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It is a pleasure today to share my recent conversation with Susan Kelly of Three Sisters Custom Flowers & Events, recorded at her studio in East Palo Alto, California on October 22nd.

Susan is a member of Slowflowers.com.

I featured this gifted floral artist in a short interview a few weeks ago to discuss her installation at The Flower House in Detroit, as part of a round-up podcast conversation with several of the designers involved in The Flower House a few weeks ago.

You can listen to that interview here.

When I realized that I would be in her area the following week, for a lecture and workshop I was scheduled to give at Filoli, the historic estate, I invited myself to Three Sisters Flowers for a tour and interview to share with you.

 

 

Here’s more about Susan:

As owner, lead floral designer and certified wedding coordinator, Susan really knows her flowers and celebrates abundance and natural beauty through her designs. She is constantly doing research to find the newest trends but she also enjoys creating classics.

A Susan Kelly garden-inspired bouquet.

And a lovely floral crown by Susan Kelly.

Susan’s signature design style is simple, natural and elegant, mirroring nature’s effortless beauty.

Susan’s passion for floral design began when she was young. She was immersed in the world of floral design through her first job in high school at the local florist and went on to major in Ornamental Horticulture in college.

It later led her to work as a floral designer for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, (one of the busiest florists in the world) and, more recently, as a freelance designer for nationally acclaimed Mark’s Garden in Los Angeles.

Susan has also worked a wedding coordinator for the gorgeous and very busy Stanford Memorial Church on the Stanford University campus.

I caught this image of Susan consulting with a bridal client who stopped by to see a sneak preview of her bouquets and centerpieices.

During a hectic wedding season a few years ago, mothers of her bridal clients discovered that Susan was willing and able to step up to more than just delivering the flowers.

As a result, Three Sisters add wedding planning, coordination and consulting to their services.

Susan became certified as a Wedding and Event Consultant through WPI.

She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Silicon Valley chapter of the National Association for Catering and Events and is very active in the event and wedding industry.

 

Breathtaking chandelier!

Three Sisters Custom Flowers & Events cares about the environment and Susan considers herself a “green florist,” employing the following practices:

• Composting all our plant and organic waste

• Recycling all packaging materials

• Organic flowers by request

• Locally grown flowers when possible

• Re-using containers and supplies

  

  Apples! Seasonal and local!

Follow Susan and Three Sisters:

Three Sisters on Facebook

Three Sisters on Pinterest

Three Sisters on Instagram

Here are details about next week’s three-day Chapel Designers California conference, which Susan will host at the studio of Three Sisters Custom Floral & Events on November 9, 10 and 11.

After spending 30 minutes with Susan, I hope you feel her incredible passion for what she does.

To me, her passion is inspiring and contagious.

Susan puts her whole heart into each event and it’s no surprise that she’s has formed lasting friendships with many of the clients and professionals she has worked with.

That’s the epitome of a leader in the Slow Flowers community.

Thanks to the Slow Flowers Tribe, this podcast has been downloaded more than 70,000 times.

Whether you’ve just discovered this Podcast or whether you’re a longtime listener, don’t forget that we’ve archived all of the past episodes at Debraprinzing.com – more than two years of conversations with American flower farmers and floral designers – leading voices in the progressive, American-grown community.

Until next week please join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

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I’ve had today’s first guest on my “wish list” for a couple years and due to both of our travel schedules, it has taken nearly two years for us to connect in the same time and place with a quiet moment to record today’s interview.

Our paths finally crossed when Françoise Weeks and I were in Detroit at the same time for The Flower House festivities. Françoise traveled to Detroit earlier in the week to teach a two-day workshop hosted by our second podcast guest Susan McLeary of Passionflower Events.  And I was in town to co-host the final Field to Vase Dinner of 2015.

The Flower House, subject of last week’s podcast, prompted Susan to ask Françoise to collaborate with her on the first floor kitchen, called “Fruits of Labor.”

The three of us sat down for this recording on the morning after the hugely successful Field to Vase Dinner.

