Episode 693 – The Wonderful World of Willows with Alana Karam of Willamette Willows
December 4th, 2024
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It’s Willow Week here at the Slow Flowers Podcast and Alana Karam of Willamette Willows is my guest. Learn about the three distinct categories of willow plants and their markets – including cultivars suitable for basketry and woven garden structures, as well as the many varieties of curly willow and pussy willow loved by floral designers. Alana breaks it all down and I for one am wondering why more flower farmers aren’t getting into the willow market!? You’ll learn all about the potential offered by Salix, this unique and beautiful genus.
Earlier this year, Alana Karam and I started corresponding about her specialty micro farm – Willamette Willows. Based outside Eugene, Oregon, Alana shared with me that willow is a great investment for flower farmers because it provides florists with a local option in late fall and winter, when other botanicals can be scarce, and when so many florists are tempted to order non-local options. As Alana mentioned, “curly willows provide reds, oranges, and yellows. And pussy willow in early spring is so sentimental for so many people…”
After I visited Willamette Willows in October, I was even more intrigued. I learned that willow plants are inexpensive to establish and easy to grow. Alana explained that there’s some misinformation out there that makes growing willow so much harder than it needs to be.
Today, we’re diving into the world of willows with a two-part episode. It begins with an extensive conversation that I recently recorded with Alana, and if you’d really like to see what we’re talking about, you can watch the second portion, a Willow Tour that Alana and her husband Michael recorded in their growing area.
Here’s a bit more about Willamette Willows:
Willamette Willows is a small family farm located in the southernmost tip of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The farm, nestled in the convergence of the foothills, and containing an amazing combination of pasture, orchard, meadow, evergreen forest, wetlands, and ash grove, has been home to many animals, including horses, rescue donkeys, goats, pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and several rescue pups. In this dreamlike setting, Alana and Michael, (along with their faithful farm dogs, Figg, Maggie, and Thor), are privileged to research, plant, grow, harvest, sort, and ship willow to other growers.
Since discovering that both they and the property were perfectly suited to growing willow, Alana and Michael have devoted themselves to learning everything possible about the genus Salix, choosing the best varieties for the myriad uses of willow, and planting thousands and thousands of cuttings. No pesticides or commercial fertilizers are used, and most of their work is done by hand.
Willow, with its prehistoric roots, has played incredibly diverse and important roles in human history and culture, but like many natural resources, it has been somewhat neglected in the new age of plastics and modern conveniences. Alana and Michael are pursuing a mission to be ambassadors for this amazing plant, and to make it, and its uses, familiar and accessible to everyone who is interested in things renewable, sustainable, and beautiful.
Find and follow Willamette Willows on Instagram and Facebook
SLOW FLOWERS WORLDWIDE SUMMIT 2025
In Slow Flowers News, we’ve extended our Cyber Sale Event for the SLOW FLOWERS WORLDWIDE SUMMIT through this Friday December 6th. That’s right! When you register, you’ll receive $50 Off your ticket. The Summit takes place online – January 9-11, 2025 – and you will enjoy 15 hours of amazing floral education from experts including Holly Chapple, Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht, Amy Stewart, Sarah Statham, Pilar Zuniga, Briana Bosch, Hannah Morgan, Toni Reale, Becky Feasby, Natasa Hansen, Kirsten McMahon, Eileen Tongson, Mara Tyler, Melissa Feveyear, and Shanda Zelaya. Check out the details at slowflowerssummit.com or find the link to register for $50 off in today’s show notes!
Thank You to our Sponsors
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com.
Our first sponsor thanks goes to Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com.
I’m so glad you joined us today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I’ll see you next week!
Music Credits:
Drone Pine; Gaena; Turning on the Lights; Willow Willow
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue
Lovely
by Tryad
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
In The Field
audionautix.com