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Earlier this month I spent several days at LynnVale Studios, the farm and art studio owned by Andrea and Lou Gagnon.

The couple graciously hosted the Washington, D.C., area Field to Vase Dinner in their Gainsville, Virginia, flower fields on September 3rd.

Not only was the event a spectacular floral and culinary celebration of local agriculture, it also gave me the chance to spend time observing Andrea’s incredible talents as a flower farmer and designer.

I’ve been wanting to interview Andrea for the past few years and somehow the moment never presented itself for us to record a face-to-face conversation for the Slow Flowers Podcast until now.

Let me tell you a bit more about Andrea:

Andrea Gagnon combines her professional design education with her expertise in floriculture to grow premium flowers and design unique arrangements that range from formal to fantastic. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech.

Andrea was the invited floral designer whose creations decorated the 2015 Congressional Wine Caucus Reception in Washington, D.C., held at the Library of Congress, where her exquisite floristry featured all American-grown flowers and foliage.

Andrea and Lou manage a thriving art and design studio, floral design studio and commercial cut flower garden surrounded by 100 acres of forest, pasture and crop land.

Founded in 2002, LynnVale is dedicated to the cultivation of creativity and the human spirit through alternative agriculture and fine art.

The heritage farm is nestled in the middle of an eighth generation family homestead in Northern Virginia. They share this on the LynnVale web site:

“We are committed to sustainable horticulture and ethical labor practices. We hire local high school students, university interns, stay at home parents and floral and garden enthusiasts. For events, we work with some of the best floral designers in the region. We thank you for supporting our effort to keep our farmland open and productive and for helping us cultivate a creative community.”

Each year, LynnVale grows more than 100 varieties of specialty cut flowers, foliages and herbs for sale at farmers markets and to fine florists across the D.C.- metro region.

In addition, with Andrea as the studio’s creative director, LynnVale provides flowers and arrangements, specializing in eco-friendly events and green weddings.

Our interview was recorded inside Andrea’s somewhat noisy delivery van, which happened to be filled with buckets of just-picked hydrangeas, dahlias, celosia and other amazing fresh, local and seasonal blooms.

I was in on the secret: those flowers were destined for a very special VIP event in our nation’s capitol – I can’t tell you who ultimately enjoyed them but I am definitely in awe of what Andrea pulled off to fulfill the last-minute request from her floral design client.

Thanks so much for joining me today. Please enjoy these photographs of the flowers at LynnVale, of Andrea’s gorgeous floral designs, and of the stunning Field to Vase Dinner held in the fields that she and Lou so lovingly farm.

Read my Q&A profile of Andrea on the American Grown Flowers’ blog.

Learn more about Andrea in this wonderful piece on Flirty Fleurs.

Follow LynnVale on Facebook

Follow LynnVale on Twitter

Follow LynnVale on Pinterest

Follow LynnVale on Instagram

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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I jumped on the phone a few days ago with Lisa Waud of pot & box, the botanical genius and visionary of The Flower House, the floral art installation that will open to the public in mid-October.

Listeners of this podcast heard my original interview with Lisa this past February when the plans and ideas for The Flower House were in their beginning stages. Since then, The Flower House news has been shared widely, but we can proudly say we heard Lisa’s personal story here first on the Slow Flowers Podcast.

Lisa reminded me of the amazing piece created by Hello Future Films, depicting her vision for The Flower House. I want to share it here for you to watch again. I find it so moving, and it makes me so proud to know and support Lisa and this phenomenal project.

Since doors to The Flower House open in exactly one month, on October 16th, Lisa agreed to chat with me for a few minutes to share her updates as preparations are revving up for this phenomenal, must-attend floral event.

We thought this would be a quick 10-minute interview, but the conversation was so engaging and Lisa and I were having so much fun discussing The Flower House that we spoke for a half hour.

Consequently, we’ve adjusted our program lineup and today’s episode is completely devoted to The Flower House and the very special Field to Vase Dinner that takes place on October 16th.

Lisa painted a beautiful picture of what’s to come . . . and here are a few beautiful bonus photographs taken by her cohort Heather Saunders, the official photographer of The Flower House. Your imagination will be stimulated, I promise!

Here is the link to purchase your ticket to tour The Flower House, Oct. 16-18.