They were staying in a restored loft apartment in an historic Detroit neighborhood and suggested I come over to record the interview.

When I arrived, Susan and Françoise were concentrating on assembling a bridal bouquet, boutonniere and floral crown for a last-minute elopement that was to occur at The Flower House the following day. It was a lovely moment to talk with both Françoise and Susan as their hands shaped and formed tiny botanical elements into the most delicate, textural creations.

Françoise hails from Belgium, and you can hear the gentle traces of her Flemish accent when she speaks. She has been living in Portland for many years, which is where she developed her studio design business, created flowers for hundreds of weddings and shaped her distinct brand of European-inspired floral design.

Françoise and I have known one another for several years as residents of neighboring states; in fact I first met her in 2010 while on a scouting trip to Portland for The 50 Mile Bouquet.

Since that time, it has been so inspiring to watch Françoise’s career explode as an in-demand floral educator whose workshop series and classes are often sold-out with waiting lists.

Here’s a little more about Françoise:

Françoise was born in Belgium in an area romanticized by the flower arrangements of the Dutch and Flemish painters of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Honing her talents through training with the florists of Antwerp, Françoise discovered her signature—a unique lush and textural style, heavily imprinted by her love of nature and art. Since 1996 she has translated her passion into creations of flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables and foliage in a way that the masters could only paint.

Her portfolio runs the gamut from elegant natural simplicity to the abundant and bountiful; she consistently delivers the unexpected. Françoise’s first priority is to realize the ideas and needs of her clients and bring to the process her attention to detail and unique creativity.

Recently her work has emerged into two distinctive styles: URBAN WOODLANDS—contemporary stylings of mosses, lichens, bark and forest floor gatherings and FLORAL FORWARD—exquisite botanical haute couture creations of purses, headpieces and shoes.

She shares her knowledge of floral design and mechanics with professionals and students from around the world in intimate studio classes and workshop settings. Françoise has been the subject of numerous magazine articles throughout the United States and Europe.

My conversation with Françoise naturally transitioned to Susan McLeary, once her student; now a good friend and fellow floral educator.

Susan and I met in 2014 when I spoke to the Chapel Designers in New York City at the invitation of Holly Chapple.

She later joined the Slowflowers.com web site (as has Françoise), which is fitting because both designers are known for working with local and seasonal blooms as a preference.

I’ve recently spent more time with Susan who was the featured designer for the Field to Vase Dinner Tour at The Flower House.

I credit Susan for nudging me to schedule this interview with Françoise.

Susan couldn’t avoid me asking her to be part of this episode, as well.

 

Here’s more about Susan McLeary:

Like most of the florists in our Slow Flowers community, Susan is such a collaborative individual as an artist, designer and educator.  Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she is known for her unusual, boundary-pushing floral art including elaborate headpieces, flower crowns, and her signature succulent jewelry. Her soulful, seasonally-inspired creations and floral wearables have been described as exquisite living artwork.  

Susan has trained with some of the country’s leading floral designers, including Françoise Weeks, Holly Chapple and Erin Benzakein of floret. Yet, she has developed her own distinctive style of floral design.

Considered one of the country’s top designers of floral wearables and living jewelry, Susan received one gold and three silver medals and placed second overall in the 2014 Fusion Flowers International Designer of the Year competition. 

Her studio Passionflower was the only finalist in the floral category of Martha Stewart’s 2015 American Made contest! 

A passionate teacher, Susan offers private design instruction for new and professional florists in her studio and through destination workshops.

Her teaching experience also includes a sold-out two-day workshop on living jewelry design in Scotland; numerous other creative collaborations workshops are planned for the coming year.  

Susan’s work has been featured on the cover of Fusion Flowers Magazine and in leading industry publications and websites including Modern Wedding Flowers, Style Me Pretty and The Knot. Susan is a member of Chapel Designers, Slow Flowers and Style Me Pretty’s “Little Black Book.”  A frequent featured designer on Etsy, her designs and living jewelry has been praised for its originality, sustainability and style.  

