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Last week I announced the winner of the Slow Flowers Summit’s ticket sales promotion called the Slow Flowers Luxury Package. Yesterday, on May 1st, I announced the next ticket sales promotion — and I’d love to share it with you here.

Now through Sunday, May 20th, all new registrants for the Slow Flowers Summit will be entered into a drawing for one Dream Designer Package — to join me on Sunday evening, July 1st at an exclusive gathering with Laura Dowling, author and former White House Florist. This private event benefits the AIFD Foundation and I’m going to bring one of you with me to attend and enjoy a dazzling and unforgettable evening.

So if you’ve been thinking about attending the Slow Flowers Summit, this promotion might just be your incentive — check out details and find registration information here. It promises to be a fantastic day of networking, inspiration and personal growth. I can’t wait to see you there!

I’m so pleased to share today’s conversation with April Lemly of Kamama Flowers. Through Slow Flowers, we’ve reconnected and renewed a 20-year friendship that began at Seattle Infant Development Center where April was a pre-K teacher and my son Benjamin was one of her 5-year-old students. It is so fascinating to see the journey she has taken from teaching to graphic design and small business consulting to a love of flower growing and floral design. So this is a special episode in so many ways.

When April and I first reconnected in 2014, she and her partner Sean O’Neill were living in Portland, both engaged in other professions. Last summer, they up and moved to Agnew, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, about halfway between Port Angeles and Sequim. They bought land, allowing April for the first time to expand from an urban backyard flower grower to small-scale agriculture. They also opened Peninsula Taproom, which is a fantastic place for connoisseurs of regional beer, wine, cider and food — a true gathering place for locals and tourists, with a fun vibe.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, April has found a way to weave flowers into the culture at Peninsula Taproom. In fact, she has just opened a connected flower studio-classroom-retail space, shared with the taproom. So by day, it’s all about flowers. By night, it’s still all about flowers, but the Taproom patrons are invited to sit at the large work table, including being able to reserve it for groups. And no surprise, many of them pick up a bouquet or bunch of blooms to take home along with a growler of ale.

April shares this on her “about” page:

We are a small organic flower farm and full service studio located in Agnew, Washington on the beautiful Northern Olympic Peninsula.

I started Kamama Flowers in 2014 from a few urban gardens in Portland, Oregon where we ran a flower CSA, delivering arrangements to local homes and businesses.

In 2017 we moved the farm to Agnew so we could spread out, grow more flowers and be in the peaceful, sunny country-side. In 2018 we are expanding to a surprise retail space!​

Moving from Portland and starting their life in Sequim, has been a lot of hard work with new ground, a new community and a new climate. One of the first things April and Sean did was cover 1,000 square feet in black plastic in order to kill the meadow mix and prep the site for growing organic flowers.

She describes it as “a lovely, flat, south-facing acre with minimal rocks.” She feels lucky that the former dairy farm land is in such good shape. Summer passed and last fall they tilled the soil to about 6 inches. Soil test results revealed that the sandy clay loam needed to be amended with lime, which has already been incorporated before planting dozens of peonies.

Since moving mid-summer 2017, April enjoyed a lovely wedding season with 4 boutique weddings in gorgeous outdoor settings where Kamama’s organic flowers graced beautiful brides.

She writes this about the name Kamama Flowers: Kamama is the Cherokee word for butterfly. The name is an homage to the strong women in my life; my Grandma, Sara, and my mom, Karen, the women who showed me the peace in the garden.

Thank you so much for joining me today and hearing April’s story of a new chapter that incorporates flower farming, floral design and retail flowers — it’s a vertical floral business model that is proving to be more relevant than ever before.

Find and follow Kamama Flowers at these social places:

Kamama Flowers on Facebook

Kamama Flowers on Instagram

Kamama Flowers on Pinterest

And I’m so happy to tell you that the Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 312,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing — it means so much.

As the Slow Flowers 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 right column.

Thank you to our sponsors who have supported Slow Flowers and all of our programs including this podcast, American Flowers Week, the Slowflowers.com online directory to American grown flowers, as well as our new channels, Slow Flowers Journal and the 2018

Our lead Sponsor, Florists’ Review  magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. It’s the leading trade magazine in the floral industry and the only independent periodical for the retail, wholesale and supplier market. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of passionate family farms in the heart of Alaska providing bigger, better peony flowers during the months of July and August. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com.

Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Find them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com

Longfield Gardens 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. Visit them at longfield-gardens.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.

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. Check them out 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.

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.

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.

Music Credits:

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Welcome to the final Slow Flowers Podcast Episode of 2017.

The Slow Flowers Community and listenership of this program have grown to be larger than ever, with more than 265,000 total downloads since launching in July 2013. That’s amazing news and I’m thrilled to share it with you.

Every single week this year; in fact, every single week for the past 230 weeks, it has been my privilege to feature the voices of our Slow Flowers community with you. 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 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.

And thanks for joining in. Whether you’ve just discovered this podcast or are a longtime fan, I encourage you to take advantage of the immense body of knowledge that can be found in the archives here. We’ve updated the “play” and “download” buttons at the show notes that accompany each episode, making it simpler than ever to listen.

Today we have a year-end listener giveaway, so listen to the end of this episode for details! We have two copies of floral activist and artist Mud Baron’s 2018 “Flowers on Your Head” calendar that he produced as a fundraiser for LA-based nonprofit 4 Women Ovary Where.

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 3th, I will present the much anticipated 2018 Slow Flowers’ Floral Insights and Industry Forecast with you.