Follow The Flower House on Facebook

Follow The Flower House on Instagram

Follow The Flower House in Twitter

Follow The Flower House on Pinterest

VOLUNTEER at The Flower House

Now is the time to put an X on the calendar and check out flights to travel from your home town to Detroit!

Add a visit to The Flower House and reserve a seat at the table for The Field to Vase Dinner on October 16th. Ticket details are here – and remember that listeners can claim a $35 discount by using the SLOWFLOWERS promotion code upon checkout!

Make the pilgrimage – it’s one of those experiences you won’t want to forget. Florists and flower volunteers, your talents are needed, too! As Lisa noted, there are many opportunities to get involved in this floral event of the year. I’ll be there and I hope you are, too!

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded more than 64,000 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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This week’s guest is my very good friend and “flower-sister” Melissa Feveyear, owner and creative director of Terra Bella Flowers.

Melissa’s appearance on the Slow Flowers Podcast  is especially exciting this week because she and her work will be showcased at the next Field to Vase Dinner, set for Saturday, September 12th at Jello Mold Farm in Mt. Vernon, just north of Seattle.

Only 10 designers in the country have been invited to create the floral installation for the Field to Vase Dinner series, a very special pop-up, floral-centric dining experience pairing local flowers and local food.

 

It is fitting that Melissa is the featured designer this week because she is a longtime customer of Jello Mold Farm and the entire floral community of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market.

You’ll hear us discuss her role in the Market’s origins as the first cooperative marketplace connecting local flower farmers with local florists.

The visionary of Terra Bella Flowers, Melissa combines her obsession with all things rooting and a background in Environmental Studies/Hazardous Waste Management.

After working in the field and becoming aware of the amount of pesticides used in the production of cut flowers, she realized she couldn’t consciously support the conventional side of the floral industry. Melissa created Terra Bella Flowers nearly 10 years ago to prove that the business of flowers can be a beautiful thing, from the time the seed is planted, until her bouquet arrive at your door.

As we discuss in this episode, Melissa and her business are featured in The 50 Mile Bouquet, the book I wrote in 2012 featuring the photography of David Perry. As a special gift to you, I’ve included the free chapter called “Sublime and Sensuous,” which you can download her and read more of her story: MelissaFeveyear_The 50 Mile Bouquet Chapter

I began that chapter with this description of Melissa:

Curiosity and intentionality are two of her design tools; she selects foliage, blooms, and other fresh-from-the-field elements with the same care as if she personally grew each ephemeral blossom or stem in her own backyard. That connection with nature is vitally important to her artistic philosophy.

“If flowers aren’t locally or organically grown, then they are most likely coming from some huge factory farm,” she said. “My customers do not want flowers dipped in strong pesticides on their dinner table.”

Melissa has been a fabulous supporter of Slowflowers.com from the moment it was just an idea of mine. She has contributed her time and talents, appearing on the 2014 Indiegogo campaign video that helped raise more than $18,000 to launch the online directory (see above).

We’ve also teamed up to promote Slow Flowers on local television and at special events — and I know you’ll find Melissa and her story inspiring.

Here’s how you can connect with Melissa and Terra Bella Flowers:

Terra Bella Flowers on Facebook

Terra Bella Flowers on Instagram

Greater Seattle Floral Association

Thanks for joining me today. If you’re in the Northwest and you want to experience the magic of Melissa’s Northwest Gothic floral installation at the September 12th Field to Vase Dinner, there’s still time. A few tickets are still available and I can’t wait for you to be part of the evening on a flower farm. Follow the link to reserve your seat at the table and use the special discount code SLOWFLOWERS to enjoy a $35 discount when purchasing your ticket.

Episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast have been downloaded more than 63,000 times and I thank the progressive floral community for supporting this endeavor. It is nothing short of inspiring to see the listenership increase each week – and we have received only 5-star reviews on iTunes, 22 in all.

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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I was in New York City in late August for the fifth Field to Vase Dinner, held at The Brooklyn Grange.

DV Flora, a major floral wholesaler and an event sponsor, sent one of its top customers as a guest to Field to Vase.

I found out in advance that their guest was none other than David Beahm. I couldn’t resist. I reached out and invited myself to his studio, asking whether we could record an episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast. And, lucky for you, he said YES!