Susan calls Françoise a kindred spirit, which is such a lovely way to view how the Slow Flowers Movement is bringing together many like-minded flower farmers and florists. We are kindred spirits and the more we share and give, the more we can stimulate a new normal in this profession. I’m so grateful that these two women shared their stories with you today.

Here’s how to follow Françoise Weeks:

Françoise on Facebook

Françoise on Instagram

Françoise on Twitter

Françoise on Pinterest

Susan on Facebook

Susan on Instagram

Susan on Twitter

Susan on Pinterest

Susan on Vimeo

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded nearly 69,000 times. I thank you and others in the progressive American-grown floral community for supporting this endeavor.

Until next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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 Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

Filoli, the iconic early 20th Century estate in Woodside, California, is listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a cultural institution where people come to learn, explore and be inspired by nature just minutes away from the city.

Filoli is also known for its Floral Design Certificate program and that’s what brought me there last Friday to lecture and teach, thanks to the invitation of Cathy Rampley, head of education, and Katherine Glazier, one of the instructors in the floral design program.

When planning ahead to order flowers for a couple large-scale floral designs and a hands-on workshop for 20 students, I always tell the organizers that I want local, American grown flowers. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. Sometimes, like last week, it’s impossible to do otherwise. After all, we shopped at the San Francisco Flower Mart, which is where the best flowers available are California Grown.

I had so much fun digging through the storage closets at the Filoli estate house to select vessels for my designs. The ceramic piece you see above is measures approximately 14 inches in diameter, a turquoise-glazed dish mounted in a brass stand. Its shallowness challenged me and despite the 7-inch pin frog attached to the inside base, I mounded a large piece of chicken wire to dome over the opening.

This arrangement proves my theory that when a vase is shallow, you can build the bouquet 2- to 3-times the width of the opening. Using smoke tree (Cotinus) clipped from Filoli by the gardening staff and inserted so it soars off to one side allowed me to exaggerate the horizontal. Several antique hydrangea blooms, sourced from Half Moon Bay nearby, rest on the rim of the bowl and anchor it visually. I needed quite a bit of greenery to fill the volume and hide the mounded chicken wire (seriously, this piece was larger than a basketball cut in half!). Lots of the foliage was sourced from Filoli, including a type of large-leaf ivy and coffee berry branches.

READ MORE…

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This week’s episode is dedicated to my friend Lisa Waud and to the flower farmers and florists who created The Flower House. Here’s a recap, by the numbers:

1 Elderly home, circa early 1900s

15 rooms, closets, hallways and porches

30-plus floral designers

3 days

2,000-plus visitors

25,000 to 40,000 individual stems of flowers and foliage; the count keeps climbing and changing!

hundred of potted plants

dozens of American flower farms and farmers

180 Field to Vase Dinner Guests

And now that the Flower House event is over? There will be one glorious Detroit flower farm called Flower House Farm.

Last week I had the honor and privilege of returning to The Flower House, a project I visited the first weekend in May when creator Lisa Waud and her fellow designers decorated two rooms of an adjacent building, now called “the little house,” for a press preview to introduce the ultimate exhibition to come in October.

That event took place last weekend, a three-day, flower-themed wonderland that has garnered international attention, including a huge story last Thursday in the New York Times.

This podcast has the distinction of being the first media outlet to share the story of The Flower House when we aired the original interview with Lisa Waud this past February.

I now feel like the fairy godmother who granted a tiny wish to help Lisa get the word out — and look what a fantastic and beautiful dream it blossomed into!

Officially, I was at The Flower House in Hamtramck, Michigan, a hamlet just outside downtown Detroit, to co-host the final of 10 Field to Vase Dinners for 2015.

What a perfect way to go out with a huge bang — a floral fireworks show that sold out days in advance (for tour tickets and dinner tickets), making this the most successful Field to Vase Dinner of all.

I arrived at The Flower House late last Wednesday, having grabbed a lift from the airport with my Seattle flower gal-pal Bev Burrows. Bev is a Detroit native who works in the floral, events and visual display world here in Seattle and she simply could not stay away from the lure of The Flower House in her hometown.