Covering the Slow Flowers Community has put me in a lot of airplane seats this year. I’ve been able to meet with, interview and gather together with florists and flower farmers in thirteen states and one Canadian Province. That’s amazing and I thank friends and colleagues who hosted Slow Flowers workshops, potluck dinners, cocktail parties, events and meet-ups Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Ontario, Canada, for amazing and inspiring experiences. And so far, 2018 promises to bring me more travel as I’ve already confirmed Slow Flowers appearances in Texas, Washington, D.C., Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa, Illinois, and of course, the Pacific Northwest, so get in touch if you’re interested in booking something in your community.

This #slowflowers hashtag is the floral industry’s most widely used brand intended to convey seasonal, local and sustainable floriculture — and I am humbled by the impact and reach of a term that originated with a tiny, 144-page book measuring 7-1/2 inches square — as it has exploded far beyond my imagination in the five years since.

Thank you for being a part of this movement and If you haven’t, I hope you’ll make the next step by investing in the continued relevance and success of this brand and join Slow Flowers as a member.  Follow this link to learn more about the benefits and values of joining the Slow Flowers Movement.

So, let’s get started with my month-by-month recap of 2017!

January brought Slow Flowers to Tampa, Florida, and the Gulf Coast, including a lecture for the garden club of Boca Grande, one of the most beautiful beach spots on the planet. I loved connecting with Slow Flowers members while in the state and took great pleasure in touring a few botanical gardens to admire the diversity of the region’s flora. Later in the month, travel brought me to the other corner of the U.S. — to Fairbanks, Alaska, where I spent a few days attending and speaking at the Alaska Peony Growers Association winter conference. Two geographic and climactic extremes and two equally vital regions for local flowers and passionate growers.

Something else took place in January, an event that foreshadowed a major new collaboration for me — Florists’ Review published my article about a year-long creative project by Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore. Called “Four Seasons of Floral Design,” the 11-page spread documented Kelly’s creative partnership with Maryland flower farmers Leon and Carol Carrier of PlantMasters. It was exciting to write the piece for a major floral industry trade magazine — one read regularly by mainstream and conventional audiences. For Kelly and her collaborators, as well as for the Slow Flowers community, the story illuminated often unheard voices of domestic agriculture and sustainable design in floristry. You can read more about that story here.

I found it pretty remarkable to see seasonal and local flowers designed so artistically, portrayed against the backdrop of a flower farm. I want to acknowledge and thank Travis Rigby, Florists’ Review‘s owner and publisher, for adding my storyteller’s voice and point of view to the magazine’s pages.

That first article led to my stories appearing in subsequent months’ issues, each of which continued the Slow Flowers narrative. And then . . . Travis invited me to join Florists’ Review on a permanent basis as a contributing editor. After much dialogue and consideration, the new collaboration launched in August with a dedicated editorial section called the “Slow Flowers Journal.”

Since the first issue, I’m delighted to say that we’ve featured dozens of floral designers, farmer-florists, retail flower shops, makers and artists inside the magazine, under the Slow Flowers Journal banner, and with the mission and message presented as inspiring small business success stories.

A footnote: I argued passionately to continue the Slow Flowers Journal name for this section. That’s because in January 2017, slowflowersjournal.com launched as an online magazine, designed to highlight and share this community’s members and their stories. Expanding to print has taken Slow Flowers Journal from a few thousand online readers to tens of thousands of print readers each month. That’s a big achievement for our brand!

Moving into 2018, these stories will continue — I’d love your input and ideas, so be sure to follow links at the show notes for more ways to engage and become involved. If you haven’t started reading the Slow Flowers Journal, I encourage you to contact Florists’ Review for a free sample copy or take advantage of the generous discounted subscription rate offered to my listeners. You can subscribe to Florists’ Review and read our bonus Slow Flowers Journal content at the special rate of $21 for 12 issues — 62 percent off the cover price! Click here or call 1-800-367-4708.

February was a busy month, personally, as my family and I finally ended our 18-month urban condo experiment and moved into a new home with a completely blank backyard – home to the new Slow Flowers Cutting Garden.

Over the remainder of 2017, I began building the cutting garden as a place to trial cut flowers and other botanicals, stage and produce DIY photo shoots, and create stories for gardening audiences and more. The support of sponsors who have shared everything from seeds (thanks Johnny’s Seeds) to bulbs (thanks Longfield Gardens) to my greater Garden Writers community, which supplied perennial and woody plants to trial, has been awesome. I promise that the garden’s evolution in the coming year will supply you with even more inspiration.

Also in February, we produced the Valentine’s Day LOOK BOOK, sharing it across PR Web, a news distribution service. The gallery of sustainable floral design ideas from Slow Flowers member farms and florists was picked up by online news sites, and posted to the web, at slowflowersjournal.com and in a public Flickr gallery. Stories like these help to put you in the news and if you’re a Slow Flowers member, you’ve received (and I hope read and taken advantage of) ongoing “calls” for submissions that allow you to participate in similar opportunities to be published. Currently, for example, we’re collecting your submissions for an upcoming American-grown wedding floral story ~ so if you’re not a part of these opportunities and you’d like to be ~ get in touch!

And I can’t end my February highlights without mentioning how gratifying it was to be an invited speaker at the third annual Pacific Northwest Cut Flower Growers meetup that month, held in Corvallis, Oregon. I shared the 2017 Floral Insights & Industry Forecast as part of my SLOW FLOWERS, AMERICAN STYLE presentation. I was thrilled to discuss what’s happening at all levels of the American-grown floral pipeline — from field to checkout counter, and to give the gathering of growers and farmer-florists insights into the opportunities they could can leverage for their businesses.