While I don’t really know David, we are somehow friends on Facebook, so I’m well aware of his creative endeavors.

I think we connected after I gave a presentation about the Slow Flowers Movement at the 2014 Chapel Designers Conference in NYC.

Holly Chapple, founder of Chapel Designers, has involved David in her conferences and during the year I was there, the 75-plus participants gathered at David’s giant production and prop warehouse in the Bronx where they created floral samples for The Knot Dream Wedding.

I watched David in action and was thoroughly impressed by the scale on which he works. Plus, he is just a gracious and kind human being. I watched that, too.

So two weeks ago, I took a combination of two subways and a bus and ended up at the headquarters for David Beam Experiences, quite close to the now-iconic Highline Public Garden.

What was once Manhattan’s gritty meatpacking district is now populated by high-rent galleries, fine restaurants, designer shops and creatives like Mr. Beam. It was a heady experience just to walk past the Dianne von Furstenburg shop and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

I arrived and rode the elevator to the 11th floor of what probably was once a warehouse but is now a sleek, uber-modern complex, entering David Beam’s atelier where I was warmly welcomed. We were seated in his light-filled office with eclectic furnishings and a comfortable sofa. That’s where we recorded this interview.

READ MORE…

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I’m delighted to introduce you to Hilary Holmes whose Portland-based flower shop is called Emerald Petals.

Her tagline: Portland’s Eco Florist. And that’s not just a marketing slogan.

Hilary has a longtime career in the floral industry – in both New England and the Pacific Northwest, and she has operated as Emerald Petals since 2010. Through her 15 years of floral design, Hilary has nurtured a deep-rooted love for flowers.

Emerald Petals is Hilary’s playhouse, a place she created so that customers can shop for flowers from another real person. A place where she can put creative arrangements in beautiful found objects.

She appreciates the simple joys of all growing things.

It’s no surprise that she likens her floral business as a plant that she lovingly tends.

Hilary planted the seed for this little shop on Mississippi Avenue in Portland, Oregon, and is helping it grow with love and whole lot of dirt under her fingernails. Now she gets to watch it bloom.

A full service flower boutique committed to sustainable practices, with a focus on local, sustainable, and domestic flowers and botanicals, Emerald Petals offers fresh custom arrangements for everyday life, as well as flowers for special deliveries, weddings and events.

As Hilary writes on the web site:

“We truly care about the environment and what effect our footprint will have on it. We source our flowers daily from local farmers, whether they come to us or we go to the farms ourselves.  We love to create textural depth using Oregon’s abundance of moss, lichen, branches, pinecones, mushrooms, berries, fruits and vegetables and whatever else we happen upon. During the off season, we also use domestic, sustainably grown product, and fair trade certified when we import from elsewhere.”

Hilary was an early supporter of the Slow Flowers Movement and Emerald Petals is a member of Slowflowers.com.

She walks the talk, down to maintaining an ever-changing collection of vintage containers and vases, as well as new containers and glass made either from recycled products and/or made in the USA. Reuse is encouraged, which appeals to a core group of customers who regularly order and rotate through Hilary’s vintage collection.

Follow Emerald Petals and Hilary Holmes at these social places:

Emerald Petals on Facebook

Emerald Petals on Instagram

Emerald Petals on Twitter

Emerald Petals on Pinterest

MORE FLORAL NEWS:

Last week I announced that our podcast exceeded 60,000 downloads. If that wasn’t news enough, this week we’re celebrating the 600th Slow Flowers Member to join the Slowflowers.com site.

Please welcome Raspberry Hill Farm, a small family farm located on 14 acres in northern Colorado, just south of the Wyoming border, about 15 miles from downtown Fort Collins. Farmer-florist Kathy Hatfield specializes in growing high quality long-lasting specialty cut flowers, seasonally and sustainably grown — more than 150 different varieties, from old fashioned favorites to unique and unusual new varieties. During the growing season, the gardens at Raspberry Hill overflow with the gorgeous colors, delightful fragrances, and striking textures of our beautiful flowers. Please check them out!

This past week was filled with so many wonderful highlights, each of which represents a memory and another beautiful piece in the Slow Flowers quilt.

