Karen Marshall and Tina Barkley of Fleurs de Villes
In Seattle, we have a rite of springtime called the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, which always takes place in February when everyone craves the fragrance of flowers (not to mention the scent of potting soil), and the unfurling of foliage, fronds and petals as seen in the excellent garden displays that cover the floor of the Washington State Convention Center.
I’ve been involved in one way or another with this amazing experience for more than two decades. In fact, in 1989 when it was launched by founder Duane Kelly, I covered the story for the local business newspaper where I was a staff reporter. I recall then thinking that I so wanted to join Duane’s world. For years, I covered the Flower and Garden show as a journalist and editor; then, when I made the leap to home and garden writing, I actually spoke at the show in 2002, beginning a recurring gig every year since.
In the past few years, though, instead of speaking, I’ve produced and hosted the Flower Stage at the NWFGF. This role has allowed me to invite Slow Flowers members to participate and engage flower show audiences in the conversation about floral design, local and seasonal botanicals, and more.
Blooms & Bubbles instructors will appear at the Northwest Flowr & Garden Festival’s DIY Floral Stage
This year, we’re again producing Blooms & Bubbles, a daily DIY workshop series with American-grown and locally-grown “blooms” and a glass of champagne aka “bubbles.” Five Slow Flowers members are teaching and I want to give them a shout-out right now so you can follow along on social as we post workshop images of their classes and students.
They include Thomasi Boselawa, CFD, Tiare Floral DesignStudio; Erin Shackelford, Camas Designs; Maura Whalen, Casablanca Floral; Carolyn Kulb, Folk Art Flowers; and Teresa Engbretson and Katie Elliott of My Garden Overfloweth. Tickets are going fast but you might be able to snag a seat to join us! And PS, even if you aren’t able to sign up for the DIY workshop each day at 2 p.m., there is public seating and you’re invited to watch along! The dates: February 26-March 1.
Because I’ve been able to work closely with the management at Marketplace Events, the current owners of the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, I learned last fall that FLOWERS were taking center stage at the 2020 show. Operations manager Courtney Goetz and I met for lunch and she pulled out a few images to share the secret with me. It’s no secret anymore — and today’s guests will tell you all about the phenomenom called Fleurs de Villes. That’s Fleurs with an “S” and Villes with an “S” – as in “Flowers of the Cities.”
As soon as Courtney showed me photos of flower-clad female mannequins, I knew I had seen the images on my Instagram feed. I soon learned from Courtney that this woman-owned company was based just a few hours to the north of us – in Vancouver, B.C., and that the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival had invited Karen Marshall and Tina Barkley to bring Fleurs de Villes here to Seattle.
I’m so exited to bring you today’s
conversation with two event and marketing experts. Karen and Tina are elevating
flowers in a way that feels fresh, fashion-forward, and inventive.
Much like the response people have when they see the photo shoots of real models wearing botanical couture for our American Flowers Week campaigns that Slow Flowers began commissioning in 2016, the botanical couture on Fleurs de Villes’ three-dimensional mannequins takes floral fashion to a new level. That level is different in one key way from what I’ve been doing with American Flowers Week. And it is a feat to pull off, I can tell you. That’s because Tina and Karen are gathering more than a dozen mannequins, each designed and created by an area florist, and each on display for the full run of the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. I am in awe of the theatrical levels achieved by Fleurs de Villes.
I want to jump right into this
conversation, but first, a bit more about Fleurs de Villes and its founders:
FLEURS DE VILLES combines the love of flowers, local design talent, and bespoke, utterly unique displays, for experiential events like none other. The name speaks to that – Fleurs de Villes – flowers of the cities. Connecting with each city we launch in, we work with top local florists, designers, growers and nurseries, to showcase that city’s world-class talent and create stunning displays of art. Fleurs de Villes not only showcases artful flower displays, we create engagement – with audiences viewing our events, and with the partners who support us, from leading sponsor brands to local and national media, as well as community-based groups. We believe in the power of partnerships and the amplification of messaging that comes when audiences have an experience of the senses. Our team of highly professional individuals is dedicated to ensuring every touch-point is on brand to deliver an event experience people will be talking about – and sharing – for a long time to come.
Floral mannequins from past Fleurs de Villes events
TINA BARKLEY is one of Vancouver’s best known lifestyle experts regularly working with Chatelaine Magazine, Today’s Parent and appearing on TV cooking, styling, decorating. Tina has also been a serial entrepreneur for over 25 years, researching, structuring and building businesses. Creating a brand and building a solid product, strategic partnerships, operational structure, marketing and sales are all areas Tina thrives in. As an effective event builder and planner, Tina has a ‘knack’ for making it happen, and empowering everyone around her.
KAREN MARSHALL has a long term international career in publishing and the digital space. She is a strategic thinker with a laser focus on partnership cultivation. With a belief that no brand is an island she has put together countless programs bringing key organizations and media together to create outstanding promotions. Working for some of the largest media brands in the world and in Canada and within the luxury space with numerous consumer brands across a broad spectrum, her focus is on quality engagement and experiential offerings for all partners.
Thanks so much for joining me today. Find and follow Fleurs de Villes at these links below:
You can find details about the Seattle Fleurs de Villes display — February 26-March 1st at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival
Future schedule to see Fleurs de Villes around North America and beyond.
As promised, here are the local florists and designers participating as Fleurs de Villes artists. Each will create a floral garment to adorn the lifesize mannequin. It’s no surprise, but a number of them are Slow Flowers members!
First of all, I am thrilled that Melissa Feveyear of Terra Bella Flowers & Mercantile is designing the Slow Flowers-sponsored mannequin featuring all local and domestic botanicals. We are so grateful for Melissa’s longtime membership and support and I can’t wait to see what she creates!
Of course, as anyone who is committed to sourcing domestic and local flowers in the Pacific Northwest in February, which faces a dormant growing season that many of you also experience, I want to just acknowledge what a feat it will be to bring a Slow Flowers sentiment and values to an undertaking like a botanical garment made entirely from fresh and natural materials. I’ve heard anecdotally from several Slow Flowers members as they’ve planned their creations and I know they are committed to sourcing a good percentage of their looks with domestic crops. Let’s cheer them on and see what they create. Including Melissa of Terra Bella, nine Slow Flowers members are participating as Fleurs de Villes designers — more than half of all the dresses you’ll see! They include:
Other Fleurs de Villes florists include: a Natural Design; Fena Flowers; Seattle Floral Design; Zupan’s Markets; Leah Erickson; Ondine; and you’ll see supporting floral installations by Apotheca Design and Soren Events.
Jennifer Jewell is the author of The Earth in Her Hands, which includes a profile of Lorene Edwards Forkner, Christin Geall and Debra Prinzing, among many others.
Jumping ahead to future events . . . the clock is ticking along as we continue to finalize details for the 4th Annual Slow Flowers Summit – June 26-28, 2020 in San Francisco Bay Area at Filoli.
We only have 50 seats
left so I urge you to follow the links in today’s show notes and reserve your
space with the Slow Flowers tribe! Your Ticket Includes: All-Day Sunday, June 28 + Monday, June
29 with 5 Presentations + 7 Fabulous Speakers, all meals,
refreshments and evening cocktail receptions;
Floral Design Demonstrations; an Interactive Floral Installation; Author Book-Signings; Cool Take-Home Gifts . . . and then, on Tuesday Morning, June 30th, a behind the scenes tour at Farmgirl Flowers HQ where you’ll enjoy a Light Breakfast + Coffee, and meet our good friend Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers.
I can’t wait to see you
there!
(c) Mary Grace Long photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 578,000 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
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnership with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.
FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com.
Our next sponsor thanks goes to Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
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:
Le Marais; Symphony 40 in G Minor; Via Verre; Gaena; Glass Beads by Blue Dot Sessions http://www.sessions.blue
The author shows off her new book (left) and a Baroque-styled arrangement from Cultivated
On Vancouver Island, along the western edge of Canada, gardener, designer, writer and teacher Christin Geall grows flowers and shares her designs through Cultivated by Christin, a creative studio launched in 2015.
Christin’s eclectic background includes pursuits that are equal parts physical and intellectual. She apprenticed on a Martha’s Vineyard herb farm, interned at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and homesteaded on a remote island in British Columbia. Academic studies in ethnobotany, environmental science and a creative writing MFA led to editorships, university-level teaching and a regular gardening column for local newspapers.
Today, Christin’s artistic focus centers around her urban flower farm-design studio in USDA Zone 8, the tiny hub of a multifaceted floral business.
A few years ago, I interviewed Christin for an August 2018 Florists’ Review profile, which we titled “Creative Fulfillment — Growing a floral-centric life on your own terms.” I loved that chance to speak with Christin about her art, writing, floristry and teaching.