READ MORE…

Media Contact:   Barry Bartlett, The Bartlett Group, 206.335.4694 or barry@bartlettgrouppr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEATTLE—”Floral Wars,” a new “friendly” competition between the Northwest’s most talented professional florists, joins the big line-up of feature attractions at the 2018 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, February 7-11 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. The event is co-produced with Slow Flowers’ founder and creative director Debra Prinzing.

Presented by American Grown Flowers, “Floral Wars” will be held each day from 3-4 p.m. on the North Hall Stage. It pits two top floral artists against each other as they create three arrangements—a bridal bouquet, a centerpiece and a “surprise” floral creation—all in an hour or less. It’s a test of the contestants’ grace under pressure as they showcase American-grown flowers, USA-made floral accessories and eco-design techniques.

“Garden enthusiasts yearn for more flowers in their lives and ‘Floral Wars’ delivers on a promise—to inspire and educate our audiences with great ideas for floral design. It’s a fun way for showgoers to learn how to choose, combine and arrange flowers from your own backyard,” said event host, Debra Prinzing, author of Slow Flowers and The 50 Mile Bouquet. 

ABOUT THE COMPETITION
During the hour-long event, floral pros will be given several surprise buckets of stems, and with clippers, vases and ribbons in hand, they’ll demonstrate their unique aesthetic styles and share tips and techniques with audience members. Heightening the drama, watch how they react to our “secret” ingredients and unexpected challenges. 

Adding to the fast-paced fun, Corona Tools and Johnny’s Selected Seeds will provide door prizes and giveaways for the audience during the hour-long event. Showgoers are encouraged to arrive early to take advantage of café seating and enjoy a meal, snack, and a beverage while learning from the floral artists. 

ABOUT THE NORTHWEST FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL
Celebrating 30 years of inspiring all experience levels, The Northwest Flower & Garden Festival showcases 18 magnificent, idea-generating display gardens, demonstrations and displays focusing on small space and container gardening, more than 100 free “how-to” seminars by top experts, shopping for a cornucopia of quality products, artwork and regional food items in the bustling Marketplace, and much more. 

DATES & TICKETS
Festival dates and hours are Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 7-10), 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday (Feb. 11), 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Early Bird adult tickets now on sale online and over 60 retail locations (until February 6) – $19; regular adult (at the door) – $24; youth (13 to 17 years) – $7; and children 12 and under are FREE.  For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.gardenshow.com.

“Floral Wars” contestants include:

Wednesday, Feb. 7:
Melissa Feveyear, Terra Bella Flowers (Seattle) and Jessica Gring, Odd Flowers Floral Design and the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market (Seattle)

Thursday, Feb. 8:
Gina Thresher, AIFD, From the Ground Up Floral (Kent) and Jon Robert Throne, AIFD, Countryside Floral & Garden (Issaquah)

Friday, Feb. 9:
Rizaniño “Riz” Reyes, RHR Horticulture (Seattle) and Mick Payment, Flowers for the People (Bellevue)

Saturday, Feb. 10:
Anne Bradfield, Floressence (Seattle) and Kelly Sullivan, Botanique (Seattle)

Sunday, Feb. 11:
Tobey Nelson, Tobey Nelson Events & Design (Langley) and Tammy Myers, First & Bloom (Issaquah)

Floral Wars is made possible by:

FLOWERS/FOLIAGE: Certified American Grown Flowers is the exclusive provider of flowers and foliage used in the competition. Certified American Grown program ensures consumers of the domestic origins of their flowers and foliage and stands for the high quality, farm fresh blooms.

VASES/MECHANICS: Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist.

RIBBONS: Offray Ribbons is the last U.S. manufacturer of woven satin ribbon for the floral and craft marketplace.

APRONS: Raw Material Design, a Seattle-based maker of aprons and other textile products.

About Debra Prinzing:

Debra Prinzing is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and leading advocate for American Grown Flowers. Through her many Slow Flowers-branded projects, she has convened a national conversation that stimulates consumers and professionals alike to make conscious choices about their floral purchases.

Debra is the producer of SlowFlowers.com, the online directory to American-grown farms, florists, shops and studios who supply domestic and local flowers.

Each Wednesday, approximately 2,500 listeners tune into Debra’s “Slow Flowers Podcast,” available for free downloads at her web site, debraprinzing.com, or on iTunes and via other podcast services.

She is the creator of American Flowers Week, launched during the July 4th week in 2015 with more than 5.0 million social media impressions in 2017.

Debra is a Florists’ Review Contributing Editor which produces the “Slow Flowers Journal” section. She is a 2016 inductee to the Garden Writers Association Hall of Fame and the author of 10 books, including Slow Flowers and The 50 Mile Bouquet.

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Last month I traveled to Portland for a wonderful day hosted by Mayesh Wholesale, one of a series of design workshops featuring their 2017 Design Star, Christy Hulsey.

Christy is the owner and creative director of Colonial House of Flowers in Statesboro, Georgia, outside Savannah, and she was selected by Mayesh to be this year’s design muse. In the past, as I understand it, the creative inspiration and instruction of each year’s Mayesh Design Star program has mostly been video-based. This year was incredibly ambitious, with Christy signing on for a coast-to-coast tour of workshops and events.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, recorded after the all-day, hands-on workshop that she and her team presented, Christy and I met in 2014 at the Chapel Designers New York Conference, where Holly Chapple graciously asked me to speak about Slow Flowers. Later, Christy’s Colonial House of Flowers joined Slowflowers.com, inspired at some level, to honor Christy’s grandmother’s love of gardening and designing with seasonal flowers.