I spent time in Brooklyn attending and co-hosting the 5th Field to Vase Dinner at the famed Brooklyn Grange, where Slow Flowers member Molly Culver of Molly Oliver Flowers designed a dazzling tablescape using seasonal flowers and foliage harvested from nine area farms in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Those arrangements symbolized so much about this conversation we’ve been having – about how essential it is to support America’s flower farmers when we also choose to support America’s food farmers.

Molly also hosted me for a personal visit to The Youth Farm in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where she is the farm manager and director of urban farm training.

My arrival coincided with the final gathering of the student interns, all high school juniors and seniors of the High School for Public Service. These amazing young people are the next generation of farmers — food and flower farmers — and I was so impressed with their interest in and passion for urban farming, the environment, food justice and flowers. Please visit Debraprinzing.com to check out photos of the summer students.

And finally, a shout-out to Suzanna Cameron, a new Slow Flowers member who owns Stems Brooklyn. Suzanna hosted an after-hours Slow Flowers gathering in her flower shop last Friday, which, by the way, is housed inside Sycamore Bar in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park neighborhood. We had 15 flower farmers, florists and writers in attendance and I’m still on a high from the ideas and creative energy in that room.

More news next week, when you will hear from an illustrious guest, David Beahm. David is a rock star special events producer and florist whose work takes him from NYC to destinations around the globe. He has some big news to share and I can’t believe our good fortune to feature it on the Slow Flowers Podcast on September 2nd. Please tune in!

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.

Music credits:

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I first met today’s guest, Charles Little, on a sunny day in June 2010, at a gathering of about 60 growers and floral designers who came to the bucolic fields of Charles Little & Co.’s farm on Seavey Loop Road outside Eugene, Oregon.

We were there for a regional meeting of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.

The full day of farming discussions, a fabulous barbecue and connecting with friends, new and old, ended with a conversation that led to the establishment of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market the following year. My presence there also gave me a chance to witness the character and generosity of Charles and Bethany Little, our hosts. Later, I wrote these opening lines about the Charles Little & Co. farm, in a section of The 50 Mile Bouquet called “Grower Wisdom.”

“As farmland matures and evolves, so do those who steward it. Just ask Charles Little, who has been tending to ornamental crops in the verdant Willamette Valley since 1986. He describes the 40 abundant acres at the foot of Oregon’s Mount Pisgah, where he and his wife Bethany grow 250 varieties of fresh flowers, fillers, wildflowers, herbs, ornamental grains and grasses, seasonal berries, pods and branches, as a “horticultural paradise with its own thriving ecosystem.” 

“I was one of those young men who wanted to create a hippy commune and be a farmer,” Charles says of his early years. “I’ve always wanted to live and make my living on the land.” More than 25 years after planting his first flower crops, he maintains that “farming is a lifestyle, a stewardship and commitment to the land and a generous consideration of all life around you, from the beneficial microorganisms and insects, to the birds and snakes.”

The farm at Charles Little & Co. consists of acres of the very best river-bottom soil along the Coast Fork of the Willamette River in Oregon.

Crops raised here include flowers and foliages of all kinds; ornamental herbs, grasses and grains, and unique sticks, pods and berries. In-season floral materials are available year round to wholesalers throughout the U.S. And they are in a word, excellent!

Charles and Bethany prefer to work in tandem with the seasons, rather than using heated greenhouses or hoop houses to jump-start or extend their harvest. “The southern Willamette Valley has a growing climate that’s hard to beat, so I cooperate with mother nature,” Charles says.

I visited Eugene on two occasions this summer, and I stopped at Charles Little & Co. farm both times. In late June, I joined a small farm tour and lunch hosted by Bethany.

She invited some floral customers and two employees who market Charles Little’s crops at the Portland Flower Market.

Bethany generously allowed a few of us to clip annuals, herbs, perennials and foliage to make a bouquet while there. It was days before I planned on launching American Flowers Week, so I was excited to create a red-white-and -blue-themed arrangement. Bethany is a gifted floral designer, so with her help, it turned out beautifull.