An arrangement to illustrate the concept of “torque.”
Many of you may already be following @CultivatedbyChristin on Instagram, where she posts luscious, seasonal arrangements that originate in her Vancouver Island garden, located just 10 minutes from downtown Victoria, the provincial capital. There, Christin maintains six 32-foot-long beds where she rotates flowers using West coast-style succession planting. As well, there are perennial borders, and a wild meadow in the front, which means pretty much all of the grass is gone, she says. Meals and workshops take place beneath a 32-foot-long arbor and there is a very useful greenhouse. “It leads to a wild style, but I’m truly trying to maximize production on a small piece of land,” Christin told me.
Gesture, line, mass – all expressed in Christin’s arrangement (left).
Teaching writing concides with Christin’s writing of essays and garden columns. Growing unique and uncommon flowers supports floral design and the photography of those arrangements. And naturally, teaching floral workshops brings it all together for this gifted creative. And it only makes sense that all of these passions found their way into a book called Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style, to be published this spring by Princeton Architectural Press.
A peek inside Cultivated . . . this from the study of tints, tones and shades.
Cultivated elevates floral design to
fine art in this richly informative work on the principles of floral style.
Christin emboldens designers, gardeners, and floral entrepreneurs to think
differently and deeply about their work with flowers as she draws upon the fine
arts and historical sources – whether exploring Baroque music, the paintings of
the Impressionists, or the work of floral innovators like Gertrude Jekyll and
Constance Spry.
Seeing color
Thanks so much for joining me today. What an inspiring conversation. If you’re interested in meeting and hearing Christin speak in person, you can find her upcoming book tour schedule here.
Registration continues for Slow Flowers Summit and if you’re listening on our release date of this episode, February 12th, you can find details about our Galentine’s/Palentine’s/Valentine’s flash-sale. I can’t wait to see you at the Slow Flowers Summit June 28-30, 2020, at Filoli in San Francisco!
(c) Mary Grace Long photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 575,000 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
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnership with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
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.
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.
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.
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
Fresh and beautiful – an all-Wisconsin-grown bouquet, with flowers and design from Sunborn Gardens
I’m so delighted today to welcome Hans Larsen and Lisa Larsen, partners in Sunborn Gardens, a Wisconsin flower farm and design studio with a long history in cut flower growing.
Hans Larsen and Lisa Larsen, partners in Sunborn Gardens, 2.0!
Tucked in a little valley near downtown Mount Horeb, Sunborn has been growing beautiful cut flowers for over 40 years. Owners Hans and Lisa Larsen run the flower farm and design studio, working closely together to create unique and artful floral. The farmer and florist relationship is what makes their floral designs one-of-a-kind, as they constantly trial new varieties and color palettes to showcase the best Wisconsin has to offer. All farming is done using organic practices in order to properly care for their family land. Sunborn’s modern designs are inspired by the garden, full of specialty blooms, heirloom varieties and rich with texture.
Inside one of the Sunborn Gardens’ high tunnels, with Farmer Hans.
Sunborn Gardens’ founder Carol Larsen is Hans’ mother. She originally began to sell at the Dane County Farmer’s Market in Madison, Wisconsin, 44 years ago. Her love affair with flowers began with a bucket of orange marigolds and she and Sunborn have grown cut flowers ever since. Many of you will recall that Carol is a pioneering cut flower farmer who co-founded Fair Field Flowers, a marketing cooperative of Wisconsin and Illinois specialty cut flower growers.
Hans and Lisa with two of their three young children.
Fair Field Flowers permanently closed as of January 1, 2019, but the roots of this legendary and innovative regional model remain deep in Madison, Milwaukee and other markets formely served by the cooperative. These are talented people who really made a mark on the Wisconsin floral scene and whose reach went far beyond their region through education, workshops and sharing their knowledge generously.
This is posted on the Fair Field Gardens FB Page: Fair Field Flowers has ceased operation as of 1/1/19. Should you wish to contact any of the former partners please check out the info below:
FAIR FIELD FLOWERS PO Box 2071 Madison WI 53701
Mary Jo Borchardt fivegreenacres@gmail.com Five Green Acres
Catherine Cooper katesfreshflowers@gmail.com Kate’s Fresh Flowers
Cheryl Burton and Gina Graham oldstonehousefarm.wisc@gmail.com Old Stone House Farm, LLC
At harvest with Hans Larsen
Here’s more about Flower Farmer Hans Larsen:
“When the opportunity to take over the family farm business came up I had just had my first child. It was in that moment that I knew I had to do it. I wanted my daughter to live the magical, nature-filled life I had as a kid. I wanted her to play in those woods and talk to the flowers. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Learning greenhouse production, bookkeeping, seed starting and more is no walk in the park. I keep showing up for the flowers. The entrepreneurship journey is a interesting one, full of ups and downs, but unlike the jobs I had before, this gig feeds the soul. Working so closely with my designer wife, we are cultivating something really special.”
Spring market bouquets (left) and summer lisianthus harvest (right)
And a bit from
farmer-florist Lisa Larsen:
I married into this wonderful flower family of mine. When Hans first had the idea to take over his Mother’s flower farm I was skeptical. I was about to move my entire life to a new city and become a farmer? I eventually found myself helping out in the design studio and it was there I found my calling. I had studied fine arts in college and was set on becoming a teacher, but through long days at the workbench creating art by using flowers as my medium, I was hooked. All the elements and principles of design I once studied were being applied on a daily basis and I wanted more more more! I apprenticed with my mother-in-law for a few years learning all I could. I now run the design studio with a small, very talented staff to produce weddings almost every weekend. I am constantly inspired by what is growing all around me. There really is nothing better than a fresh cut local stem.
Lisianthus season at Sunborn Gardens.
I can’t wait for you to hear the next chapter of Sunborn Gardens and be inspired by the changes that Lisa and Hans have brought, changes that work with their lifestyle of living off farm and juggling farming and studio responsibilities while parenting three young children. As Lisa and Hans like to joke, it takes two of them to match the skills of Carol Larsen. They are all quite fortunate to have one another along this journey, with Carol continuing to share her “heirloom body of knowledge” (a phrase my friend Diane Szukovathy once coined) with the next generation.
Thanks so much for joining me today — what a wonderful visit with two passionate flower lovers. Sunborn Gardens is part of the upcoming Wisconsin Cut Flower Growers School, scheduled for next weekend, February 15-16, 2020, and presented by University of Wisconsin/Madison’s Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. You can find more details here.
Love this image created by our friends at Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Well, we’ve made it through the first month of a new year and a new decade. If you missed the February Slow Flowers newsletter check it out here.
We’ve got lots of goodness going on and you won’t want to miss out on opportunities to get involved with campaigns, content and events that will benefit you and your brand. Among other things, the newsletter celebrates one of our top highlights for the New Year. January witnessed our largest burst of growth ever — with 23 new members joining and 61 renewing members last month. Welcome all!
Registration continues forSlow Flowers Summit and we’re more than 50% sold out!
Please join me on June 28-30th and connect with our fabulous speakers, enjoy the incredibly beautiful venue at Filoli Historic House & Garden, and experience the many features that will immerse you in the people, principles and practices of Slow Flowers.
Check out all the details by following the link in
today’s show notes or head to slowflowerssummit.com where you can register at
an incredibly affordable rate of $599 for 2-1/2 days inclusive of programming
and meals. Slow Flowers Members enjoy a discount at $549.
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 573,000 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
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnership with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com.
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org. Thanks to ASCFG for returning as a Slow Flowers Sponsor for 2020. We’re launching a fun podcast series this year, in which I will catch up with all of the regional directors across North America — so listen for news about what’s happening in your area.
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.
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.
Today we have a very cool segment with Amelia Ihlo and Althea Smith, partners in a brand new farmer-to-florist sales platform called Rooted Farmers.
You’ll be hearing much more about Rooted Farmers in the future because we’ve partnered for 2020 to bring this resource to the Slow Flowers Community. As you know, Slowflowers.com is an online directory to help connect U.S. and Canadian consumers with domestic flower sources AND to help farmers and florists find one another and do business with one another. However, as I frequently admit, I think like a journalist, not like a business person. I always had a desire for Slowflowers.com to include a sales mechanism, but the skills required to do that are way beyond me.
Amelia Ihlo, flower farmer and co-founder of Rooted Farmers
Then last fall, a Slow Flowers member named Amelia Ihlo of Reverie Flowers in Etna, N.H., reached out to tell me what she was doing. She wrote this:
“I am a Slow Flowers member based in New Hampshire and a huge supporter (and beneficiary!) of your work. I spent this past year testing a business model that works exclusively with local flower growers, and had a tremendous response from both our grower network and all of our floral buyers. My partner are at a point to begin discussions
with other folks within the industry, and as such, I am reaching out to see if
you might have some time to connect on the phone.”