In fact, she mentions her grandmother’s influence often. When Christy joined the Design Star program, Mayesh posted a lovely Q&A with her for their blog. You’ll want to follow the link I share in the show notes to find that, but here are a few favorite excerpts:

In 2012, I assumed ownership of a little nearly 50-year-old landmark flower boutique that was in my family, called the Colonial House of Flowers. I believe the spirit of my grandmother’s creativity and ability to resourcefully create something sophisticated flutters through everything I do. In 2014, Amanda Currier, my sister, joined the Colonial House of Flowers team. Seasonally relevant flowers, branches, and fruit, are the true medium of my art. I’m ever thankful for my grandmother who always sent me into the garden, who brought me a found plant as a gift, and taught me to dig bulbs, grow cuttings, and stop at random roadside stands on family travels.  am really excited about the gaining momentum of American Grown Flowers. Slow flowers speak to me. I am excited the movement is finally coming to the Southeastern United States.

Last December, I interviewed Christy for an Americanflowersweek.com story about the 8-by-12-foot three -dimensional American flag that she and a team created using only domestic flowers. The project was commissioned by Certified American Grown and it was on display at the Wholesale Florist & Floral Supplier Association conference in Miami.

Christy has had a whirlwind year and you’ll love hearing more about the Mayesh Design Star experience, which is coming to a close next month. She has taught workshops all around the country, sharing her design philosophy with professional peers, aspiring designers and floral enthusiasts eager for inspiration. In conjunction, she has also taught a number of succulent design workshops at Pottery Barn stores located in Mayesh cities. And she’s filmed numerous design videos. You can see a few of those here:

As an added bonus, Mayesh CEO Patrick Dahlson sat down with me to record a conversation, which you’ll hear after the Christy interview. This was a rare chance for me to hear more about the Mayesh story and to ask Pat to weigh in on the Slow Flowers movement to promote a greater level of local and seasonal flowers in the conventional wholesale floral channels. I wasn’t disappointed and I’m so glad you can sit in on our give-and-take.

Here’s a bit more about Pat Dahlson:

As one of nine children, all who are shareholders in Mayesh Wholesale Florist, Patrick has been the CEO of the company since 1985.  A natural born leader, Patrick has been a member of Vistage – an international CEO leadership organization – for 21 years. He is past president of Child Share, which helps place foster children in homes; Past President WF&FSA; Board member Southern California Flower Growers Association; and Past President Oakmont Country Club. Passionate about flowers, leadership and mentoring, Pat is also an avid golfer who enjoys yoga and Pilates workouts along with traveling with his three daughters, Alison, Kirstin and Desiree.

I also want to give you a head’s up about a couple things on the calendar where you can meet Christy Hulsey and Pat Dahlson:

On December 4-6th, Christy will host a Master Class At Musgrove Plantation on St. Simon Island, Georgia, with Susan McLeary of Passionflower.

Susan has been a guest of the Slow Flowers Podcast twice in the past and she is a good friend to the Slow Flowers community.

This two-day design intensive looks fantastic and I encourage you to check out the details, which include intimate design instruction with Christy and Sue, a focus on  foam-free, wire-free cascade bouquets PLUS living jewelry such as wrist corsages, shoulder corsages and Sue’s famous “floral tattoo.

You’ll also be part of a styled photo shoot by Lindsey Nowak and a portfolio of your photos by Corbin Gurkin. Click here for more information and to register!

On March 7-9th, 2018, floral business coach Kelly Perry hosts the first Team Flower Conference in Orlando, which features, among other speakers, Pat Dahlson and Christy Hulsey.

The conference is designed to help you take your floral business to the next level, and includes a presentation by Kelly pricing, ordering and cultivating creativity.

Christy will share the story of how she transitioned a small-town flower shop in rural Georgia to a nationwide brand, and Pat will cover the latest sourcing news and tips for working with your salesperson on substitutions, and he’ll share his passion for teamwork success in the floral industry. Click here for more information and to register!

Wow, wish I could be part of both of those amazing events!

 

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 255,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you to each one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

If you value the content you receive each week, I invite you to show your thanks and support the Slow Flowers Podcast with a donation — the button can be found on our home page in the right column. Your contributions will help make it possible to transcribe future episodes of the Podcast.

Thank you to family of sponsors:

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of 50 family farms in the heart of Alaska providing high quality, American Grown peony flowers during the months of July and August. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com

Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Find them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com

Longfield Gardens 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. Visit them at longfield-gardens.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.

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. Check them out 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.

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at KineticTreeFitness.com.

Music Credits:

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In 2014, when this podcast was in its first year of existence, I met Gillian Hodgson “virtually,” as is the case for so many of us who value the positive attributes of social media.

On February 18, 2014, appearing on what was only the 30th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast, I introduced you to Gillian and called her the Mother of the British Flowers movement.

A Yorkshore-based flower farmer and owner of  Fieldhouse Flowers, Gill founded Flowers from the Farm in in 2011.

The not-for-profit network run and administered solely by volunteers has grown to more than 500 members.

