in the personal service Kris already offers her growing list of customers.

End of the Rainbow Gardens is located at 247 Old Highway 395, Rainbow/Fallbrook. The business can be reached by phone at (760) 728-9902.