The Flower Press

Annika Lahr spends a lot of time looking at flowers. As a Fort Collins-based floral designer and botanically inspired painter, that attention is both professional habit and artistic practice.

Lahr’s relationship with flowers began as a conceptual one — her academic paintings explored floral imagery as a lens for examining femininity, gender identity and power. That foundation has since given way to a more intimate, documentation-driven practice: detailed paintings of bridal bouquets, floral preservation work, and a new career as a floral designer at Fort Collins’ Joyful Poppy.

A mini-documentary interview with Lahr opens an ongoing series profiling the botanical artists of Northern Colorado, a region whose high desert landscape and thriving arts community have made it fertile ground for this genre of artistic expression. 

The perception of botanical painting as decorative or minor has shifted considerably. Scholar Irina Neacșu’s 2022 study on contemporary botanical art documents its resurgence as a serious fine art medium — something Lahr, who encountered that bias early in her practice, has experienced firsthand.

Lahr was initially discouraged from using flowers as subjects. “I was always told that painting florals was not advanced, but was cliche,” she said.

There is also growing evidence that the practice itself is good for the practitioner. A 2025 review in Frontiers in Psychology found that nature-based creative practice produces measurable reductions in anxiety and depression — a dimension of the work that will run as a throughline across this series. For Lahr, this connection to the healing dimension of art runs deep — her grandmother, an art therapist, introduced her to painting as a child. 

For Northern Colorado residents drawn to the art form, resources are close at hand. The Gardens on Spring Creek offers botanical art programming for all skill levels, and the Rocky Mountain Botanical Artist Society connects regional artists with the broader Front Range community and beyond.

Annika Lahr is based in Fort Collins, Colorado. See her full portfolio at annikamarieart.com.