Most members are sole traders running small or micro businesses: farmers, smallholders and gardeners, who are using their knowledge of horticulture and floristry to grow and present a different range of flowers from those available in the supermarkets and the wholesale markets.

From Cornwall up to Scotland, and every region in between, these artisan flower farmers are growing old favourites: Sweet Peas, Bells of Ireland, Dahlias and Aquilegia, as well as trying out lots of new varieties.

Flowers from The Farm’s members grow for wholesale, sell to retail and event florists, as well as to the public at farmers’ markets and craft fairs. Some have farm gate sales or have teamed up with local shops to sell their bunches and bouquets.  There are also have online retail florists, and utterly brilliant wedding and event florists among the membership. Sound familiar? It’s a lot like Slowflowers.com, of course.

On the beautiful, new, 2.0 version of Flowers From the Farm’s website, relaunched recently, we learn this: Although the majority of British flowers are sold during the summer months, flowers can be grown in Britain all year round.  Scented Narcissi start to come out of Cornwall and the Scillies in October; tulips from Lincolnshire are in the shops for Christmas. Many members are skilled at forming gorgeous winter foliage, scented shrubs and the winter flowers into amazing displays during the shortest days.

Flowers from the Farm brings together all these growers and florists and provides local meetings and events, encouraging members to come together to build displays at all the big flower shows, holding workshops to improve members’ skills and – equally importantly – provide the place where you’ll make friends with like-minded people who will become your new work colleagues. Again, sounds a lot like our Slow Flowers community, right?

Just over a year after Gill and I recorded our long-distance Podcast interview via Skype, I met her in person! Along with many other Flowers from the Farm colleagues, farmers and florists in the Yorkshire region, we gathered at a very special high tea hedl at RHS Harlow Carr, a beautiful botanical garden.

On that same trip, I met and interviewed Helen Evans of London’s New Covent Garden Flower Market who encouraged me to emulate British Flowers Week and launch American Flowers Week. I also met Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement, who hosted me in Hebden Bridge, a village in Yorkshire, and showed me (and my mother, Anita) the most magnificent, unforgettable time.

Here are links to those conversations, captured for past episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast:

Learn About British Flowers Week with Helen Evans of London’s New Covent Garden Flower Market (Episode 197)

A Perfect Recipe: Floral Design Workshops and Delicious Local Food, with Sarah Statham of UK’s Simply by Arrangement (Episode 198)

Why am I going on and on about these wonderful British friends and their homegrown flowers?

Well, today, I have a lovely update for you — a new conversation with Gill Hodgson. To my complete surprise, and delight, I reunited with Gill in person last week at the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers’ regional meeting in Ontario, Canada.

I attended the fabulous and well-attended 2-day conference, hosted by many ASCFG Canadian members, after spending a few days at the Garden Writers Association symposium in Buffalo, NY. Once I realized that I could add a few days to my travels and spend time with ASCFG members, many of whom are involved in the Slow Flowers Community, I jumped at the chance.

And there, walking alongside me during a tour at Green Park Nurseries was my friend, Gill! On a whim, she decided to fly over to Canada to attend the conference and have a fun vacation with her husband.

Of course, with my digital recorder in my backpack, Gill had little choice but to sit down with me for a 30-minute interview. I asked her to update the Slow Flowers Community on news about the British-grown flower community and you’ll love hearing about what’s happening in a very dynamic hub for local, British-grown flowers ~seasonal, local and sustainable, much like the Slow Flowers narrative.

Here’s how you can follow Flowers from the Farm:

Flowers from the Farm on Facebook

Flowers from the Farm on Instagram

Flowers from the Farm on Twitter

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 222,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you to each one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

If you value the content you receive each week, I invite you to show your thanks and support the Slow Flowers Podcast with a donation — the button can be found on our home page in the right column. Your contributions will help make it possible to transcribe future episodes of the Podcast.

Thank you to family of sponsors

Certified American Grown Flowers. The Certified American-Grown program and label provide a guarantee for designers and consumers on the source of their flowers. Take pride in your flowers and buy with confidence, ask for Certified American Grown Flowers.  To learn more visit americangrownflowers.org.

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of 50 family farms in the heart of Alaska providing high quality, American Grown peony flowers during the months of July and August. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com

Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Find them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com

Longfield Gardens 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. Visit them at lfgardens.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.

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. Check them out 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.

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at KineticTreeFitness.com.

Our music today:

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Earlier this week, I returned home from five glorious days spent in Homer, Alaska, which has become one of my favorite places in the world. It was my fourth trip to Alaska in five years and my third to Homer, where peony farmers and Slow Flowers members Beth Van Sandt and Kurt Weichhand of Scenic Place Peonies offered me the most generous hospitality and friendship.

If you haven’t met this flower farm, here are two podcast episodes from our archives worth listening to:
Episode 282: News from the Alaska Peony Growers Association, including a conversation with Beth Van Sandt
Episode 154: Debra and Christina’s Alaska Peony Adventure, including Christina Stembel and Beth Van Sandt

I was surrounded by flowers — not just peonies, which of course, steal the show, but all sorts of naturally and cultivated beauty in their high tunnels and the gardens around their home, as well as along the fields’ edges.

That beauty also lured today’s guest to Scenic Place Peonies and I couldn’t pass up a chance to record this interview with Kelly Shore, owner of Petals by the Shore, based in Olney, Maryland.