It was the beginning of a
conversation that led to in-person meetings and eventually Rooted Farmers
joining Slow Flowers as a major sponsor for 2020 and Slow Flowers endorsing the
Rooted Farmers platform for flower farmers.
I alluded to the launch of Rooted Farmers in my 2020 Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast, in the section on “Agriculture-driven Design.” I wrote this: “The next chapter in this shift is being authored by designers who weave the agricultural narrative through their aesthetic and branding. From creative collaborations between flower farmers and floral designers to new apps and online resources that help florists learn who is growing what and when that’s available, the direction connections between the field and the studio are more important than ever.”
That paragraph was a direct
reference to Rooted Farmers and the exciting way Amelia and Althea are solving
problems and addressing pain points in the sales and buying process.
This is a screen capture of how you can present your INVENTORY to buyers
Having worked with developers on Slowflowers.com since 2013, basically using an off-the-shelf directory software designed for a “one-size-fits-all” marketplace, I have had multiple conversations with myself where I’ve thought, “if women were designing this product, it would be so much more intuitive.”
I’ve since considered that all young women should go into UX Design because our world would be a better place. It is so refreshing that Althea and Amelia are bringing a different sensibility to Rooted Farmers’ design. Yes, they have all the technical skills that are needed to create a highly-functional platform, but they bring with that a different intuition that I’m so grateful for. The lack of common-sense thinking I’ve run into in my own efforts to build a user-friendly platform, even though there isn’t an e-commerce component, have been frustrating, to say the least. Amelia IS the customer, which helps tremendously in translating to Althea what and how Rooted Farmers needs to work.
If you are a Slow Flowers member flower farmer, you are invited to join Rooted Farmers for a free, one-year registration to participate and market you flowers. Of course, there is an application procedure, which we’ve just discussed. Feel free to reach out to me or to Amelia with any questions!
If you are a Slow Flowers Florist, by all means, sign up and participate as a buyer. This is a farmer-to-florist platform, specifically designed to help you source domestic and seasonal flowers. It represents the best of modern technology and the values of the Slow Flowers Movement.
Clockwise from top, left: Susan Mcleary, Kellee Matsushita-Tseng, Molly Culver, Lorene Edwards Forkner, Debra Prinzing, Jennifer Jewell, Pilar Zuniga and Emily Saeger
Registration continues for Slow Flowers Summit and we’re more than 50% sold out, which is amazing to me! Please join me on June 28-30th and connect with our fabulous speakers, enjoy the incredibly beautiful venue at Filoli Historic House & Garden, and experience the many features that will immerse you in the people, principles and practices of Slow Flowers.
As I mentioned earlier in the episode, Amelia Ihlo and Althea Smith of Rooted Farmers are supporting the Summit as our Premier Sponsor. They will be in attendance at the Summit and they will be sharing a demonstration of their new platform – and more!
We also want to welcome Mayesh and say thank you for joining the 2020 Slow Flowers Summit as a Supporting Sponsor. It will be wonderful to partner with Mayesh to help connect attendees with more U.S.-grown flowers and expose flower lovers to the amazing resource of Mayesh, now at the San Francisco Flower Market through its Brannon Street branch. Thank you again.
Reverie Flowers’ repurposed U.S. Postal Delivery Truck — where it all began!
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 570,000 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!
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnership with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
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.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.
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.
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:
Lupi (uptempo); Lupi (cozybeat lead); Gaena; Glass Beads by Blue Dot Sessions http://www.sessions.blue
A late December 2019 planning session for Trend Summit — held at Hitomi Gilliam’s home. Clockwise from top left: Hitomi Gilliam, Francoise Weeks, Rebecca Raymond and Debra Prinzing. (c) Colin Gilliam
Hitomi Gilliam, AIFD, is a Vancouver, B.C.-based floral design educator and innovator, as well as a fellow contributor to Florists’ Review. In 2011, she launched a collaborative, inclusive conference called Trend Summit, designed as an immersive trend discussion led by a team of influencers, covering a variety of topics including wedding flower trends.
Trend Summit has taken place every two or three years since, mostly in Vancouver (with one year being held in Dallas). The Summit has grown and evolved to the point where it’s almost a full week with numerous floral design workshops and demonstrations — all sorts of ways to draw you in, engage you and connect you. This year it takes place March 12-17, 2020, at United Floral, where the famed Vancouver Flower Auction is based outside Vancouver.
Listen to Hitomi Gilliam as she discusses Trend Summit and how trends take shape.
Hitomi is one of those rare individuals who shares the spotlight and platform with her peers, her students, and her contemporaries. In 2018, she invited me to present the Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast for 2019 during the Trend Summit Symposium a one-day session open to the larger floral community in B.C. and beyond. It was such a great experience and truly an honor to be given a place at the podium in what some might consider the mainstream floral community. I was so touched that Hitomi shined a light on my work with Slow Flowers, adding sustainability, floral sourcing and eco practices to the conversation!
For 2020, there are so many events and activities planned. To kick it off on March 12th and 13th, the Trend Roundtables focus on a variety of themes important to the future of floristry. This is an opportunity to be introduced to some of the newest product from participating vendors and growers, who will also be in the discussion. In addition to Hitomi, I will join Gregor Lersch, Holly Chapple, Susan McLeary, Françoise Weeks, Rebecca Raymondand Colin Gilliam for this riveting event.
We took in the inspiring natural beauty on a Bowen Island hike one afternoon, too!!
With Hitomi, Colin, Rebecca and
Francois in early December, we spent two full days brainstorming the roundtable
format. We sat in the cozy living room of Hitomi’s delightful home on Bowen
Island, which is located a short ferry ride across Horseshoe Bay north of
Vancouver. With a view of water, mountains, trees and nature, it was a working
session that doubled as an unforgettable retreat.
We cooked up
some of the key topics that will seed the conversations at the Conference:
botanicals, hardgoods and accessories, lifestyle shifts, wedding styles, as
well as emerging floral design styles.
I think you’ll love hearing our dialogue and perhaps you will be
tempted to join us in March.
You might want to attend Thursday Night, March 12th, when Leatrice Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute will present her insights on color, or on Sunday when all these fabulous design innovators will present during the Symposium.
Quickly, here’s a bit more about the guests you’ll hear in my
conversation today:
Teacher, mentor, floral industry leader Hitomi Gilliam (c) Colin Gilliam
Hitomi Gilliam AIFD is a Japanese-Canadian floral artist, keynote lecturer, demonstrator, educator and a consultant in all aspects of the Art and Business of Floral Design. She is the Creative Director for DESIGN358. She has guest-designed extensively throughout North America, England, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Bermuda, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Belgium, Korea and India.
She
owned and operated Satsuki’s Florist in Mission, British Columbia for 28 years.
She currently works with her son, Colin Gilliam in an Event & Education
business, DESIGN358 which was established 10 years ago.
Hitomi
has lectured at major art museums and floral shows around North America and
beyond, and she is the founding organizer of the Annual ‘Survival of the
Creative Minds’ Conference in Taos, New Mexico.
Françoise Weeks, born in Belgium, has infused her work with a quintessential European reverence for flowers and nature. Combined with creativity and mechanical ingenuity, she has crystalized her singular style of Textural Woodlands and Botanical Haute Couture pieces, garnering a global following.
Francoise Weeks discusses ‘Plants are Trending’ in the run-up to Trend Summit 2020
Françoise’s
studio is located in Portland, Oregon. Her innovation and love of teaching have
brought her to the Flower School Cohim in China, the Academy of Floral Art in
Exeter, England, studios in Australia and Mexico, workshops at Mayesh and
Florabundance and to the La Jolla and Memphis garden clubs. Her dynamic work
has been published in Nacre, Fusion Flowers, Modern Wedding Flowers, Huffington
Post, Flutter and Millieu.
Her
generosity of knowledge and perspective in use of floral materials, structure
and mechanics, in addition to the business of being a florist, unite to create
rigorous and exciting learning opportunities for her students to explore all
that nature has to offer.
Rebecca Raymond, EMC, floral artist and educator
Rebecca Raymond, EMC, is owner of Rebecca Raymond Floral. She is one of the most respected and sought-after floral designers in the Pacific Northwest.
Rebecca
collaborates closely with each of her clients, gets to know their hopes and
dreams, and then works with color, texture, and architecture to bring their
vision to life. Whether it’s a bridal bouquet or a floral installation, she
sources both seasonal and curated fresh flowers to design beautiful, eclectic
arrangements that reflect the moment and create memories to last a lifetime. As
a member of organizations at the cutting edge of floral design, including
Chapel Designers, she has access to a network of leading designers and ongoing
professional development – and Rebecca is always looking for the latest and
best techniques and design ideas for my clients.
