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I’m standing in a Homer, Alaska, peony field at Scenic Place Peonies. It’s owned by Beth Van Sandt and Kurt Weichhand – check out the views!!!

Last summer I visited Alaska and toured about 12 cut peony farms from Fairbanks to Homer – in one week! It was a wonderful trip, made all the more special because of the many cool, welcoming flower farmers I met along the way. They hosted me for meals, spent quality time walking and talking with me along the rows of robust and beautiful plants, lent me a bed for the night, and generally adopted me into their Alaska Peony Tribe! If you want to learn more about the Peony Growers of Alaska and how to order cut flowers from some of them directly, visit the Alaska Peony Growers’ web site.

It was a thoroughly freeing time for me as a journalist because I was my own client. No editor gave me the assignment. No publication had their dibs on how the story would be reported. I used my Alaska Airlines’ frequent flier miles to book my flight into Anchorage and then rented a car with another set of airline miles.

I made reservations to tour Denali National Park on the first day – mainly because Dr. Pat Holloway, my trip advisor, insisted that I couldn’t just drive past the majestic national park while seeking peony farms! After that first day, I spent the following seven preoccupied with peonies, their cultivation, harvest, post-harvest care and ultimate journey to the hands of satisfied customers. It was pretty sweet – and I can’t wait to get back. I wrote a fun post about the week in Alaska here.

Other than selling a *tiny* story about Alaska peonies to Sunset magazine, I am happy to announce that my first big editorial placement appears in the current issue of Alaska Airlines magazine. How fitting! You can read the feature here [PDF].

This week’s podcast features interviews with the owners of two farms I visited during my tour. First, you’ll hear my conversation with Rita Jo Shoultz of Alaska Perfect Peony in Fritz Creek on the Kenai Peninsula, one of the first growers to jump in feet first to plant peony roots. You will hear the sounds of nature around us, as we sat in her garden near the pond to talk. For some crazy reason, Nicco, her cat, was fascinated with the audio recorder’s microphone. You’ll hear a few bumps in the audio, thanks to the curious cat!

Here are some photos from Alaska Perfect Peonies:

Rita Jo with a double-headed peony that we discovered in her growing fields. 

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PASSION FOR PEONIES

I came home from Alaska with these luscious peonies – and it seemed as if no other flower could compete for room in the vase.

From the Farmer

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From left: Kathy Brenzel, Kasey Cronquist, Debra Prinzing & Christina Stembel

Welcome to Episode 101 of the new SLOW FLOWERS Podcast. The audio featured here is from the July 19, 2013 panel discussion at the California Association of Flower Growers & Shippers (NORCAL) conference, moderated by Kasey Cronquist, CEO/Ambassador of the California Cut Flower Commission. Panelists included Kathy Brenzel, garden editor at Sunset Magazine; Christina Stembel, founder of Farmgirl Flowers, and me. The audience Q&A that followed our presentation was difficult to hear due to the limited number of microphones in the room, so here is the edited transcript of those questions and our panel’s answers. 

Q&A following Field-to-Vase Panel discussion:

Kasey Cronquist : I hope you all have a sense of how special this group is in context of this industry. This is certainly a trend, or as Debra says, “a cultural shift,” that we’re excited about. It’s a special time because you’re not necessarily going to hear a program like this or have the chance to hear from speakers like this subject in our industry or at other floral trade conventions. I get to sit back and enjoy listening to people talk about locally-grown. 

I think you have a sense here that there’s a renaissance in our midst in terms of bringing flower farmers back and of course this is a good thing for California. Where people say “California’s Flowers are America’s Flowers,” it’s because we want to back up that local claim for those florists when the season is over and they can’t source from those local farmers, California’s growing flowers all year long providing another source of American grown. I could spend each day energized by the things I’ve heard here. I want to open it up to questions: 

Q: Regarding the “Farm-to-Consumer” idea or for that matter, “Farm-to-Florist.” How should our wholesalers in the room feel about this particular approach? Because I can certainly see where you’re going. We are flower growers who are strictly wholesale and we want to keep it that way. I have 185 customers and I don’t want 2,000 so how does that work for the wholesaler? 

A (Debra): I totally agree that we’ve got to work on the wholesale level of this message. Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think wholesalers should be afraid of this concept at all. They’re the ones who are on the front lines, talking to florists. And even if you don’t care about American grown, you should care about making money and branding your flowers as American grown or California grown in order to answer the question that the florists are going to be asking anyway. If they’re not asking it now, they’re very soon going to be asking it because consumers are asking them. I think from a farmer point of view if you can provide content, photography, messaging or signage that the wholesalers can use it’s going to do the work for them. I know there’s a fear that somehow the florists are going to cut around the wholesaler and come to you direct, but like you just said, you don’t want to deal with all those florists. So if you can partner with the wholesaler and make everybody succeed, I think it could be a win-win. 