As the featured floral designer for last weekend’s Field to Vase Dinner, produced by the Certified American Grown program, to which Scenic Place Peonies belongs, Kelly Shore brought passion, sensitivity, respect and love to everything she touched. The tablescapes incorporated both peonies and other foraged and cultivated botanicals — all from Scenic Place Peonies. And beyond that, Kelly shared Beth’s vision that the table designs reflect a sense of place, of Homer itself, of the fishing culture there, and of the rugged beauty of the state of Alaska.

Here’s a little more about Kelly. Much of this introduction is excerpted from the January 2017 article I wrote for Florists’ Review magazine, which accompanied an extensive gallery of photography, called “Four Seasons of Floral Design.”

Kelly Shore began shopping at the local farmers’ market in her community several years ago. She was enchanted by the unique, fresh, just-picked flowers on offer and struck up friendships with the vendors, becoming a regular customer at the Olney Farmers & Artists Market, located in Olney, Maryland.

Having begun her career at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus flower shop in 2000, Kelly later worked in retail and freelanced as a wedding and event floral designer, while her boyfriend (now husband, Joe Shore) was deployed in Iraq.

Kelly and Joe moved to the Washington, DC area in 2010, where she expected to put her Education M.A. to work as a teacher. But classroom positions were hard to find, so she returned to floristry, not realizing it would become her lifelong profession.

Through friendships with other florists, she networked, studied and expanded her wedding and event floral design business, Petals by the Shore.

Petals by the Shore serves wedding clients in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and Pennsylvania, a densely-populated area where, Kelly says, “everybody seems to come back to when they get married.”

Kelly and I met briefly in 2014 when I spoke at the Chapel Designers’ New York Conference, but our friendship and mutual admiration has been cemented in 2017, thanks to the many ways our work has overlapped.

A few months after we collaborated on the Florists’ Review article, I was asked to recommend a floral designer to take the lead on the First Lady’s Luncheon, a time-honored, nonpartisan event that is presented by the Congressional Club. 2017 was to be the second time that Certified American Grown flowers were donated and designed for this luncheon and I immediately thought of Kelly as a candidate for the role. She joined the project and collaborated with Margaret Lloyd of Margaret Joan Florals, and Christy Hulsey of Colonial House of Flowers, two other Slow Flowers members who’ve designed for past Certified American Grown events.

I have to say, I think Kelly felt like it couldn’t get any better than being part of the featured design team at the First Lady’s Luncheon . . . and then she was invited to take on the peony-themed decor for the Field to Vase Dinner in Homer last weekend.

What a year she’s had and I think you’ll be inspired by her story, her commitment to working with flower farmers whenever she can, and her vision for changing how wedding and event flowers are sourced and used.

Thanks again for joining me today and sharing in Kelly’s enthusiasm about American grown flowers — from Maryland to Alaska and everywhere between.

Here’s how to find and connect with Kelly Shore:

Petals by the Shore on Facebook

Petals by the Shore on Instagram

Petals by the Shore on Twitter

Petals by the Shore on Pinterest

Here’s how to find and connect with Scenic Place Peonies

Scenic Place on Facebook

Scenic Place on Instagram

I invite you to share your story, too — I’d love to hear it! You can find more stories about floral designers and farmer-florists in the inaugural issue of the Slow Flowers Journal — print edition — out now in the August issue of Florists’ Review.

Look for the August issue at Floral Supply Syndicate and your local wholesale florist, or take advantage of the special subscription offer that Florists’ Review has shared — 12 issues for $21 (which is 62% off the cover price) and I promise you that you’ll find inside each Slow Flowers Journal, our mini-magazine, the stories, news and resources important to you.

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 217,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you to each one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

If you value the content you receive each week, I invite you to show your thanks and support the Slow Flowers Podcast with a donation — the button can be found on our home page in the right column. Your contributions will help make it possible to transcribe future episodes of the Podcast.

Thank you to family of sponsors for 2017:

Certified American Grown Flowers. The Certified American-Grown program and label provide a guarantee for designers and consumers on the source of their flowers. Take pride in your flowers and buy with confidence, ask for Certified American Grown Flowers.  To learn more visit americangrownflowers.org.

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of 50 family farms in the heart of Alaska providing high quality, American Grown peony flowers during the months of July and August. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com

Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Find them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com

Longfield Gardens 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. Visit them at lfgardens.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.

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. Check them out 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

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at KineticTreeFitness.com.

It’s hard to believe that one month ago, nearly 100 of us gathered together in Seattle for the first Slow Flowers Summit. Before too much time passes, I want to personally thank you everyone who attended and invested their time and presence in sharing this incredible experience with me and others in the Slow Flowers Movement!

Here are a few of the Raves we’ve received to date:

The Slow Flowers Summit was a great platform for discussing important issues, the most important for me being diversity and inclusivity in the business. . . a fantastic event with something for everyone that didn’t shrink from the more challenging issues facing us.

The Slow Flowers Summit was hugely inspiring to me as a grower and an entrepreneur. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet other like-minded people who are successfully uniting their passion for flowers with a vision for a better world.

The Summit offered a day of inspiration and conversations. Being in the presence of other men and women who are passionate about their craft and the world behind the flowers was inspiring and uplifting. The value of the people that I met, the conversations that we united around, and the ideas that I left with made the day invaluable. I hope to be back year after year.

My participation in the Summit has sparked new ideas regarding how I grow my business. I’m inspired to think bigger and connect with a larger audience of like-minded flower people.