Colin Gilliam
Colin Gilliam, partner with Hitomi Gilliam in Design358 and owner of Colin Gilliam Photo + Design, has been photographing flowers for more than a decade. His work has been published in numerous books, as well as in Florists’ Review and Fleur Creatif Magazine.
I had a chance to discuss my thoughts about Trends during a recent conversation with Hitomi
Clarity in 2020 is knowing where we are at and where we want to go.
Hitomi Gilliam, AIFD, founder of Trend Summit 2020
Hitomi, Francoise and Rebecca have all been guests on the Slow Flowers Podcast. Here are links to those episodes:
Registration continues for Slow Flowers Summit and we’re nearly 50% sold out, which is amazing to me! Please join me on June 28-30th and connect with our fabulous speakers, enjoy the incredibly beautiful venue at Filoli Historic House & Garden, and experience the many features that will immerse you in the people, principles and practices of Slow Flowers.
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 568,000 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
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnership with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
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.
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.
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
As many of you know, my path to flowers began as a home and garden features writer for magazines and newspapers. And one of my favorite gigs twenty years ago, when I first shifted from business journalism to design writing, was as garden editor for Seattle Homes & Lifestyles.
I love shelter magazines of all kinds, a dying breed, some would say, including that magazine, which took a hit along with so many during the 2008 downtown in real estate. But we had a very good run and I scouted gardens, produce photo shoots and wrote about landscape design in the Seattle area for years.
Pine Creek Farms & Nursery in Monroe, WA. (c) B. Jones Photography
One of the very first stories I produced for Seattle Homes & Lifestyles was about a young couple named Gwen and Paul Sayers, who had a company called Paul Sayers Landscaping and who lived in Monroe, Wash., about 30 miles northeast of Seattle. Paul had designed and installed an amazing pond surrounded by a strolling path and landscaped with hundreds of beautiful trees and shrubs. It was a plant-lovers paradise and I visited Paul and Gwen on a few occasions for that article and another one for The Herald, the local daily newspaper in Everett, for which I also wrote.
Scattered Seeds . . . a flower farm at Pine Creek Farms & Nursery, (c) B. Jones Photography
Fast forward more than 15 years later and I reconnected with Paul and Gwen at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in 2017 where they had a retail booth selling items from the retail shop at their new nursery, renamed Pine Creek Farms & Nursery. Gwen has a great eye for combining plants with vintage objects and that, combined with Paul’s ability to build anything out of salvaged lumber, added up to a charming display. At the time, Gwen told me that she had started growing cut flowers for wedding clients, including ceremonies being held at Pine Creek Nursery. It was a bit of a shift from running a landscaping company, but in a logical way, their sister businesses — Pine Creek Nursery and Scattered Seeds — made a lot of sense to me.
The stunning landscape grounds and pond at Pine Creek Farms & Nursery. The couple: my young friends Claire & Cody, whose wedding flowers I designed in July 2019 (c) B. Jones Photography
Last summer, I was immersed in the full wedding experience at Pine Creek Nursery when I designed the florals for my friend’s daughter’s wedding — on July 6th no less — just a few days after returning to Seattle from the 3rd annual Slow Flowers Summit in the Twin Cities.
The bride, Claire, grew up with my boys, and since I don’t have a daughter, I guess I was feeling quite sentimental when I offered to help her with her wedding flowers. You can see a few photos of that ceremony, captured through the lens of talented wedding photographer B. Jones Photography.
These images from B. Jones Photography were captured at Claire & Cody’s wedding, including the bridal bouquet and a Pine Creek Nursery sign
I mention this experience to help underscore how impressed I was
with the venue, the amenities, the incredibly beautiful landscape and cutting
gardens that create Pine Creek Nursery.
Paul and Gwen and I recorded this episode right before the holidays and I’m so happy to share it with you here. You will learn how these retail nursery owners turned some of their tree production fields into destination wedding venue and cut flower farm. It’s a story of innovation and love for their land. And as we continue the conversation of sustainability in 2020, today’s them is how to sustain a livelihood from your land.
Floral design by Gwen Sayers of Scattered Seeds for a wedding ceremony at Pine Creek Nursery (c) Joanna Monger Photography
Here’s a bit more about Paul and Gwen:
Paul, the visionary of Pine Creek, began landscaping in 1989. Taking the leap to build a full service nursery in 2002, he and Gwen bought 20 acres of land on the outskirts of Monroe, Wa. Nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, they have developed what was once a raw piece of ground into a stunning destination nursery and event venue. Paul is an all around talented man who not only envisioned Pine Creek, but built every facet along the way. He is a man who not only dreams up BIG ideas, but actually tackles them and makes them real! From growing nursery stock out in the field, or repairing heavy equipment or irrigation, Paul has made it happen with full on hard work and a ‘get er done’ work ethic! His passion is building, creating and working with rock which is seen throughout the nursery, including a grand granite rock fireplace that is a centerpiece to the event venue at Pine Creek!
The greenhouse at Pine Creek Farms & Nursery is a top photography setting for couples who wed there.
Gwen who loves everything green, growing and flowers, has been alongside Paul through the whole process of developing Pine Creek. She has had a love for gardening ever since she was a young girl, & now some of her favorite things to do are propagating plants as well as developing a new addition to the nursery… ‘Scattered Seeds…a Flower Farm’ where fresh, locally-grown flowers are lovingly tended for weddings and local floral shops. Gwen wears many hats at Pine Creek – from the office, greenhouse, loading materials, to arranging flowers — but you can always find her with clippers in hand, foraging for unique & beautiful elements to add to a vase or to propagate for future nursery stock.
I’m so grateful that they are part of the Slow Flowers community! We’ve come full circle together and that’s a priceless gift.
Gwen’s flower fields for Scattered Seeds is another favorite of couples (c) Cameron Zeger Photography
As they mentioned, by creating a dedicated brand called Events at Pine CreekNursery, and hiring an a dedicated wedding coordinator, they have been able to build a following for that brand and business channel. It’s a smart move and as you heard, 2020 wedding bookings are already higher than last year. A flourishing year, for sure.
The zinnia patch at sunset
Find and Follow Gwen & Paul at these social places:
We are continuing to build the program for the Slow Flowers Summit, including some special surprises that we’ll be announcing in the weeks and months ahead.
Please join me on June 28-30th and connect with our fabulous speakers, enjoy the incredibly beautiful venue at Filoli Historic House & Garden, and experience the many features that will immerse you in the people, principles and practices of Slow Flowers.
Sarah Hinton and BloomTrac software for event florists, is again sponsoring our name tag layards — and we hope she will be on site to share more about BloomTrac with you.
And thanks to our friends at Red Twig Farms, Lindsey and Josh McCullough, just joined as one of our evening meal/reception sponsors! Check out links to these two great floral partners at today’s show notes at debraprinzing.com. We’ll have more sponsors to announce soon.
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 566,000 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.
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnership with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.
FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.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.
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
Welcome to 2020 as we dust off the New Year’s hangover and pivot to a new season for growing and designing with flowers.
Clara Qualizza of Meadow & Thicket Farm Flowers (left) and Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms (right), flower farmers and co-hosts of The Sustainable Flowers Podcast
Today’s conversation is the first of several episodes I want to feature about sustainability, the environment and climate change and challenges facing our Slow Flowers Community in this new decade. While researching and writing the 2020 Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast, which you heard last week, my instincts were confirmed — that the ever-more-important topic of sustainability in the floral marketplace will be front and center this year. So I’ve committed to inviting at least one guest per month to discuss who, what and how we can each make adjustments in our practices to be more sustainable.
Today’s guests will kick things off. Please meet Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms, based in Cold Lake, Alberta, and Clara Qualizza of Meadow and Thicket Farm Flowersin Wildwood, Alberta.
Together, they women host the Sustainable Flowers Podcast, which they describe as “a conversation about sustainable cut flower growing and designing as two passionate Canadian growers trying to figure it out.” I take comfort in that, because we are all trying to “figure it out,” aren’t we?
Just to give you a sense of the distance between us all — and we came together through the aid of technology!
Heather and Clara each grow cut flowers for market on the northern edge of the Canadian Prairies. In 2018, these floralpreneurs launched the Sustainable Flowers Podcast as a project in which they discuss the issues they face and alternatives to conventional approaches that they are putting into practice or are trialing to ensure that their small-scale flower farming operations are sustainable. Whether that means looking to the past or forward to new technologies to learn the whys and hows, they discuss everything from peat to floral foam, Antirrhinum to Zinnias as well as their weekly adventures on their Zones 2 and 3 flower farms.