We jumped out of her brother’s car and started hyperventilating as we saw florist friends new and old (a few of our friends from the PNW had flown in just to volunteer for a few days, Slow Flowers members Adria Sparkhawk of Thicket in Portland and Erica Knowles of Botany 101 in Seattle). Then I found Lisa and greeted her with hugs, smiles and a few tears of happiness.

There was much going on with the opening less than 36 hours away. Lisa was busily installing her 2-story display on the home’s upstairs and downstairs porches (see that portion above).

And 14 other spaces were in various stages of installation, too. Buckets of American grown flowers were stacked everywhere and the orderly chaos promised something huge was about to be unveiled.

Over the next several weeks I’ll be sharing clips from interviews with as many of the Flower House designers as have been able to record.

Today you will hear from designers of four of the rooms; I grabbed these conversations as the designers introduced me to the specific space they embellished with flowers, and as they described the inspiration, vision and design process.

There is one unifying thread that weaves together these stories. Each designer cares deeply about sourcing American grown botanical ingredients from local flower farms and from farms in other parts of the U.S.

They want to showcase the bounty and beauty of the season and help tell the floral industry and the floral consumer that it’s important to make a conscious choice when buying flowers.

First up, you will meet SALLY VANDER WYST of the MILWAUKEE FLOWER CO., a Slowflowers.com member who created a Wisconsin-filled kitchen called “Nature Takes Back.”

Then you’ll hear from SUSAN STUDER KING of BUCKEYE BLOOMS, Slowflowers.com member and a past guest of this podcast, and her collaborator, fellow Ohioan CAROLINE WALKER of PASSIFLORA STUDIO as they introduce us to the child’s bedroom entitled “Foraged Foliage.”

The third space I visited was entitled “Sweet Mossy Dreams,” a closet and tiny hallway decorated in a most fantastical way by Slowflowers.com member SUSAN KELLY of THREE SISTERS FLOWERS, based in East Palo Alto, California.

And finally, you’ll meet past podcast guests and Slowflowers.com members JENNIFER HAF and LARISSA FLYNN of BLOOM FLORAL DESIGN, based in Petosky, Michigan, as they describe the vivid and electrifying upstairs bedroom, “Wild, Floral Graffiti.”

I’ll introduce these Flower House designers individually at the beginning of each clip, so follow along and enjoy this first installment and virtual tour of the rooms within The Flower House.

I think it’s so exciting that you’ll be hearing from designers who hail from Wisconsin, Ohio, California and Michigan – they’re just a few of the many talents whose voices will appear here in the coming weeks.

I especially love the contagious passion and urge to create that exudes from this project. Whimsy, joy, wonderment, sentiment, poignancy, surprise — all combine in this dream of a project.

My hat is off to all of the designers and especially to Lisa Waud. Once the dust settles and Lisa has transitioned from her role as Flower House creator to urban flower farmer for her successful design business Pot and Box, we’ll invite her back for a recap of the project.

In the meantime, I leave you with this impression that Jen and Larissa shared. It has stuck with me as a perfect description of their room and many of the other rooms within the four walls of The Flower House: In designing their room, the women said they experienced a WILD CRAZY FREEDOM.

And I wish that sentiment for you to experience as well. It can happen when you connect with nature and with flowers that have been grown by the hardworking hands of American flower farmers.

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded 68,000 times. I thank you and others in the progressive American-grown floral community for supporting this endeavor.

Until next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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 Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

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How do flower farmers band together to take control of their distribution channels? This week’s podcast features a recording pulled from the 2014 audio vault, a fantastic presentation that I know will answer this and many questions about selling American grown flowers. I hope you find it inspiring.

The panel, “Cooperative Wholesaling Among Farmers,” features the history and experiences of three farmers’ co-ops in the Madison, Wisconsin area; in the Pacific Northwest; and in the nation’s Capitol.

Anecdotally, I’ve heard quite a bit of of interest in farmer-owned flower cooperatives around the country. There are probably as many potential farmer-to-florist models as there are individual floral marketplaces.

