Adelle Barlett (1885-1974) was born in Dudleyville, Alabama, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of three. She taught school in Fulton County and married John Lampkin Harper (1886-1953) in 1905. Together they had four children: John Lampkin Jr. (1906-2004?), William Bartlett (1907-1998), Leila Auverne (1908-2010), and Doyal Alexander (1919-2010). Adelle Harper opened her first flower shop, Hillcrest, on Virginia Avenue in 1921, making her the first woman to own and operate a florist shop in Atlanta. Harper completed floriculture coursework and gave lectures to garden clubs and art classes. Eventually the shop moved to Peachtree Street under the name Colonial Flower Shop which later became Harper's Flowers located on Spring Street. Harper organized Harper's School of Floral Design in her shop and was named Atlanta's Woman of the Year in Business in 1951. Her son, John L. Jr., operated the family dairy farm in Dekalb County while her three other children and husband helped run the flower shop.

Adelle Harper pursued other interests such as genealogical and historical research. She wrote a genealogy column for the Georgia Magazine and authored Adelle Bartlett Harper's Family Lines published in 1973. She served as president of the Atlanta Ladies Memorial Association, the Atlanta Quota Club, and the Magnolia Garden Club. Her memberships included the Atlanta Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Dekalb Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Women's Division of the DeKalb County Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce. Harper was also active in the Atlanta Women's Club and the Atlanta Branch of the Pen Women of America.