Charles wasn’t at the farm; he was off on an extended, once-in-a-lifetime fishing excursion. Bethany wanted me to get Charles in on the podcast interview. So I promised to record them when I knew I was going to come back through Eugene on my way to a photo shoot in Southern Oregon. But that time, Bethany was away, at a summer music festival on the Oregon coast. So I convinced Charles to let me turn on the recorder for what is a fantastic and longer-than-usual conversation.

What I realized, and what Charles and Bethany later confirmed, is that for farming couples, it’s almost impossible for both to travel or take a break from the farm TOGETHER. Someone has to feel the sheep and chickens; someone has to make sure the crops are harvested, processed, bunched or made into bouquets, loaded into buckets and delivered to the customer, right?

That’s what I witnessed during both of my visits. So today, you will hear from Charles. And I promise that sometime in the future, hopefully before the end of this year, we’ll bring Bethany on as a follow-up guest.

I know you will enjoy our conversation. It took place at the cozy kitchen table inside the hand-crafted farmhouse that’s just steps from the magnificent barn we discuss in our interview.

The flowers harvested from Charles Little & Co.’s fields satisfy demand for nearly every color, form and type of plant ingredient used by wedding, floral and event designers.

There’s always an eye-popping, seasonal assortment to choose from: flowering shrubs, colorful tree branches, evergreen boughs, and yes, a small percentage of dried flowers.

Since not all of you can visit the farm in person, as a special bonus, I’ve added a downloadable about them that appears in The 50 Mile Bouquet. Click here for the file: Grower Wisdom.

 

Before I close, I wanted to give a shout-out and thank you to the fabulous students of Austin Community College’s floral design program who asked me to be a guest speaker (virtually- through the power of Skype) this week.

Their topic: Slow Flowers! The seminar was developed by instructor Morgan Anderson, a PhD candidate in floral design at Texas A&M University (yes, you heard me right) and the owner of The Flori.Culture, a design studio and Slowflowers.com member.

In addition to the Q&A with me, the students have been learning about sourcing local ingredients, specifically focusing on and using botanicals from Texas Specialty Cut Flowers, Pamela and Frank Arnosky’s famous flower farm. They are also evaluating Floral Soil and they promised to send photos of their designs for me to post in the future.

I applaud Morgan because she is leading the way to educate the next generation of floral designers in an entirely different model than most conventional floristry education programs. The enthusiasm I felt from this amazing group of students was so encouraging – and I wish them all great success in their career paths.

 

 

This week was a highlight in another way, too. We broke the record with our 60,000th podcast download. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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.

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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Before I introduce you to Elizabeth Artis of Espe Floral + Foliage of Portland, I want to share a few words of gratitude that came my way this week.

One of the special benefits enjoyed when you or your businesss is part of the Slow Flowers community is the sense of sharing and support among like-minded folks all over the country.

Case in point, a florist in the Midwest recently emailed to ask me for help with a bid she was developing for a restaurant in her town that wanted locally-inspired floral arrangements. She felt she couldn’t ask another florist in her market, but she suspected that a Slow Flowers designer outside her market might have the answer.

As it turns out, when she reached out to me, I had just talked about restaurant “weeklies” with a local Seattle florist. Both of these women have their businesses listed on Slowflowers.com.

It was a cinch to connect them by email and they later chatted by phone. Florist two shared her strategies with Florist one. And I love that they both experienced instant camaraderie!

 

The email came recently from the Midwest florist. Subject line: “It worked! Thank You!”

Thank you, Debra, for connecting me with Tess to chat about restaurant floral work…and Tess, thank you for generously offering your time and insight. After a bit of back and forth (this was new on my end and theirs!), we have come to an agreement, and I’ll be starting next week!​ I love having the support and expertise of the whole slow flowers “family.”

That’s so cool to hear, right?! And you do not have to go through me to get this information. You should feel free to connect any fellow Slow Flowers member for help. It’s part of that “paying it forward” philosophy, conducted with mutual respect for people’s time, talents and ideas.

I don’t always know who’s listening to these weekly podcasts but every now and then I get a glimpse of how these interviews may connect with a listener. then this past weekend, a small note appeared in my Instagram feed, from a gifted flower farmer. She wrote: “Your podcast pulled me through a tough week. Thank you for all your efforts and hard work!” I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to hear these words from an American flower farmer.

As I mentioned, today’s episode features Portland-based floral designer Elizabeth Artis.