For example, I have personally heard from groups in Oregon; Sacramento, California; New York-Hudson Valley area; and in Ohio, all of whom are exploring the possibilities of a collective selling effort to reach a hungry customer base of florists, event and wedding designers, and other wholesale buyers. So clearly, the potential has yet to be tapped.

This panel was presented last fall at the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers annual conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Slow Flowers was a sponsor of that conference and I’ve aired several other panels in the past.

Today, you’ll hear from Barbara Lamborne of Greenstone Fields, a Northern Virginia organic flower grower and co-founder of Capitol Flower Growers; Joe Schmitt of Fair Field Flowers; and Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farm and the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. The three generously share their experience as leaders of successful regional co-ops around the country and how they made it happen.

The presentation starts with Diane Szukovathy, co-founder of Jello Mold Farm in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and founding chair of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. Diane was one of this podcast’s first guests, appearing in Episode 103 when she discussed the co-op model in depth.

Be sure to visit debraprinzing.com to find links to several articles that I and others have written about the Seattle co-op model. Full-disclosure: I’m not totally objective here. As one of two non-farmer board members who volunteer for this endeavor, I care deeply about the co-op model. It is so rewarding to work closely with flower farmers like Diane and I know that her insights will help point you to resources for possible collaborations in your own farming community.

The next speaker is Joe Schmitt, who I and many consider the elder statesman of the American cut flower movement. Long before the flower farming craze burst onto the mainstream scene, Joe was growing flowers on his Madison, Wisconsin farm. He is a founder of Fair Field Flowers, a Slow Flowers member that serves as a wholesale farmer-to-florist cooperative selling to florists in Madison, Milwaukee and beyond.

Approximately eight farms combine their resources to supply floral customers from spring through fall. Where the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market is a central hub that sells direct to florists five days a week, Fair Field Flowers is a delivery truck (like a wholesaler on wheels) that delivers flowers to its customers in key markets.

The panel continues with a presentation from Barbara Lamborne of Greenstone Fields, one of the founders of Capitol Growers, which until recently served the Washington, D.C. market. At the time of the presentation, Capitol Growers had lost one of its three founding members. And as of 2015, the cooperative has sadly disbanded. There are lessons to learn here, from failures as well as successes.

Some of the best information comes at the end of the panel presentations during the Q&A portion. Hang in there to listen to the amazing wisdom from farmers with years of experience growing quality American flowers.

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded more than 67,000 times. I thank you and others in the progressive American-grown floral community for supporting this endeavor.

Until next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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 Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

The flowers spoke to me. Especially that gorgeous dusky pink chrysanthemum, right?

I stopped by the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market last Wednesday to drop off some books and while there, Vivian Larson’s beautiful fall mums said, “Pick us!”

We’ve been swimming in dahlia season here in the Pacific Northwest, and no one lives dahlias more than I do. But the “next new thing” is always around the corner. And those of us who love everything that Vivian grows at Everyday Flowers in Stanwood, Washington, have been waiting. Patiently. For. The. Mums.

Mums are having a renaissance. I asked Viv if they are any harder to grow than dahlias? No, she said. So why aren’t more people planting them? I’m not sure, but I did tell Viv she needs to up her game next year. I want to have a “Specialty Mum Festival” at the SWGMC next fall, following the late summer Dahlia Festival we’ve hosted for the past 2 years.

Then I picked some other goodies to blend and balance with the unusual pink. What pulled it all together for me were the Queen Red Lime zinnias, which Diane Szukovathy and Dennis Westphall grow at Jello Mold Farm, not far from Viv’s place. That flower has a perfect combination of pink, reddish-maroon and lime green petals. So easy to pull together a palette of flowers and foliage when you can use something like Queen Red Lime.

For my greens, I added a variegated/scented pelargonium leaf, grown by Pam and Kelly Uhlig of Sonshine Farm on Whidbey Island, Washington. They are new growers whose talents are notable! And I grabbed some lime green amaranth, thanks, Jello Mold.

For my deep reddish-maroon elements, I grabbed a ball-shaped dahlia, grown by Dawn Severin of All My Thyme, in Mt. Vernon, Washington.