Clara Qualizza of Meadow and Thicket Farm Flowers
I’m so delighted that both are members
of Slow Flowers, as well. Their leadership as flower farmers and influencers
who view their practices through a sustainable lens is creating change for
floral professionals and consumers in the province of Alberta, across Canada
and North American, and beyond – their listenership is international.
Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms
Have a listen to our unique three-way conversation, brought to you by the magic of technology (thanks Clara!), which we recorded several weeks ago. I’m so glad that it kicks off the New Year for the Slow Flowers Podcast and sets the tone for the conversations to follow.
Clara at her farm in Wildwood, Alberta, Canada
Follow Clara Qualizza of Meadow and Thicket Farm Flowers on Social Media:
Registrations continue for the Slow Flowers Summit, and I’m so excited for you to join me and connect with our fabulous speakers, enjoy the incredibly beautiful venue at Filoli Historic House & Garden, and experience the many features that will immerse you in the people, principles and practices of Slow Flowers.
The Garden House at Filoli
Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers
If you’ve not yet checked out details, you can find links to all the details about our partnership with Filoli Historic House and Garden, our venue for days 1 and 2 of the Summit (that’s June 28 &29) and see our speaker lineup and programming.
By the way, Day 3 is an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour led by our friend Christina Stembel, CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. This is rare access, folks, available only to Summit attendees. We hope you join us!!
(c) Mary Grace Long photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 564,000 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
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnerships with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.
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.
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
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.
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
Desert Collection, designed by Morgan Anderson, Ph.D., of The Flori.Culture (c) Macey Sierka
Happy New Year 2020! Last week’s podcast commemorated the close of 2019 with an extensive Year in Review episode. And while I couldn’t highlight and thank every single person who made last year a special one, I touched on many of the bright spots in our full year of Slow Flowers. Please go back and have a listen if you missed it.
I’m excited to share highlights from the sixth annual Slow Flowers’ Floral Insights and Industry Forecast — the 2020 edition, but before I do so, we have a special guest to welcome, Teresa Tibbets of Dandelion Floral, based in Lander, Wyoming.
All during 2019, our Fifty States of Slow Flowers series brought you a diverse range of voices and experiences from Slow Flowers members across the U.S. This ambitious series doubled the number of Slow Flowers Podcast guests we brought to you during the course of the year. Thank you to each of our state guests for their willingness to share their personal floral narrative with listeners. Together their stories amplified the thriving message that our Slow Flowers Movement is taking place everywhere and anywhere that people, gardens, soil and sunshine exist.
Teresa Tibbets with a bouquet of fall flowers (c) Kristy Cardinal Photography
Today, that series comes to a close today. Even though it’s January 1st 2020, due to a few scheduling hiccups, I couldn’t quite fit our final state – Wyoming – into 2019, so today, please meet Teresa Tibbets of Dandelion Floral.
left: Teresa designing with her Wyoming-grown blooms (c) Kim Branagan Photography; right: this boutonniere is made with lisianthus, amaranth, and aspen (c) Teresa Tibbets
Teresa is a flower farmer and studio-based wedding and event florist who specializes in growing heirloom and ephemeral flowers. She also raises “xeric natives,” such as yarrow, coneflower and rudbeckia; and she forages locally for Aspen, juniper and sage.
left: June Peony Bouquet (c) Blushing Crow Studio; right: a Dandelion Floral bridal bouquet, photographed at Karisa Mountain Lake. The anemone and ranunculus was grown on Teresa’s farm in Lander, Wyoming (c) Apartment10
Teresa says: “My designs are inspired by nature’s form and structure, embracing the whimsical and wild. The aesthetic of the Rocky Mountains is loose and light, balancing the soft with prickly; the fine with bold. We take our cues from the deserts and the mountains. An arrangement full of lush, shiny, deep green foliage looks artificial and contrived here, in my opinion. Instead, we embrace the blue-grays of sage and juniper; the delicate texture of golden grasses and twinkling yellow-green of Aspen.”
A Dandelion Floral bouquet with lilac, tulips, and anemone, which Teresa calls “the harbingers of the beginning of the flower season.”
Find and follow Dandelion Floral at these social places:
It has been
a privilege to feature this important series and I thank you for joining me. As
I mentioned last week, we missed a few — namely Hawaii and Delaware — but I’ll
do my best to add voices from those states in the coming months.
Next up: I’m
excited to share highlights from the annual Slow Flowers’ Floral Insights and Industry Forecast.
This Forecast began six years ago and I’m more inspired than ever about the focus of this project. Since 2013, I have tracked and documented the shifts and changes in the Slow Flowers Movement, devoting considerable much time and resources during the past several years while also educating about and advocating for locally grown, seasonal and sustainable flowers. As a result, the awareness of our Movement has also increased. More farms are producing more domestic flowers; more designers are selecting domestic flowers as artistic elements of their work; and more consumers are asking for local flowers.
Traction, momentum and change can be measured
incrementally, so you will notice that in this year’s 2020 Forecast some of the
topics and key insights represent subtle rather than seismic shifts from past
year’s themes, or at the very least, an expansion of them.
I’ve titled the forecast Green Horizons.
To develop this report, I began by
surveying Slow Flowers members and social media followers last fall, asking
questions about their floral businesses, including emerging themes and topics
important to them.
I drew further insights from my 2019 storytelling — first-person interviews for print and digital Slow Flowers Journal stories, interviews with more than one-hundred Slow Flowers Podcast guests, and attitudes gathered from conversations with thought-leaders in floral design, flower farming and related creative professions.
I hope you find these
forward-thinking resources important and valuable. I’d love to hear your
feedback and suggestions about topics missed.
Download a PDF of the 2020 Forecast from Canadian Florist
A sentence jumped out to me a few months ago as I read a Time magazine profile of Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia. It went like this: “Today’s customers want their dollars to go to companies that will use their money to make the world a better place.”
A fitting statement, given that Patagonia, which recently surpassed $1
billion in annual sales, donates 1% of its sales to environmental groups. To
me, that story about Patagonia underscores a theme that resonates with that of
our 2020 Slow Flowers’ Floral Insights
and Industry Forecast:
“Belief-driven buyers choose a brand on the basis of its position on social issues.”
Time interview with Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia
If you think this is a fringe topic, you’re wrong. According to market consultancy Edelman, nearly 2 in 3 consumers are belief-driven buyers.
Let’s review 2 0 1 9 before we welcome the New Year!
Thank you for being part of the Slow Flowers Community and tuning into the Slow Flowers Podcast during 2019. I’m honored and humbled that you take time to join me each week — especially in the midst of an ever-more-crowded and cluttered environment for information.
Listenership of this program has grown more sizeable than ever. Last year at this time, I told you the Slow Flowers Podcast had been dowloaded more than 390,000 times since this show launched in July 2013. Fast-forward to today and that number has climbed to 560k. With an average monthly count of more than 14k episode-downloads, I’m incredibly encouraged that this Podcast remains relevant and essential, as we deliver the voices, stories and information you crave and enjoy.
Every single week this year; in fact, every single week for the past 334 weeks, it has been my privilege to feature heroes from the Slow Flowers community. Unlike any other internet radio show in existence, the Slow Flowers Podcast is tailored to you and your interests, making its “must-listen” programming a weekly habit among flower farmers and floral designers alike.
In producing and hosting the Slow Flowers
Podcast, I seek out pioneers and personalities, style-makers and influencers —
as well as unsung or little-known heroes — who together are changing the floral
landscape, disrupting the status quo, and bringing flower sourcing and growing
practices, not to mention eco-conscious design methods, to the center of the
conversation.
A highlight of 2019 was our expansive and inclusive series: Fifty States of Slow Flowers! We’ve nearly made it through the entire alphabet — from Alabama’s Lisa Thorne of Thorne & Thistle to Wyoming’s Teresa Tibbets of Dandelion Floral— who you’ll hear next week on New Year’s Day.
This ambitious series doubled the number of Slow Flowers Podcast guests we brought to you in 2019. Thank you to each of our state guests for their willingness to share their personal floral narrative with listeners. Together their stories amplified the thriving message that our Slow Flowers Movement is taking place everywhere and anywhere that people, gardens, soil and sunshine exist.
Click here to find our show archives dating back to the first episode, which aired on July 23, 2013.
Sally and Courtney, photographed just as they completed the upstairs kitchen at Flower House in 2015.
Today, we’ll start the show by introducing you to Wisconsin’s Sally Vander Wyst of The Milwaukee Flower Co.
Sally is a past guest of this podcast; you met her back in 2015 when I interviewed many of the floral artists who created botanical rooms for Flower House Detroit.
Sally and her collaborator Courtney Stemberg discuss their design for the upstairs kitchen at Flower House, a beautiful botanical installation entitled: “Nature Takes Back.”
