POULSBO — Silk flowers.

For most, the term evokes thoughts of the tacky and often mis-colored floral nightmares found at hobby shops.

But mother and daughter team Sue Bucat and Angie Sharp are turning the tide on that myth. Through their downtown Poulsbo store Everblooms, they’re proving that the only thing customers have to lose when choosing silks flowers over fresh is cost.

“I can’t say how many times we’ve put an arrangement somewhere and someone has come over to sniff them,” Bucat said with a laugh. “At one place, one woman even smelled the flowers and said, ‘Oh, they smell nice.’”

Hailing from Bainbridge Island, Sharp and Bucat said they’d always had an interest in floral arranging. But their introduction to silks came when Sharp’s sister got married. Flowers were extremely expensive, so Bucat and Sharp set out looking for less costly alternatives.

“We started looking into silk flowers and we found out that there are really two kinds,” Sharp said. “There’s the craft store silks and then there’s the professional, which are just as beautiful and vibrant as the real thing.”

Thus began Everblooms, where the pair have been offering custom silk arrangements for rent or purchase since May 2004. They specialize in weddings and other special events, as well as providing cost-effective floral decorations for local businesses, churches and other public spaces. By word of mouth, the two have already garnered a healthy customer base but predict their second year will bring more people through the door who are aware of the benefits of silks.

“It seemed like this first year was just about educating people about this product because this is a completely new service for this area,” Sharp said.

Everblooms keeps an impressive stockpile of professional grade silk flowers in the small shop in the old Olympic Hotel building and also has thousands of others stored nearby. More are always coming in from a variety of sellers. There is no one source for their silks, instead they said they order from the source that has the best sample of the particular product they’re seeking.

The pair even offers custom orders from several catalogues, which include artificial flowers, food and even potted plants with realistic, crumbly soil in the containers.

“Even as we’ve been doing this, the product line has improved,” Bucat said. “We’ve been really impressed.”

“If they stop in and see our product, they’re sold,” Sharp added of customer reactions. “The flowers really speak for themselves.”

Arrangements for weddings and other special occasions are ordered in the same manner as with a fresh-flower service. Customers make an appointment to discuss specifics of the event, color, flower and style preferences and even view some samples. Sharp has a degree in graphic design and has owned a freelance graphic design company since 1997. Both have taken a number of floral design classes, have met with top floral designers and follow the trends of arrangements through shows and publications.

Sharp and Bucat said many people have found that silks allow them more creativity in that they can use any flowers they want — not just those that are in season. Silks also allow the customers to be picky about things like color, size and stage of bloom.

“We had one bride who wanted roses that we’re exactly halfway open and she came to us because she knew we could do that for her,” Sharp said. “You couldn’t ask that of a florist.”

Not to mention, silks cost one-third to one-half the price of a similar fresh floral display.

“But what we found was that people come to us not to save money but to get three times as many flowers,” Sharp said.

And since the arrangements can be completed much farther in advance, they can be re-used at more than one event. For instance, a couple has the ability to use the same flower arrangements for their rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and reception.

Everblooms also offers a Perfect Perennials program, which is geared to local businesses, churches, health care centers or anyone else who wants a rotating flower arrangement service. Customers get a new silk arrangement, customized to the individual’s tastes, every two weeks. The only difference between it and similar services through florists is that the arrangement needs no watering or special treatment of any kind.

Sharp and Bucat are even interested in expanding the Perfect Perennial service to include furnishing indoor landscaping, including maintenance, in buildings where there is inadequate lighting for real plants to thrive.