Dawn is a girly-girl grower. Everything I see from All My Thyme is feminine and romantic.

Reddish pops continued to catch my eye, including the charming little gomphrenas, grown by Sarah and Steve Pabody of Triple Wren Farm in Lynden, Washington.

Okay. Brought everything home. It was Wednesday afternoon.

I was scheduled to fly to Burbank on Thursday morning to give a talk at the Los Angeles Arboretum for the “Compulsive Gardeners” group, and I clearly did not save time to arrange and photograph my flowers for the (sadly, ignored) Slow Flowers Challenge.

What to do? Well, bring the flowers with me, of course.

Here’s what I did:

I shortened the stems so that everything fit into one black floral bucket and added about 3-inches of water. The bucket rests perfectly inside a vinyl grocery shopping bag. Of course, I dumped the H20 out of the bucket in order to get through security and then re-filled it minutes later. And that’s how these flowers accompanied me when I flew to Burbank on Thursday morning. I couldn’t have been  lucky since Alaska Airlines bumped me up to First Class and the crew made space for my bag of flowers in the First Class closet. They had a little bit of water and fared quite well on the trip.

I arrived at the home of my host and friend Cheryl Bode on Thursday afternoon. While we were chatting in her living room, I spotted this art-glass vase on the bookcase. “Can I use that piece of glass to make you a bouquet?” I asked.

Cheryl indulged me and I set up a flower-arranging bar outside on her potting bench. Her garden is truly world class, a plant geek’s oasis.

I’ve written about Cheryl and her wife Robin Colman’s garden for the Los Angeles Times and for Horticulture magazine, so you can only imagine.

“Is it okay to clip a few of your Los Angeles plants to add to these Seattle goodies?” Again, she said, “Yes.”

So here’s what I created. The bowl is perfect in scale and shape for a low centerpiece. I didn’t want to scratch the inside of the blown glass piece so I opted not to use chicken wire. Instead, I started the arrangement by crisscrossing the scented geranium and amaranth foliage, creating a matrix to sustain the other blooms. It worked out pretty well, I think.

When I left Cheryl last Friday, this arrangement remained on her dining table. I’m so pleased that I could bring these blooms with me to her home – and use one of her own pieces to design my Slow Flowers Challenge bouquet for the week.

Here’s hoping you’re still enjoying the last flowers of summer and that Jack Frost doesn’t show up until November 1st at least!

 

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Please meet Riz Reyes, horticultural wunderkind, floral designer extraordinaire and all-around positive influence in the gardening and botanical community here in Seattle and beyond – across North America and internationally thanks to his active presence on social media.

Riz credits an early curiosity about fruits and flowers for turning a young boy from the Philippines into an award-winning garden and floral designer in the Pacific Northwest.

His true interest in gardening began as a seven-year-old watching public television to learn English and gaining an appreciation for the natural world where the art and science of growing plants captivated him.

Riz turned a childhood hobby into a career by earning a BS in environmental horticulture and urban forestry from the University of Washington. Riz gardens in an environment that unveils an overwhelming diversity of plants each season, thanks to the Pacific Northwest typically moderate climate and cultural conditions.

After graduation, Riz logged several years working for the University of Washington Botanic Garden’s Center for Urban Horticulture, as well as running RHR Horticulture, his own horticultural enterprise, where he designs, consults, and maintains gardens he helped create.

Just a few months ago, Riz joined the McMenamin’s Hospitality group as the Gardens Manager at the about-to-open McMenamin’s Anderson School, a hotel, brewery and pub in Bothell, north of Seattle, where I predict the gardens will wow guests and those plants to which Riz tends will very soon make their way into vases of his own creation.

Riz supports and collaborates with local cut flower growers and designers to create unique floral installations for venues and special events. He is a regular speaker and writer for various local and national organizations and publications.

In 2013, Riz was highlighted in Ken Druse’s Organic Gardening article “The New Generation,”  which captured the stories of six notable young horticulturists. Ken described Riz as:  a rising star in the firmament of plant explorers and innovative nurserymen.”