A (Christina): Pictures. Pictures of the farmers with content about where (the flowers) come from. People want to see a human face, so give them information about “this is the farmer who grew this.” It’s something that the wholesalers can then give to their customers. At Farmgirl Flowers, we use a wholesaler as well for some of our product and they don’t want to be photographed because they don’t want 2,000 people coming to them either. But it’s about educating the florist. And I really do see this movement shifting quickly and I think that the florists will be asking you soon, just based on the volume of questions we get. We’ve had to hire staff people just to answer the email and the phone calls that we get from florists. It’s not directly our bread and butter but we feel like it’s our mission to educate as well. 

Kasey Cronquist: I want to add to that. We’ve felt that pressure on the requests for content. For wholesalers, as much as for the flowers, it’s a content marketing-supply opportunity for them. They have the relationships with the farms and they can package that relationship up and provide it to the florists who are wanting that content to share, either on Facebook or Pinterest so (the florist) has access to the farmer, not directly, but through the wholesaler’s relationship with the farmer. 

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FLIGHTS OF FANCY

A summer bouquet for my friend Stacie Crooks’s annual garden girlfriend soiree.

This charming arrangement is even more interesting when viewed from the top as the gooseneck stems appear to be flying in all directions!

Ingredients:

7 stems Dahlia ‘Coral Gypsy’, grown by Jello Mold Farm

15 stems white love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

5 stems chartreuse Hypericum perforatum (a florist’s variety selected for its colorful fruit), grown by Jello Mold Farm

7 stems goldenrod (Solidago sp.), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

11 stems white gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides), grown by Jello Mold Farm

20 stems burnet foliage (Sanguisorba obtusa), grown by Charles Little & Co.

Vase:

6-inch tall x 4-inch diameter glass vase 

Eco-technique

Transporting bouquets: Save your arrangement and your car with a smart stabilizing trick I learned from flower farmers who make frequent bouquet deliveries. Use a box that is at least half the height of your vase; seal the

top and bottom so you have an empty “cube.” Using a utility knife, cut a large X on one side of the box. The cuts should be approximately the same size as the vase diameter. Push the bottom of the vase into the X-opening. The

triangular cardboard flaps created by the cuts should bend inward to hold the vase securely while you drive.

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Welcome to the Show Notes for SLOW FLOWERS with Debra Prinzing, my new podcast about American flowers, the farmers who grow them and the designers who create beauty with them. Make a conscious choice and join the conversation – and the creative community. When we know where our flowers come from and who grew them, we place a much higher value on those blooms.

PART ONE of this podcast features Kierstin De West, CEO and founder of Ci (Conscientious innovation), a market research, information and consulting firm known for its early embrace of the sustainable marketplace. Read more about the mission of Ci and its origins here. 

Kierstin De West, CEO and Founder, Ci – Conscientious innovation

I first met Kierstin in 2010 in an accidental encounter that can only be called serendipitous. Yes, we were seated at adjacent tables in Anthony’s Restaurant at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. We struck up a conversation and the beginnings of a friendship in about one hour . . . before we both had to race to our respective flights. Later, I invited Kierstin to talk about her research into consumer attitudes regarding sustainability as the keynote speaker for the Garden Writers Association annual symposium in 2011. 

As a subscriber to Ci’s newsletters and reports, I was fascinated to read the newest installment of the firm’s ongoing research called The Shift Report. Ci shared highlights of the omnibus study of 5,000 consumers in North America and what jumped out at me was the idea of LOCAL values surpassing other topics that you might consider ranking higher on consumers’ sustainability checklist….such as Organic or Global Warming.

Listen as Kierstin and I discuss this fascinating research and hear how her insights can influence your decisions as a consumer, floral designer, seller of flowers or grower of flowers. Here are some of the highlighted slides from her report:

” Sixty-five percent of

North Americans feel that

buying local and supporting

locally based business

is an important sustainability issue,

surpassing the importance

of both global warming

and buying organic .”

LEARN MORE. If you’d like to receive a free copy of the CONSUMERS AND LOCAL featured insights from Ci’s 2012 Shift Report, follow this link and fill out the request form. 

Organic flower farmer Joan Thorndike, of Le Mera Gardens.

PART TWO of this podcast features a conversation with veteran organic flower farmer Joan Thorndike, owner of Le Mera Gardens in Talent, Oregon, which is near Ashland. We talked about what LOCAL means to Joan’s floral customers while taking a walk from Joan and Dan’s home to the vibrant farmer’s market in downtown Ashland. I stayed with the Thorndike family last month while I was there to produce a story for Country Gardens magazine.

Turns out, the FARM-to-FORK dinner we were photographing for a future story featured a super-long dining table in the midst of a biodynamic winery. . . and guess what showed up on the tables?! Beautiful, seasonal flowers grown by Joan, of course! You can read more about that event here and keep an eye out for the full story with Laurie Black’s photography in a 2014 issue of the magazine.

Many of you were introduced to Joan in the “Grower’s Wisdom” section of The 50 Mile Bouquet. We introduced readers to Joan and three other seasoned flower farmers. In that short section, Joan’s articulate, insightful perspective resonated with me. She is a grower-ecologist. Joan operates on a world view that is highly inclusive and optimistic. My favorite quote from our original interview goes this way:

“When I sell my flowers, I believe I am appealing to my customer’s deeply visceral desire to observe the cadence of Nature.” 