It’s so hard to believe here we are four years later — and Milwaukee Flower Co. has a lot of news to share!
Wisconsin’s Slow Flowers Community has always been a strong one and I’m grateful for growers and designers who are committed to seasonal and local blooms in the upper midwest — including Sally Vander Wyst.
Sally Vander Wyst of Milwaukee Flower Co. — harvesting zinnias in her mini-farm/cutting garden
I’m so happy I could catch up with Sally – you’ll want to stay tuned for her return to this podcast when she has more to report on the upcoming “Floral Spectacle” — a collaboration with fellow Slow Flowers member Liz Egan of Floral Alchemy, also based in Milwaukee. The two are cooking up something big and flowery to occur during the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next summer. I can’t wait to learn more.
Left: A bridal bouquet featuring flowers from Milwaukee Flower Co.’s garden, from other Wisconsin farms and roses sourced from California. all-American grown (c) GE Creative; right: Sally in her cutting garden (c) @autumnsilvaphotography
Next up: As I have done since the beginning of 2014, I
would like to devote today to the Slow Flowers
Highlights of this past year. Next week, on January 1st, I
will present the annual Slow
Flowers’ Floral Insights and Industry Forecast for 2020.
Last year at this time, we reflected on the highlights of 2018 with 10 Top Themes. The sentiments I shared with you then are no truer today. In fact, given the world in which we live, they are more meaningful to me than ever. One year ago, I said this:
“More than ever, I realize that making authentic human connections with you is what really matters. Each experience is more meaningful because of the relationships we forge with one another.”
Please know how valuable that statement is —
relationships are the connective tissue that ties us together — no matter
where we live geographically and no matter which role we play in the floral
marketplace.
What did we do in 2019? Each of our four
content channels and our live programming have added up to an incredible year
of engagement, interactivity, relationships and more. The year began with the
unveiling of our new Slow Flowers
Society branding and web site — a central hub for all of our Slow Flowers
projects.
Why the Society? Our focus hasn’t changed.
In fact, our mission continues:
“To change the flower sourcing practices of consumers and professionals through outreach and education that highlights the benefits of local, seasonal and domestic floriculture — and to build a movement that promotes cultivation and sales of those flowers while nurturing authentic connections between consumers, farmers, and florists.”
This name change was long in coming. Yet it
didn’t happen impetuously or overnight. Launched at the start of 2019 when we
were already turning a calendar page and thinking about a clean re-boot, the
new Slow Flowers Society branding brings clarity to the Slow Flowers platform.
Since I wrote the book Slow Flowers, a lot has happened
with these two words: Slow. Flowers.
These two words now symbolize an entire
movement. A movement that hundreds of thousands of florists, flower farmers,
retailers and designers use as short-hand to reflect their belief in local,
seasonal and sustainably-grown botanicals.
After the book’s publication, and as it became clear to me that there was an opportunity to position Slow Flowers as an industry standard, new ideas inspired me to bring the following channels and programs to life. With five channels and programs, each of which has its own exclusive web site things were getting a little unruly. And truth be told, those individual and focused web addresses still exist and they are continually updated with dedicated content. By building a “front door” — via slowflowerssociety.com — we helped connect the dots for all of our activities. I hope you find it helpful, too.
About Slowflowers.com. With the help of Lisa Waud of pot + box, a longtime member and all-around organizational genius, I tackled a major cleanup of the Slow Flowers membership database in 2019, which allowed me to pivot the focus and energies of Slowflowers.com to support and encourage those of you who have invested your time, creativity and financial resources as members. We wrapped up 2019 with nearly 650 active and engaged members representing flower farmers, farmer-florists, designers, wholesalers, collectives, and more.
We recently
established Slow Flowers International, an International
Affiliate program for like-minded organizations in other countries. And it is
with great pleasure that in 2019, our friends at SLOWFLOWERS ITALY joined as
our first International Affiliate!
Founded in 2017, SlowFlowers Italy members are part of a network of professionals, of people who carry the values of respect and attention to the environment, local territories, traditions and community development. Welcome and Congratulations! We can’t wait to partner with you in raising awareness about seasonality, sustainability and the benefits of supporting local floral agriculture!
Member Benefits
Slow Flowers is both a community and a branding platform and clearly, one of the most visible tools available to our members is Slowflowers.com, the online member directory. But there are so many other members benefit from your Slow Flowers’ association. Sharing those resources with you will be the focus of 2020 as we will use the Slow Flowers Podcast and the Slow Flowers Journal online magazine to feature ways to leverage your membership, and communicate the Slow Flowers member Values and Benefits.
I’ve found that the number one goal of our
members is to tell and share their story, and because I’m a storyteller, we
have lots of opportunities to shine a light on our members. In a marketplace
filled with conventional flowers, our members are able to differentiate
themselves and their floral enterprises by associating with the passion and mission
of keeping flowers local, seasonal and sustainable — and inspiring the
imagination of flower lovers and floral consumers who learn more about that
narrative.
To that end, in 2019, we produced two
year-long projects. Those series allowed me to feature Slow Flowers members all
across the U.S. and Canada with special themes.
Visually, we featured the flowers grown and designed by Slow Flowers members who contributed to our monthly Houzz.com series in 2019. We planned a full year of Slow Flowers Galleries, with each month’s floral theme published as a “Best of” collection of design inspiration based around specific seasonal blooms. Check out this link to the full 2019 gallery. In all, we shared more than 250 floral images with Houzz.com readers — publishing an ongoing, consistent message that local and seasonal botanicals are superior.
Our other series, Fifty States of Slow Flowers, succeeded beyond all of my hopes and dreams. We were able to visit members in nearly every state — I think we skipped just two — and perhaps 2020 will allow me to catch up with the states we missed. But think about it — the chance to hear from flower farmers, floral designers and farmer-florists across North America also reinforces the significance of Slow Flowers. Click here to find the full list of our state guests for you to find and listen again.
MEDIA & PRESS
The big media news for Slow Flowers in 2019 happened when Wikipedia added an entry about Slow Flowers and the Slow Flowers Movement. This achievement was a long time in coming and it’s wonderful to see become a reality. As a digital information source, Wikipedia is of growing importance, primarily because it is a free, universal resource, one of the first examples of a usable encyclopedia that is built collaboratively by the public.
Today, when someone types “slow flowers” into their search engine, two entries appear: One is the directory Slowflowers.com, but typically, the Wikipedia story about Slow Flowers pops up first. It’s not everything, but it’s a pretty cool something, because in today’s digital reality, showing up on Wikipedia is a great endorsement. And a special thank you to writer Myriah Towner for shepherding this project with her research, reporting talents and attention to detail.
In the News
More press exposure made this a fabulous year for Slow Flowers in the News — and I just want to take a moment to mention how many outlets expressed interest in our platform. This is by no means comprehensive, but I’ll mention some highlights here. Added up, it’s pretty impressive:
. . . And of course, our ongoing editorial features about Slow Flowers members in each month’s Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Let’s pause and reflect on the Slow Flowers-Florists’ Review partnership – it is an incredible one that has been pivotal in moving the conversation about local, seasonal and sustainable flowers – and sustainable design practices – to the mainstream.
We have a seat at the table, and I am so grateful to publisher Travis Rigby and editor-in-chief David Coake for this ongoing opportunity. I am also part of the editorial teams for SuperFloral, a bimonthly magazine geared to mass market/supermarket floral retail; and Canadian Florist, a bimonthly magazine for professional florists in Canada. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to contribute original articles about Slow Flowers members and their creative business ventures to these titles during 2019.
All of this work as a professional communicator opened up another great opportunity for me and Slow Flowers in 2019. In September, I was inducted into the PFCI, Professional Floral Communicators International, a Society of American Florists’ organization. What an honor, that again, brings Slow Flowers into the mainstream as an authentic channel in the floral marketplace.
Producing the Third Annual SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT occupied so much of our creative energy in 2019. As an event designed for you, our membership, it exceeded all expectations. For those of you who joined us this past year in St. Paul, Minnesota, aka the Twin Cities, I hope you agree. And I thank you for showing your support by attending, engaging, contributing to the conversation and cheering us on. It was a beautiful thing to experience.
As you know, the Summit is the LIVE event in the midst of American Flowers Week, created to serve the Slow Flowers community of progressive, sustainably-minded florists and designers and to engage attendees who want to network with one another.
Planning and producing the 3rd annual Summit was made possible by the contributions of so many people. We must thank our host, Christine Hoffman of Twin Cities Flower Exchange, along with all the flower farmers who sell through that regional floral market, for welcoming us so warmly. More than 135 of us, to be precise. The pre-Summit farm tours of Blue Sky Flower Farmand Green Earth Growersgave everyone a first-hand experience of two incredibly beautiful and prolific Midwest flower farms. Thank you so much to Jon and Rachael Ackerman of Blue Sky Flower Farm (above) and thank you to Jolea Gress and Jenny Hotz of Green Earth Growers for the tour of your fields and greenhouses — and for hosting the first-ever Slow Flowers Dinner on the Farm – a delicious experience to say the least.
