Episode 472: Meet Virginia-based floral designer Hermon Black of HB Fiore
September 23rd, 2020
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I’m so pleased today to welcome Hermon Black, a floral designer I first met when she attended the 2018 Slow Flowers Summit in Washington, D.C.
Flowers on her Head! Hermon Black, photographed at the 2018 Slow Flowers Summit by Mud Baron
Hermon is based in Arlington, Virginia, where she runs a design studio serving weddings and private clients. She tells a beautiful story of growing up in East Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) where her mother allowed her to cut and arrange flowers from their garden, and encouraged young Hermon in her floral design interest.
I love how her journey has brought Hermon full circle back to her childhood love of flowers. It’s a story to which many of us can relate. Enjoy our conversation as we discuss how Hermon developed her design studio HB Fiori and how she has adapted her focus due to the challenges of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Enjoy this gallery of Hermon’s seasonal arrangements. Her subscription floral program sources 100% locally-grown flowers from farms in Virginia and Maryland.
Thank you so much for joining me today! I’m so encouraged by the conversations I record to share with listeners of the Slow Flowers Podcast. We are in complicated times, friends. And there is so much stress and pressure, uncertainty and worry facing each of us. I hope you find comfort in being part of our larger community of people who care about the planet, about equity for all, and about the importance of nurturing our creativity.
NEW PODCAST
Deborah Voll, flower lover and host of the “Calm the Chaos” Podcast, recently turned the tables on me — and I was the one answering her questions.
It was a fun experience to join Deborah, a life coach who specializes in helping women find purpose and passion after 50 (um, yes, that would be me!).
Click on this link to hear our conversation — and subscribe to future episodes, as Deborah hosts so many interesting women guests who are pursuing fulfillment in their “chapter two” careers.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 643,000 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 the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
Thank you to our sponsors
This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
And thank you to Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist. Look for the American Flag Icon to find Syndicate’s USA-made products and join the Syndicate Stars loyalty program at syndicatesales.com.
Rooted Farmers, which 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.
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 johnnysseeds.com.
(c) Missy Palacol Photography
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto iTunes and posting a listener review.
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.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Music Credits:
Daymaze; Gaena
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
April 21st, 2021 at 1:41 pm
Hello, Debra. I have just recently found Slow Flowers. The podcast is so interesting. It is great to listen to while weeding my flower beds. Although I do not raise flowers for sale, I am a free-lance floral designer. In years past I have been busy, but more or less semi-retired for health reasons.
Two comments on Episode 501: The Tulsa Massacre was covered in a wonderful article in a recent Smithsonian article. I lived in Tulsa in the 1970’s and never heard it mentioned. How right it is to publicize it to give closure and respect to the people who were lost. I don’t even know where the area was.
Next, on your visit with HB Fiore – who is a wonderful designer. Dwight Eisenhower had a famous statement about planning. He said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. Dwight D. Eisenhower
That quote is also perfect for event planning, which often resembles a battle.
Thanks for your wonderful work. Best wishes, Fran Ginn