I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation as we touched on some important considerations facing American flower farmers. 

Just look for the hand-painted lavender sign when you’re driving down 26th Avenue Southwest in Seattle. There’s plenty of places to park on the street . . . and then you’ll wander down the long drive to the nursery.

Earlier this spring, I had the delightful experience of giving a floral-design workshop at Village Green Perennial Nursery in West Seattle’s White Center neighborhood. This place is like a secret garden, although there are many, many customers who have been in on the secret for years. This is a plant-centric business, one neighbor to the next. 

Village Green Perennial Nursery was founded by Teresa Romedo over 30 years ago. In 2003, she passed the torch to Vera Johnson, who has owned and operated the nursery ever since. 

Vera Johnson, plantswoman, horticulturist, designer, educator and artist, presides at the helm of this magical destination. Her mission is to inspire the neighborhoods of White Center and West Seattle by providing the very best resources available to create sustainable outdoor living spaces, one block at a time. As a little garden center with big ambitions, Village Green is known for high-quality customer service and healthy plants. It has evolved as a community center that showcases local artists, musicians, and events. 

Vera has just announced her first farm-to-table event, scheduled for August 31st. This has the potential to be an unforgettable moment in time, an experience that celebrates food, wine, plants and flowers. Tickets are $100 per person. Order yours here.

Take a virtual tour of the beauty at Village Green Perennial Nursery – and save the date for a fabulous event! I hope to see you there!

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STUNNING SUCCULENTS

The rose-shaped echeveria pairs beautifully with the garden rose.

A beautiful green Aeonium rosette and cactus-style summer dahlias

From the Farmer

It’s easy to find these not-quite-vintage and not quite-retro, but definitely collectible footed glass vases. I snagged the frosted pink one on eBay for $4.99 and found the green embossed one at my local Goodwill store for even less!

These vases have been identified as FTD florist vases, dated to 1978. The pattern is called “oak leaf” and I’ve found the two colors shown above as well as an amber-gold and milk-glass white, all with the raised embossed leaf pattern.

Getting ready by choosing flower frogs to fit inside the two vases.

The first time I used this charming green footed bowl in a demonstration, someone guessed it was Depression glass. There is that pressed-glass quality to these containers, but they’re newer. I like to think FTD was producing them in the U.S.A. and shipping them to mom-and-pop flower shops around the country at a time when those florists were still using predominantly American-grown flowers. The vases are so much more interesting and well made than most of the (probably) made-in-China stuff you see coming out of floral wire services these days. Keep your eyes out at the thrift store or surf on eBay, where I’ve found at least six or seven listings for idential and similar vessels.

I’ve written before about how much I love footed anything for floral arranging. Here is a recent post where I wax eloquently about footed vessels. Today, it was time to play with some flowers and see what I could create. By the way, here are the dimensions on these bowls: overall height, 5-1/2 inches; diameter, 5-1/4 inches; depth of bowl, 2-1/2 inches.

The shallow bowl does require some kind of device to stabilize stems. Back in the day, those 1978 florists were probably blithely cutting up chunks of foam to stick inside. But today we all know how unsafe it is to handle or use florist’s foam for its toxic attributes (formaldehyde being the active ingredient). So out came the metal frogs, as you can see in my bouquets below. Alternately, I could have shaped a section of chicken wire to fit inside, securing it with floral tape. Both methods are quite easy and eco!

Here is my first of two arrangements, using the green vase: 

Step One: Insert maroon dahlias into metal frog. Notice how I’ve cut the stems short so that the flower head snugs close to the rim of the vase. 

Step Two: After seven dahlias are arranged evenly throughout the opening, I added five lush fuchsia cockscomb celosias inbetween the darker flowers. 

Step Three: Insert four drumstick alliums for graphic punctuation. 

Step Four: Add Queen Anne’s Lace stems so they hover above the darker base of flowers. 

Step Five: Finish off the bouquet with a few stems of gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides), a quirky accent that repeats the white from the QA Lace and brings a new texture into the design.

Here how I filled the pale pink frosted vase: 

Getting started. If you compare this photo with the one at the top of this post you’ll see that I switched the frog. The original pin frog I planned on using wasn’t allowing me to insert stems at an angle or sideways, so I replaced it with a metal cage-style frog. 

This bouquet came together in much the same way as the first one, so I didn’t photograph all the steps in detail. Notice that I started with a cluster of unopened hydrangea heads, which created a “base” that supports the three ‘Cafe au Lait’ dahlias, making them more prominent. Other ingredients include Queen Anne’s Lace, Scabiosa buds, and the gooseneck loosetrife. Even though similar ingredients are repeated from the first bouquet, this color palette gives it a totally different look and feel. 

A final grace note, showcasing the delicate beauty of the dahlia and Queen Anne’s Lace.

Heavenly Hydrangeas

A simple bouquet of hydrangeas – one of my favorites in this book

The details are quite sweet!

Ingredients:

A favorite out-take from Slow Flowers: Our dog Zanny decided to pose with the flowers.