I met Elizabeth in a totally spontaneous way back in 2010 while working on The 5o Mile Bouquet. It was in December and with photographer David Perry I was scouting in Portland for possible subjects for the book. We knew we wanted to stop at the Oregon Flower Growers market but the rest of the trip was relatively unscheduled.

And then we ran into Elizabeth, who was there with another florist for whom she was freelancing.

The invitation was extended and soon David and I found ourselves at Jennie Greene’s flower shop to document the winter-themed arrangements she and Elizabeth were designing, of course with a decidedly local provenance.

Our friendship began there after Elizabeth and I realized we had a few mutual San Francisco florist frienesand it has been a joy to watch Elizabeth’s design journey move on from there.

Elizabeth branched out on her own a few years ago and she runs Espe Floral + Foliage from Northwest Portland with two different channels:

First, she manages the floral department at Food Front Co-Op Grocery on NW Thurman St. in Portland, a shop-within-a-shop with everything from single stems and bunches to voluptuous bouquets, available seven days-a-week during store hours (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.).

Second, she operates a design studio just around the corner, an approximately 500-square-foot space ideal for meeting with wedding clients and for producing lush, wild and amazing creations.

We recorded our interview there when I visited in late June.

Espe is committed to using local and sustainably grown flowers from small farms in the Pacific Northwest and down the coast into California.

As Elizabeth writes on her web site: “Our many friendships with these small operations guarantee quality from season to season. The selection, like the weather, changes from week to week so watch closely and see the next season on its way.”

Elizabeth is one to watch – and I love how articulate she shares her philosophy and her love of flowers.

You can connect with and follow Elizabeth at these social places:

Espe Floral + Foliage on Facebook

Espe Floral + Foliage on Instagram

Thanks for joining me today. Everything we care about in the Slow Flowers community begins when a seed is planted into the soil. When the elements of water and sunshine enrich it and stimulate roots and stem. When the flower farmer nurtures a tiny plant into a stunning, fragrant bloom. If we remember the amazing origins of the flowers we love, we can’t go wrong.

I tried to convey this sentiment in an essay that I was asked to write for the “slow fashion” company called Zady.com. Published earlier this week, I entitled the piece “Honest Flowers.”

Here are a few of the sentences that I wrote. I’m so pleased that the team at Zady understands how essential it is to think about the ethical choices we make as both consumers of fashion and flowers:

What I wrote may sound familiar to those in our community, but I will share one excerpt nonetheless:

Getting to share the cause for American grown flowers offered me a chance to reach 100,000 Zady customers, people who may never have considered the way a flower travels from its origins to their vase. So I’m grateful for the opportunity.

Listeners like you have downloaded this podcast nearly 60,000 times. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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.

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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Last month we visited Santa Cruz, California, to hear from Christof Berneau of the UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.

On that same trip I met up with mom & daughter flower farmers Nancy Abramson and Haley Wall of Rooster Ridge Farm, a USDA Certified Organic and California Certified Organic farm located in nearby Aptos.

I briefly met Nancy and Haley in 2012 when they attended the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers annual conference in Tacoma, where I had been invited to speak about The 50 Mile Bouquet. I remember their unbridled enthusiasm and at the time I recall thinking what a great “story” they would be.

Fast-forward to 2015 and we reconnected through Teresa Sabankaya of Bonny Doon Garden Co., a recent podcast guest. Teresa hosted a Slow Flowers/Slow Coast gathering in the Santa Cruz area when I was there in March and Nancy and Haley attended.

They reminded me that I had an open invitation to visit them at Rooster Ridge.

That visit took place in June. Nancy and Haley welcomed me and led a wonderful walking tour of the grounds, which includes orchards, a vineyard, cutting gardens and production fields.

We enjoyed some delicious refreshments on the deck of the family home. And then we recorded this podcast.

This is a bountiful 20-acre place where flowers, herbs and fruit flourish. The farm is a labor of love for Nancy, and now, for Haley, who is also providing floral design services for brides and other local clients. You can find Rooster Ridge’s harvest at Aptos area farmers’ markets and pop-up flower stands in the community.

