Episode 708: Reconceptualized Sympathy Flowers with Nicole Wright of The Pink Peony
March 19th, 2025
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More
After years of frustration over outdated and unsustainable floral options that funeral homes offered bereaved families, floral designer Nicole Wright decided to produce an alternative resource to help the industry shift from standard practice to updated and safer options. She wrote and produced “Returning Home,” her new book for the funeral industry, florists, and families. All of the arrangements featured in its pages were designed with local and American grown flowers and foliage. Nicole used re-purposed and donated materials and vessels and all foam-free mechanics. Learn how you can integrate her sustainable approach into your funeral floral services and enjoy today’s enlightening presentation.
We recently held our March Slow Flowers member meet-up with Nicole Wright, our expert member and speaker. The response to her topic, Sustainable Sympathy Flowers, was so popular — one of the highest meet-up sessions we’ve hosted in the past year. Nicole Wright is the co-owner of The Pink Peony, a Waterford, Wisconsin-based flower shop. For more than 15 years, she has worked closely with funeral homes in her area to provide grieving families with sympathy arrangements. This often requires hours of her time helping her clients choose floral arrangements that give tribute and remember their loved one.
Early on, Nicole discovered that most funeral homes in her area, not to mention many internet sources were presenting outdated flower options, those reminiscent of what she calls “Victorian-era-meets-1950’s-style arrangements.” For nearly a century, florists, funeral directors, home funeral guides, and grieving families have been shown the same arrangement styles – and most of us associate these designs with sorrowful funeral services. Moreover, most funeral flowers are based on foam mechanics, designed in throwaway materials and vessels, and do not promote seasonal and local flowers and foliages.
In response, Nicole has created “Returning Home,” a 91-page reference book that features 40 unique, sympathy floral designs created with seasonal, local and American grown flowers and foliage. The book contains a gallery of design ideas — from winter through autumn, as well as tropical and patriotic-themed designs.
I’m thrilled to share the replay video of Nicole’s presentation. She has shared sample inside pages of “Returning Home” and you’ll want to watch the visually-inspiring slide show that accompanied Nicole’s session — click the link above to watch our YouTube video.
Nicole is offering a discount for your purchase of “Returning Home.”
Use the promo code SLOWFLOWERS to purchase 2 books + receive one FREE copy.
Use SLOWFLOWERS20 for 20% off of a single book order.
The link also has details on an affordable e-book version of Returning Home.
Follow The Pink Peony on Instagram
Follow Returning Home Floral on Instagram
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 the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Visit them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com.
And thank you to Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.
Thank you for joining me 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; Mood Unit
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