Thank you to our presenters for their intelligence, ideas and wisdom:

Who attended? Here’s a breakdown of how attendees identified themselves* in our post-Summit survey:
Florist/Floral Designer: 50 percent
Flower Farmer/Farmer-Florist: 27 percent
Educator: 14 percent
Media: 10 percent
Flower Gardener/Floral Enthusiast: 10 percent
Other categories: Wholesale floral managers, horticulturists, online floral retailer
*respondents were allowed to choose more than one category

We asked: “Was the Summit content relevant to you and your business?” Attendees ranked this answer 4.22 out of 5.0 
We asked: “What elements of the Summit were valuable to you? Attendees ranked these choices as follows:
1. Connecting with other Attendees
2. Connecting with Speakers
3. Learning about new Resources & Skills
4. Playing with Flowers (Flower Wall and Flowers on Your Head)

Enjoy our PICTURES!! Summit photos are here for your enjoyment and use. Follow this link to see/download.
Please credit (c) Hannah Brenlan and Luke Holtgeerts and use these hashtags: #slowflowersummit #americanflowersweek when you use any of these images. Thank you!

READ THIS. #SlowFlowerSummit 2017 is a HIT!
I loved reading one attendee’s thoughtful response with her takeaways from the Summit. Kit Wertz of Los Angeles-based Flower Duet wrote an extensive review in her July newsletter. You’ll want to subscribe to her newsletter! Thanks, Kit!

I can’t close without thanking all of our Sponsors and Volunteers.

I especially want to thank Stephanie Downes of Vanita Floral, @vanitafloral, our Event Manager Extraordinaire, and Niesha Blancas @nieshamonay, our Social Media Maven, from Poppy Social Media.

Seriously. Could. Not. Have. Done. The. Summit. Without. Them. xoxo

Our Audio/Visual Team was the best! Thank you to Hannah and Andrew Brenlan and the Brothers Holtgeerts (Henry and Luke).

Thanks to Mud Baron of Muir Ranch for adding a festive, Instagram-worthy “flowers on your head” element to the day!

I’ve received personal notes from so many of you — and I promise to write back as time allows. I hope to announce a save-the-date for our 2018 Summit — on the East Coast — very soon.

Until then, continue to Inquire, Inform, Include, Instigate and Inspire!

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This week we’re continuing to celebrate the success of the third annual American Flowers Week, while also hearing from Rebecca Bull Reed, U.S. Sales Executive for David Austin Roses, this week’s guest.

I’m so pleased that Rebecca agreed to lecture on David Austin Garden Roses to the florists and farmers of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market this past spring. I was able to record Rebecca’s presentation in late April and I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to share it with you.

But first, let’s wrap up the news of American Flowers Week! I have new campaign numbers to share — 5 million and counting! That’s the social media impressions generated by YOU and YOUR Instagram & Twitter Posts in the past 30 days!! #AmericanFlowersWeek has exploded — just like fireworks!

In our third year, participation in AFW more than tripled the impressions generated last year, putting #americanflowersweek on the map in all 50 states!

[Imagine the true metrics if Facebook let us track hashtags? Just sayin’!]

Thank you to each one who joined in! The Slow Flowers Community has the momentum to effect change in the marketplace, so continue posting and sharing the #slowflowers message every week of the year!

The 3rd Annual American Flowers Week has come to a close and it was our best ever! With participation across the U.S. in all sectors of the floral industry, this New Floral Holiday is waving the flag and making a splash from coast to coast.

Four of the five looks are shown above. We’re saving the final look to feature in an article that will appear in the August 2017 issue of Florists’ Review — so stay tuned for the big reveal! Our All-American floral looks would never have been possible without the support of Slow Flowers’ sponsors, including Certified American Grown, Arctic Alaska Peony Cooperative, Longfield Gardens, Syndicate Sales, Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.

American Flowers Week inspired grocery stores like Town & Country Markets and New Seasons in the Pacific Northwest, Central Market in the Houston area and Whole Foods Markets in the Mid-Atlantic region. Farmer groups in the Southeast, in Maryland, in New York’s Hudson Valley staged flower arranging parties and partnered with creative florists, continuing to build community and educate floral designers and consumers in their marketplaces.

In other places, florists created beautiful styled shoots and designed promotions to benefit charities, like Kathleen Barber of Erika’s Fresh Flowers, whose flowers raised funds for Northwest Battle Buddies, a nonprofit partnering combat veterans with professionally trained dogs.

The media paid attention, too, with feature articles appearing in leading trade magazine Florists’ Review and a beautiful spread by Janet Eastman in The Oregonian.

Be sure to check out our show notes and links to posts at AmericanFlowersWeek.com to see beautiful photographs of campaigns, photo shoots, inspired posts and other resources. And stay tuned for next month when we announced plans for 2018 and how you can get involved in the planning for even more exciting ways to promote you, your flower farm and your floral designs!

Next up, Rebecca Bull Reed of David Austin Roses. I’ve known Rebecca as a professional friend for years — dating back to 2002, 3 and 4 when I was just getting started with my garden writing career and Rebecca was a garden designer who worked in sales at one of my favorite shops in town called Herban Pottery.

We continued our friendship through the Garden Writers Association after Rebecca moved to the Southeast to join Southern Living Magazine as a garden editor there for nearly a decade. We would see one another at annual GWA symposia and I always wished there was a way to reconnect with her more than once in a while. I was so excited when Rebecca returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2014, where she is now based as the US Sales Executive for David Austin Roses.

She is an accomplished horticulturist and garden communicator specializing in David Austin English Roses, bare root roses, own root roses, sales, marketing, project management, lifestyle publishing, photo shoot story production, instructional writing, garden design, product promotion, education, and public speaking.