From cut flowers to citrus and avocados to an abundance of herbs, Rooster Ridge is deeply connected to its region. Florists, supermarkets, and farmers market customers are delighted with the quirky, uncommon ingredients gathered into the mixed bouquets.

Our podcast interview asks Nancy and Haley to share how they grow, market and design, and how they develop new market opportunities.

Thanks for joining me today as we toured an organic California cut flower farm where sustainable practices and growing profitable crops are guiding principles.

As Nancy so aptly said,

“Being a farmer is a lifestyle choice. “

I’m so glad she and her family has found a way to make a living from their land, and to share their beautiful flowers with their community, offering seasonal and local alternatives to imported stems.

Listeners like you have downloaded this podcast nearly 59,000 times. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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.

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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Author/photographer, lecturer and radio host Ken Druse has contributed to nearly every garden and home design magazine in America.

He is probably best known for his books, which the New York Times called “bibles for serious gardeners.”

The American Horticultural Society chose his book, The Passion for Gardening, as best book of the year; and the Wall Street Journal recommended it as one of the “five garden books to own.”

Ken has authored 20 gardening books, including recent titles PLANTHROPOLGY: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites and Natural Companions: The Garden Lover’s Guide to Plant Companions, which features both Ken’s photography and that of digital artist Ellen Hoverkamp.

In 2004, the Garden Club of America awarded Ken the Sarah Chapman Francis medal for lifetime literary achievement. In 2013 Garden Writers Association awarded Ken the gold medal for photography and the silver medal for writing. In 2013, the Smithsonian Institute announced the acquisition of the Ken Druse Collection of Garden Photography, comprising 100,000 images of American gardens and plants.

I have interviewed Ken for stories about his work that appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, so it is with great pleasure that I welcome him to the Slow Flowers Podcast. Ken is a pioneer of gardening podcasts, having been on the air for a decade with his national podcast and public radio show “Ken Druse Real Dirt,” which listeners can hear through their computers and iPods.

We’re here today to discuss Ken’s timely new book, The New Shade Garden: Creating a Lush Oasis in the Age of Climate Change, published in May by Stewart Tabori & Chang.

Ken reveals the low-stress environment of shade (cooler temperatures; fewer water demands) and how shade is extremely beneficial for our plants, our planet and us.

The thriving garden of the future might just exist in the understory!

I come to floral design from the residential garden and a love of plants. And the floral designers in my world are always on the lookout for uncommon, ephemeral lovelies.

Guess what? Many of those special fronds, flowers, leaves and branches can be found in the shade garden. Learning from a master like Ken Druse is a huge treat — I hope you found what he shared as inspiring as I did.

I highly recommend this comprehensive guide to “all things shade.” For gardeners and floral designers alike, “The New Shade Garden” is packed with inspiration and with ideas for having a lush, textural and fragrant garden where many colors exist!

And just for fun, to get a flavor of Ken’s wonderful and welcoming interview style (and to hear his radio-perfect voice!) here are links to the two Ken Druse Real Dirt episodes where I appeared as his guest:

May 11, 2012, “Field to Vase”

March 22, 2013, “The Local Flower Movement’s Champion”

On his web site, Ken writes:  Spending time in nature, especially nurturing plants, strengthens our connection with the natural rhythms of life. In the garden, we often experience a kind of “meditation therapy”–weeding actually becomes a time to sort through the other parts of our busy lives. 

I couldn’t agree more, and like Ken, I see the garden as a metaphor for life.

On August 15th, if you are in the Northeast, you have a chance to hear Ken Druse lecture on shade; take his hands-on garden-photography workshop; shop a rare-plant sale; and tour the garden of fellow garden writer, editor and podcaster Margaret Roach in Copake Falls, New York as part of the Garden Conservancy Open Day in her area. Here are details for purchasing tickets and to find the full day’s schedule.

Follow Ken Druse on Facebook here.

Find Ken Druse on Great Garden Speakers here.

Ken Druse’s “The New Shade Garden” floral arrangement includes:

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

Foliage from three different hostas

Flowers from two hosta varieties

Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’ (slightly faded to green)

Pachysandra terminalis ‘Variegata’

And “whips” (actually flower spikes) from Persicaria virginiana ‘Painter’s Palette’

Listeners like you have downloaded this podcast nearly 58,000 times. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

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.

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.