We enjoyed 10 fabulous speakers, experts in their fields and experts as teachers and communicators. Due to the intimate size of the Summit attendance, everyone has a chance to meet our speakers personally. That’s one of the key benefits of being part of our Slow Flowers Community. Making in-real-time connections is a top-cited benefit, according to past Summit attendees.
Presentations and demonstrations from Tobey Nelson, Carly Jenkins and Whit McClureensured that floral design was at the heart of the Slow Flowers Summit. Ourattendees and speakers also collaborated on a large-scale, foam-free floral sculpture using seasonal, domestic and foraged botanicals. It was a highlight!
We enjoyed a business-focused keynote from Terri McEnaney, CEO of Bailey Nurseries, and a social media panel with our own social media manager Niesha Blancas, our Summit photographer Missy Palacol, and Missy’s frequent collaborator Kalisa Jenne-Fraser.
And we learned volumes from three innovators involved in the emerging category of locally-focused wholesale floral hubs across the U.S., including Christine Hoffman of Twin Cities Flower Exchange, Amanda Maurman of Michigan Flower Growers Cooperative and Kelly Morrison of Piedmont Wholesale Flowers.
On Day Two of the Summit, attendees were invited to tour the Twin Cities Flower Exchange where florist and event designers and floral designer Ashley Fox shared her personal approach to shopping The Exchange for a floral demonstration using all-local blooms! We also visited the last rose-grower in the Midwest with an afternoon at Len Busch Roses steeped in more Midwest-grown flowers.
If you missed joining us, I have a treat for you. You can watch the free videos of all of the 2019 Slow Flowers Summit presentations — follow this link for the full lineup.
I can’t wrap up mention of the Slow Flowers Summit, without reminding you to register for the Fourth Annual SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT, taking place June 28-30, 2020 at Filoli Historic House and Garden in Woodside, Calif., outside San Francisco.
Clockwise from top, left: Susan Mcleary, Kellee Matsushita-Tseng, Molly Culver, Lorene Edwards Forkner, Debra Prinzing, Jennifer Jewell, Pilar Zuniga and Emily Saeger
It is going to be an incredibly creative experience, and we’re offering you more value and benefits than ever before. The Early-Bird pricing continues through Dec. 31st so there’s not much time left to save $100 and grab a spot to join me and some wonderful speakers in the Bay Area! Follow this link to reserve your seat and join us!
We celebrated the fifth annual AMERICAN FLOWERS WEEKduring June 28-July 4, 2019 — and you and your flowers were at the heart of this fabulous and important campaign.
Slow Flowers created this original U.S. flower promotion holiday, launched in 2015. Our grassroots, all-inclusive campaign provides editorial, branding and marketing resources to flower farmers, florists, designers, retailers and wholesalers who wish to promote American grown Flowers.
Highlights of 2019 include our fourth year to commission botanical couture fashions, with nine creative looks featured in the June 2019 issue of Florists’ Review as “Red, White & Bloom.”
Thank you to the floral designers and
flower farmers who collaborated on this project of flowering our nation
during American Flowers Week. The
inventiveness expressed by the Slow Flowers community — flower farmers and
floral designers alike — elevates American-grown botanicals to new levels.
And now’s the time to mark American Flowers Week 2020 on your calendar — June 28 through July 4 — because it will be our sixth annual campaign and celebration! I’ll have more to share in the coming months. For now, check out the 2020 botanical art branding we commissioned from Tamara Hough of Morning Glory Flowers — featured in last week’s Slow Flowers Podcast — and why not download the graphics to share on your web site and via social media? Help me to start building interest and excitement for the 2020 American Flowers Week campaign. And be sure to use the #americanflowersweek hashtag so we can see your posts!
Team Slow Flowers, from left: Jenny Diaz, Andrew Brenlan, Niesha Blancas, Karen Thornton and Lisa Waud
THE PEOPLE of SLOW FLOWERS
Truly, people make the Slow Flowers Movement so successful — you and your tribe coming together with other similar tribes in regions and communities all around, both here in North America – and beyond. We share information, ideas, encouragement, key resources, tips, answers, experiences and more.
We are united in a common belief that local and seasonal flowers, grown sustainably and with minimal harm to the planet, is a practice worthy of our energies.
In 2019, my personal universe was filled with a few key people whose presence and expertise helped me further shape Slow Flowers from what was originally just a concept, a title of a book, into a multimedia, multifaceted content organization and brand platform for others’ use.
In late March, Lisa
and I participated in a spontaneous mind-meld with two other flower friends.
Part getaway; part workation, the gathering of four women creatives in small
and large ventures, from different generations and walks of life, was an
electrifying experience to say the least. What emerged from our time together
was a new collaboration for Slow Flowers, with Lisa joining me to manage a
project I simply did not have time or bandwidth to tackle. I had been yearning
for someone who could help me untangle the crazy knot of our Slow Flowers Member Database. For
many, this would be a mind-numbingly boring, clerical, rather than creative
task. Yet for Lisa, this was a challenge that called her in — and rise to the
occasion, she has.
Other key Who’s include the Slow Flowers Creative Team with whom I work all year long:
Thank you to Jenny Diaz, our uber-talented graphic designer, whose artistry helps us communicate and represent the ideas and ideals of Slow Flowers. She has consistently supported my projects since I asked her to create our Membership and Sponsor Collateral in 2015, followed quickly by the iconic American Flowers Week branding in 2016 (our campaign’s second year). Our collaboration has expanded to include all of Slow Flowers and American Flowers week branding, advertising, collateral material and now — I’m so excited to be working with Jenny as the designer of the Slow Flowers Journal – Volume One book, out in 2020! More on that later in this episode.
Thank you to Niesha Blancas of Fetching Social Media, our social media maven, who I’ve also known and worked with since 2015. Niesha took over our IG and FB social media strategy two years ago and I couldn’t be more pleased. Under her leadership, talent and attention to detail, Niesha has nurtured the @myslowflowers channel on IG and Facebook’s Slow Flowers page, exponentially increasing our engagement with you, our community. Niesha has been with the Slow Flowers Summit team from the very first conference in Seattle in 2017 and she was also a presenter this past year in St. Paul, Minnesota, at our third annual Slow Flowers Summit. I am so grateful for her creativity and positive influence as we take this Slow Flowers journey together.
Thank you to Karen Thornton of Avenue 22 Events, the steady hand on the tiller of the Slow Flowers Summit since 2018, our second conference. Karen is the secret sauce to my being able to realize a vision for a “multifaceted, interactive and live, in-person experience” that takes place during the heart of American Flowers Week. She is one of my fiercest defenders and the brand advocate I’ve needed to round out the Slow Flowers Team. For 2020, Karen is coming onboard to manage the entire Slow Flowers administrative suite of projects, making sure we stay on time, on budget, on point and more. I couldn’t be happier with the contributions of the four women I just thanked.
And yet, there is one other key person I need to thank!
He’s our dedicated, talented and supportive Podcast Engineer, Andrew Brenlan. Thank you Andrew! Hannah Brenlan was my original producer and after about one year, she handed the weekly production over to her husband Andrew Brenlan. As I said last year: Andrew has taken our audio to new levels, with beautiful musical transitions and his patient and loyal efforts to improve my limited technical skills! Let’s face it: I know how to find great guests and I know how to interview them. But beyond that, this podcast would not exist without Andrew! He’s a new father, too — as Hannah and Andrew welcomed baby Francis to their family. Congratulations, Andrew and thank you so much for making our Podcast so successful in 2019!
As we come to a close, I want to thank our 2019 Sponsors
Slow Flowers sponsors support our work to connect consumers with florists, shops, studios, and farmers who supply and source domestic and American-grown flowers, Made-in-USA floral hardgoods and accessories and related businesses.
I just want to take a minute to thank them for their financial support in 2019 and to tell you a little bit about how each partnership is uniquely tailored to meet mutual goals of promoting American flowers:
You’ve already heard about our partnership with lead sponsor Florists’ Review — but I’ll thank Travis Rigby, editorial director David Coake and art director Kathleen Dillinger here. They and the rest of the Florists’ Review team are a joy to work with and I respect and value our relationship!
Coming up in early 2020 is our first book collab with Florists’ Review: Slow Flowers Journal – Volume One, created with the amazing talented support of Robin Avni as editor and our own Jenny Diaz as designer. I can’t wait to share more but here is a sneak peek of the book cover art (featuring Missy Palacol’s photography) in today’s show notes!