I’ve seen so many of the David Austin’s garden roses at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, most of which are supplied as cut flowers by Dawn Severin of All My Thyme, a past guest of this podcast. Hearing from Rebecca may make you want to go back and listen to last year’s interview with Dawn — you’ll be inspired to add more David Austin garden roses to your cutting garden or flower farm — and to incorporate these beauties into your floral designs.

Find/follow David Austin Roses at these social places:

David Austin Roses on Facebook

David Austin Roses on Twitter

David Austin Roses on Pinterest

David Austin Roses on Instagram

 

Thanks so much for joining me today. It has been a crazy month and I’m so pleased that you have joined the conversation to hear from leading voices in the Slow Flowers Movement.

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded nearly 210,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you to each one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

If you value the content you receive each week, I invite you to show your thanks and support the Slow Flowers Podcast with a donation — the button can be found on our home page in the right column. Your contributions will help make it possible to transcribe future episodes of the Podcast.

 

 

Thank you to family of sponsors:

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of 50 family farms in the heart of Alaska providing high quality, American Grown peony flowers during the months of July and August. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com

Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Find them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com

Longfield Gardens 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. Visit them at lfgardens.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.

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. Check them out 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

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at KineticTreeFitness.com.

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Welcome to DAY ONE of American Flowers Week, which continues through next Tuesday, July 4th, Independence Day!

The Slow Flowers Community is boldly sharing this message: Beautiful, fresh and seasonal flowers are worth celebrating! They are grown here, by real people on real U.S. flower farms!

This is our third year celebrating American grown flowers in all 50 states – coast to coast from north to south.

I’m thrilled with the incredible enthusiasm and participation from flower farmers, floral designers, retailers, grocery chains and avid gardeners who are joining in to help raise awareness about the origin of our flowers.

Your use of hashtag #americanflowersweek along with #slowflowers and your personal branding terms is an awesome way to engage with consumers and peers across the U.S.!

I’ve loved seeing the early posts as designers and florists have shared sneak-peeks of their projects on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram – flowers, signage, displays, events and special red-white-and-blue bouquets to celebrate American Flowers Week.

We’ll keep on re-tweeting and re-posting to spread the awareness and attention on social platforms – with the overall goal of getting more folks asking for and buying American grown flowers.

Follow these links to the free resources available to you – as well as details about cool American Flowers Week projects our members are producing around the country (including a few that took place last week in the days leading up to American Flowers Week).

Check out Americanflowersweek.com to download graphics, logos, photography and social media badges that you can use in your own branding or social feeds.

And don’t forget to download our awesome USA Map of state flowers, including individual state coloring sheets. Add your logo and print copies to share and hand out to your community and customers.

I have one more important event to remind you about – the Slow Flowers Summit, which is happening this coming Sunday, July 2^nd in Seattle at the Surf Incubator event space.

You’ve heard from some of our awesome speakers, and this Podcast has shared previews what’s on the agenda for an inspiring day of design innovation, personal inspiration and a bit of radical thinking to send you off with new ideas.

It’s not too late to sign up – we’re expecting and planning for a few last-minute registrants. If your schedule allows, I encourage you to join us!

I’m so happy to bring you some succulent joy today, with a conversation I recorded in late May when I traveled to San Diego to teach.

I have loved seeing the designs, creativity and color sense in the succulent florals of Marialuisa Kaprielian. Marialuisa is the owner of Urban Succulents, based in San Diego. She’s a Slowflowers.com member whose company is uniquely suited for a thriving mail order floral business.

If you recall my podcast episode with Robin Stockwell, author of the new book SUCCULENTS, he mentioned commissioning Marialuisa to design the succulent floral arrangements that appear in his book. You can listen to that episode and see images of her designs in the show notes here.

Because San Diego has ideal weather for growing and producing succulent plants, it’s the perfect headquarters for Urban Succulents.

Marialuisa’s mission is to create living arrangements using only the finest locally sourced succulent plants.

All her succulent arrangements, wreaths, gift boxes, bouquets and other items are made to order so they are fresh when the recipient receives them.  Urban Succulents’ living arrangements and bouquets can be replanted, bringing more enjoyment — a gift that keeps giving, or growing in this case.

Urban Succulents creates living florals for corporate events and galas, weddings and other festive occasions. For holidays and other gifting, the studio offers wreaths and succulent plant assortments.

I know you’ll find our conversation inspiring – and I hope it gives you some new ideas for using succulents in your design work. Or, contact Urban Succulents to special order wired succulents to add to your designs (as shown, left).

I had serious succulent envy spending time with Marialuisa in her home, studio and vast garden filled with plants we never see up in the chilly corner of the Pacific Northwest.

You can find and follow MariaLuisa at these social places:

Urban Succulents on Facebook

Urban Succulents on Instagram

Urban Succulents on Pinterest

 

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 204,000 times by listeners like you.

THANK YOU to each one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much. If you value the content you receive each week, I invite you to show your thanks and support the Slow Flowers Podcast with a donation — the button can be found on our home page in the right column. Your contributions will help make it possible to transcribe future episodes of the Podcast.

Thank you to our family of sponsors:

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of 50 family farms in the heart of Alaska providing high quality, American Grown peony flowers during the months of July and August. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com

Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Find them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com

Longfield Gardens 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. Visit them at lfgardens.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.

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. Check them out 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

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at KineticTreeFitness.com.

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

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

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