Бетт Мидлер и дизайнер Роузи Николс запускают капсульную коллекцию садовой одежды Flora Animalia

“I don’t know how I got this damn apron,” says Bette Midler, the bold, brassy broad who’s been entertaining us for the better part of 50(!) years. “Someone gave it to me because they know I’m always out in the yard trying to root and garden and deadhead and this and that. And I love this apron, I wore this apron, and I’m still wearing this damn apron!” The apron, she discovered, came from the Los Angeles-based brand Flora Animalia, designed by Rozae Nichols, who has a long career in fashion, first selling under her own name in the 1990s at luxury boutiques like Barneys and Neiman Marcus, and then, later, under the brand Clover Canyon. Midler was so charmed by Flora Animalia that she looked Nichols up and dropped in at her LA studio, learning about the designer’s past ventures and current one. “It’s gardening clothes,” Midler said, “and she’s on a street called Gardner—what are the odds?” Midler liked her story: Nichols felt burned out, left the traditional fashion system, and later started a business on her own terms, built around gardening, nature, and design. The star appreciated that the clothes were made in Los Angeles, and sewn on site. Over time, the two developed a friendship, and one day Nicholas asked if The Divine Ms. M, as she’s known, would want to work together on a capsule collection. “I said, ‘Of course,’” Midler told Vogue. “But I thought, I don’t know what kind of collaboration she’s talking about.” The result is a 10-piece collection of gardening togs, some breezy day dresses, plus table linens (keeping in a garden-to-table ethos). In the mix are overall-like aprons that criss-cross in the back—some with gold floral embroidery—loose button-up shirting, and flowy pants; V-neck long-sleeve caftans featuring garment-dyed flower motifs; and printed cotton place settings. Prices range from $48 to $445, and Midler’s portion of sales will go to the New York Restoration Project, the nonprofit she founded in 1995, dedicated to improving parks and green spaces throughout the city. Midler, of course, is no stranger to gardening and nature. In fact, beyond the high-profile career (record-breaking movies, sold-out Broadway runs, hit albums, etc.), she is perhaps best known for her dedication to the environment, a passion that started in Hawaii, where she was born and raised, and got to know a papa-san with a garden on her block on the way to school. “It was this little postage stamp piece of land, and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.” Later, in the 1990s, when she moved to New York, she was dismayed at the derelict condition of the city parks, especially Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, and started organizing a team to clean them, which was the genesis of NYRP. “It’s been steady and strong for 31 years,” she says. “I can’t say I’m the greatest gardener that ever was, [but] I do feel I have a good eye and I am enchanted by them. And I do feel that every human being has the right to clean, green, open space.” As a longtime gardener and advocate of natural public spaces, Midler has thoughts on what to wear while tilling the soil. “Most people wear rags, and I wear rags too, but I do like to be presentable to my mirror,” she says. “I like to wear a really nice apron, some sort of semi-chic footwear, and I like to have good tools. I like to sort of be a little wacky, too. It’s meant for joy. It’s a joyous place. So that’s the place where we started. The idea of joy in the garden was really where we started.” While Midler enjoyed the collaborative process, “I learned that it’s not all a bed of roses,” she said. ICE raids in Los Angeles meant that Nichols’ network of local artisans was affected. “Many of those workshops have closed,” Midler said. “And this is a huge tragedy.” “But Rozae weathered every storm,” she added. “She is tough, and she is good-hearted. She’s really quite a character. I just adore her.” As for what the introspective and quiet practice of gardening and nature preservation bring to the notoriously outspoken performer, Midler had this to say: “Gardening is life-affirming. It recharges your batteries. You know what it does? It focuses your mind on something bigger and more important than you. It’s extraordinary, is what it is. Everywhere you look, there’s something to delight you, something to terrify you, something to pique your curiosity. It’s gigantic, and it’s endless.” “It's just endlessly enchanting,” she said. “If you open your eyes to it.”