Thank
you to these amazing sponsors:
The peony farmers of Arctic Alaska
Peonies, who supported this Podcast and Slow Flowers Journal in 2019.
The Seattle Wholesale Growers Market and its amazing group of Northwest flower farmers and market staff.
Longfield Gardens for connecting florists to gardening and connecting gardeners to floral design.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds for producing high quality flower foliage and herb seeds for cutting gardens and flower farms of all sizes.
Syndicate Sales for supporting florists
with an incredibly diverse selection of USA-made vases, design mechanics and
accessories.
The Association of Specialty Cut Flower
Growers for its support and leadership in growing flower farming as an
important profession.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist has again supported the Podcast and American Flowers Week and we’re so grateful for their industry support.
Northwest Green Panels, the Oregon-based greenhouse builder which is responsible for my charming 8×8 modern slant greenhouse.
And Farmers’ Web, the software company that came onboard mid-year as a Podcast and Newsletter sponsor.
Slow Flowers is the term most widely used in the floral marketplace to communicate and convey seasonal, local and sustainable floriculture.
It has been another record-setting year in so many ways. According to keyhole.com, our tracking service, Slow Flowers’ metrics are higher than ever. Our social media maven, Niesha Blancas of Fetching Social Media, has worked tirelessly to represent Slow Flowers and its members through the medium — with great results!
In the past 365 days, on
instagram and twitter combined,
Slow Flowers has appeared in more
than 75k posts, up from 47k in 2018.
and has stimulated social media engagement of 2.3 million, up from engagement of 1.4 million in 2018.
Tulips grown by an American farmer I know and trust.
To that I say, What are YOU Waiting For? We’d love you to join Slow Flowers and put your resources, creativity, personal engagement and passion to work for a Movement that gives back to you in volumes. You can start the new year with a commitment to supporting Slow Flowers and you can join us for as little as $50 a year to enjoy the many programs and benefits for members. Follow this link to join us!
Thank you for being a part of
this movement and I hope you’ll make the next step by investing in the
continued relevance and success of this brand
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.
Well that’s it, folks. As our year comes to a close, I wish you a warm and restorative holiday season and share my hope for a peaceful and productive 2020.
Music Credits:
Basketliner; Betty Dear; Delamine; Gaena; Glass Beads; Highride; Perspiration by Blue Dot Sessions http://www.sessions.blue
It’s that
time again, the annual Slow Flowers Holiday Music
Special!
Floral design [(c) Suzanne Rothmeyer] by Carolyn Kulb, seen at right.
Today’s guest is Carolyn Kulb of Folk Art Flowers, based in Seattle. Carolyn and I met in the fall of 2018 and I’ve enjoyed watching how she fully participates in the benefits available to Slow Flowers members — from submitting designs to our monthly Slow Flowers Design Idea galleries on Houzz.com to showing up and volunteering for projects like an installation at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market to celebrate American Flowers Week.
Neon Brass Party, a Seattle “Honk” band — see today’s guest, Carolyn Kulb, wearing a hot pink hat and playing her violin towards the left
Last April, while chatting with Carolyn at the Whidbey Flower Workshop, I learned that she is not only an aspiring farmer-florist but also a musician. She plays and teaches violin and is a member of a HONK band called “Neon Brass Party,” here in Seattle.
I often try and feature a musical guest during the holiday season, so when I learned about Carolyn’s other artistic outlet, I asked if she would join me and share some of her talents for this episode.
You’ll hear portions of a violin piece that Carolyn played for me in person. Here is a link to listen to her digital music compositions.
Roses and peonies, designed by Carolyn Kulb of Folk Art Flowers
But mostly, today we talk flowers — including the trials and challenges facing a startup farmer-florist.
I hope you’ll enjoy the conversation. Carolyn says she started Folk Art after a long journey doing work that did not match her strengths. She continues:
Spring Hellebores by Folk Art Flowers
“Early on I worked with the Peace Corps, which was incredible mostly because I got to work with farmers all day. I kept climbing the ladder, including jobs that let me travel, but I was miserable behind a desk. What I did love about my career was working with other farmers in the field and connecting with people and nature, so I decided to start doing more of that.
“After moving to Seattle, I joined the Sustainable Farming Education Program at Tilth Alliance, which is an incubation program for beginner farmers. I joined a farm to experience a full season in action, and started growing flowers in my backyard. I also did a lot of arranging and experimentation to improve my craft, and designed full-service flowers for several weddings. (I also joined two bands, which is another story!) After this wonderful incubation period of creativity and learning, I finally decided to start Folk Art Flowers. I am so excited and grateful to be able to share some of my joy with you by bringing you beautiful, local, and sustainably produced flowers.”
A lavish dahlia bouquet, designed by Carolyn Kulb of Folk Art Flowers
As a design studio, Folk Art Flowers offers a flower
subscription service, individual arrangements, wedding and event flowers, and
more. Carolyn sources flowers locally through family farms in the Pacific
Northwest, farms that employ sustainable growing practices. In the winter
months, she occasionally sources botanical ingredients from California, saying:
“I believe in American-grown flowers and will never use flowers that are
flown in from another country.”
As you’ll hear from Carolyn, in 2019 with new leased land, she began to realize her dream to grow all of her own florals. Her commitment to sustainability includes everything from growing flowers using organic practices to recycling vases. It also includes a philosophy of building soil health naturally, avoiding the use of pesticides through integrated pest management, using only organic fertilizers, providing habitat for wildlife and bees, and rotating crops.
Another fun Neon Brass Party band photo with Carolyn at far left
Find and follow Folk Art Flowers at these social places.
Thank you so much for joining my conversation with Carolyn! I love hearing her story and I know that 2020 will be a big, bountiful year as she develops her new farmland. This is the message that appears on Folk Art Flowers’ web site: “We are a member of the Slow Flowers community, and our flowers are local, meaning that you are supporting local farmers in your community in addition to supporting a small, woman-owned business. Since we use farm flowers, you’ll get to see the seasons change based on what we select for you. And we might be biased, but we think we create the most beautiful arrangements out there.” — I couldn’t love this sentiment more!
Tamara Hough of Morning Glory Flowers (left), our West Virginia guest; Tamara’s botanical artwork – in process (right)
Fifty States of Slow Flowers continues today with a stop in West Virginia. You’ll hear from Tamara Hough of Morning Glory Flowers, our West Virginia guest in the 2019 Fifty States of Slow Flowers series. A few months ago, we commissioned Tamara, aflower farmer, botanical artist and new Slow Flowers member to design our American Flowers Week branding for 2020! I’m so excited for you to learn more about Tamara and the special role she is playing as our guest artist.
Tamara Hough of Morning Glory Flowers
You
can see Tamara’s playful and charming floral ladies, faces and fashions that
she posts on her Instagram feed .
This artwork captured my imagination as a perfect way to represent the spirit
of American Flowers Week! I asked Tamara to create an original illustration
with three botanically-styled women to represent the best of Slow Flowers and
American Flowers Week. She designed a trio of gals in beautiful floral
headpieces, with bits and pieces from the garden used to create all the facial
features — and their fashionable looks!
A trio of floral ladies celebrate floral female friendship, by Tamara Hough of Morning Glory Flowers
The Early Bird promotion for the Slow Flowers Summit continues through the end of this month and I’m so encouraged by the incredible response we’ve had — passionate and progressive floral folks from nine states from East to West and one Canadian Province have already registered! We encourage you to take advantage $100 off the Member or General registration for the 2020 Slow Flowers Summit and purchase your ticket to the Slow Flowers Summit by December 31st.
If you’ve not yet checked out details, you can find links to all the exciting news about our partnership with Filoli Historic House and Garden, our venue for days 1 and 2 of the Summit (that’s June 28 &29) and our fabulous speaker lineup. By the way, Day 3 is an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour led by our friend Christina Stembel, CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. This is rare access, folks, available only to Summit attendees. As I said, check out those details in today’s show notes.
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 558,000 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
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Our partnerships with Florists’ Review is such a valuable one, providing a forum for beautiful and inspiring editorial content in the #slowflowersjournal section – month after month.
Thanks to Florists’ Review, you can now order a subscription for yourself + give one as a gift this holiday season.
Set your 2020 intention to enrich your personal and professional development!
FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.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.
Arctic Alaska Peonies,a cooperative of family farms in the heart of Alaska working together to grow and distribute fresh, stunning, high-quality peony varieties during the months of July and August – and even September. Thank you to the many farmers and growers who have been part of this operation to supply peonies throughout the United States and Canada.
(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.
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.
On Vancouver Island, along the western edge of Canada, gardener, designer, writer and teacher Christin Geall grows flowers and shares her designs through 