If that wasn’t enough, Michael Tortorello last year interviewed Riz for a New York Times’ story about plant selection, not bad, huh?

Riz earned a Gold Medal and the popular People’s Choice award at the 2013 Northwest Flower & Garden Show with his amazing display garden and the following year, with his collaborator Nicole Cordier Wahlquist, he won People’s Choice Award for a floral display.

Just a few weeks ago, Riz presented at the national Garden Writers’ Association symposium in Pasadena on the topic, “Floral as a Gateway to Horticulture.”

I sat in the front row of that presentation, a huge grin on my face, following along on Riz’s personal journey that has brought him — full circle — back to flowers.

As I say during our interview, I’ve wanted to record an episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast with Riz forever. Listening to his presentation at Garden Writers was the incentive to schedule time together to do just that after we both returned to Seattle from Pasadena.

More places to connect with Riz:

Riz’s web site, RHR Horticulture. You can subscribe to Riz’s newsletter here.

Riz/RHR Horticulture on Facebook

Riz on Twitter

Riz on YouTube

Riz on Instagram

Details on the October 22nd Farm Dinner at University of Washington Farm

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded more than 66,000 times. I thank you and others in the progressive American-grown floral community for supporting this endeavor.

Until next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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 Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

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Fall is here and news from our Slow Flowers Tribe is exploding!

There are so many things to discuss and update you about this week. You’ll find that news at the bottom of this post, after I introduce you to Rain Drop Farms.

The heart of the Slow Flowers Podcast are my weekly conversations with inspiring voices in the American flower farming and floral community. Please meet today’s guests, Erin McMullen and Aaron Gaskey, the dynamic duo behind Rain Drop Farms. Based outside Corvallis, Oregon, in Philomath, this husband-wife team of farmers grows a wide array of perennials and annuals on three acres of healthy soil. Allow me to bring Raindrop Farms  — and the sunshine they spread — to you, with the story of lovely, local, Oregon flowers and how one family makes a beautiful and creative living from their land.

Situated in the foothills of the Oregon coast range, Rain Drop has been providing fresh, local, specialty flowers to the Willamette Valley since 2000.

Passionate about growing flowers, Erin and Aaron count dahlias among their favorites. They grow more than 75 varieties and are always searching out more, as well as a wide variety of perennials and many different annuals.

Theirs is a working family farm. As Erin writes on the web site: “We live here, grow here and play here.  Our children have grown up digging in the dirt and chasing rainbows here.  As stewards of this beautiful place we strive to maintain and promote the diversity here.  We use organic and sustainable practices throughout our farm.  It is our belief that growing this way is just the right thing to do. It is the best for our farm, our family and flowers.”

I adore this couple. We’ve met in person on a few occasions, most recently when they took what I call a busman’s holiday to drive from Philomath up to Mt. Vernon, Oregon, (about 325 miles away) to spend a few days volunteering at the Field to Vase Dinner held on Sept. 12th at Jello Mold Farm. I simply couldn’t let the opportunity pass and am so thrilled that Erin and Aaron agreed to record this conversation.

Last week, Erin shared with me a fascinating conversation she had with a Farmers’ Market customer and I think it sums up what so many of us have experienced:

“We have had so many people ask us this year if we grow all of the flowers.  Of course we say ‘Yes!  Every last one!’ We are always surprised by how many people seem surprised by this!  Yesterday we had a guy come up and ask if we grew all the flowers; the conversation progressed and he tells us that he works with flowers in LA and didn’t realize that there were people like us who actually grew flowers like these domestically.

His business is selling flowers at college graduations and he said that they buy most things from Ecuador and South America, basically saying that domestic flowers were just too pricey.  

Aaron told me later that he could see me high jump onto my soap box, but I let (the customer) know what I thought of that excuse and that supporting American farmers is a more sustainable long term economic strategy.  

He actually took pause and then asked for our contact info and for the name of the Slow Flowers website again, saying that he was intrigued and would like to learn more.  

I’m telling you this story, though I’m sure you hear this kind all the time, because it was so refreshing to me.  Also, because of you and your efforts, I have become more well informed and confident about my convictions that American flower farmers deserve a chance to thrive in a domestic marketplace.  So, thank you!  So glad that we met and that we’ve had an opportunity to get to know each other a little better!  :)”

Thank YOU both Erin and Aaron! I couldn’t agree more.

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More news to share!!!

Here is a just-released clip about The Flower House, created by Hello Future Films, that shows recent footage captured during the installation of the preview exhibit earlier this year – it’s being shown to stimulate ticket sales for The Flower House show dates, October 16-18. If you’re anywhere near Detroit, hop on over to see this amazing display!

And then, with much fanfare, I’m so pleased to share with you “Field to Vase: Santa Cruz,” a 7-minute, 39 second documentary produced, filmed and edited by my friends Haejung Kim and her husband Moon, a LA-based couple of creatives whose probono efforts have beautifully captured the story of American grown flowers and the renaissance we are all helping make happen. Click here to read my recent Q&A with Haejung and Moon.

I have a cameo role in the film, but please don’t take this as blatant self-promotion. It’s all about the cause of promoting American flower farms, American flowers and the florists who create such beauty with intent. You’ll also meet flower farmer Paul Furman whose family owns California Pajarosa Roses and Slow Flowers member Teresa Sabankya, of Bonny Doon Garden Co., who was the guest designer at the Field to Vase Dinner held at Pajarosa Roses this past June. The film is beautiful, poignant and I encourage you to watch it and share it widely.

Martha Stewart American Made Taps Two Slowflowers.com Members

I want to showcase the many people in our community whose work has earned them FINALIST status on the Martha Stewart American Made 2015 campaign.

I am especially excited that Susan McLeary of Passionflower, a Slowflowers.com member based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a finalist – the only floral category finalist – in the Design Category. Check her out here. 

And flower farmer Wanda Fox of Illinois-based Fox & Co. is a finalist in the Craft Category for her beautiful charcuterie boards made from salvaged and reclaimed black walnut lumber. Check her out here.

I also want to put in a plug for my friend Andy Chapman of Stumpdust. Andy is a finalist in the Design Category for Gardening & Outdoor Living, for his unique garden stakes and tools fashioned from salvaged wood. Andy’s work is exquisite and he is the genius behind my American Made shadowbox that I used to display my 2015 Northwest Flower & Garden Show floral entry. You can see photos of that beautiful work here. And please check out Andy & Stumpdust on MSL here.

Get Your Hands on Floral Soil!

Another Slow Flowers Podcast friend who is near and dear to my heart is Mickey Blake of Floral Soil, the innovative, plant-based, 100% biodegradable alternative to formaldehyde-based flower foam.

Mickey has just introduced a fun new product called “Floral Soil Cupcakes,” a perfect gift or DIY project that is one of the perks in her two-week Indiegogo fundraising campaign that continues through October 10th. Many of us have been waiting for Floral Soil to kick into full-scale production because we can’t wait to get our hands on this earth-friendly design product. By supporting the Floral Soil Indiegogo campaign, for as little as $15 you can get your hands on a cute cupcake-shaped base for planting succulents or arranging flowers – and you can help push Floral Soil to the next level where commercial production of those must-have bricks will begin before the holidays.

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded more than 66,000 times. I thank you and others in the progressive American-grown floral community for supporting this endeavor.

Until next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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 Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

I’m thrilled to announce the news that Slow Flowers has earned a 2015 Garden Writers Associaiton SILVER AWARD in the Newsletter/Bulletin/Brochure Category for our Infographic:

“Where Do Your Flowers Come From?” 

A very special thanks to my design collaborator Willo Bellwood of Metric Media for her amazing talent. Her graphic sensibilities translated this multilayered concept into a powerfully visual piece.

“Where Do Your Flowers Come From?” communicates the facts, fallacies and data about the source of flowers – and inspires consumers to source domestic and local flowers.

Here is our award-winning piece. I encourage you to share it with your own audiences: