The Slow Flowers Podcast is the award-winning show known as the “Voice of the Slow Flowers Movement.” Launched in 2013 as the original flower podcast, we’ve devoted more than 10 years to covering the business of flower farming, floral design, and the Slow Flowers sustainability ethos. Listen to a new episode each Wednesday, available for free download here at slowflowerspodcast.com or on iTunes, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.
Laura Pittard (right) of Poppin’ Blossoms, today’s guest, recently hosted my visit to her flower fields in Orem, Utah
I just returned from a short trip to Salt Lake
City, where I attended the GardenComm annual conference, the gathering of
professional garden communicators with which I’ve long been affiliated.
Dahlia Fields at Poppin’ Blossoms
I’ve known I would be traveling to Salt Lake in early September for quite a while — and I also knew I wanted to visit today’s guest while there. You see, Laura Pittard of Poppin’ Blossoms was the first Utah member of Slow Flowers.
Laura designing with roses at All My Thyme in Mt. Vernon, Washington (c) Becca Johnson of B. Johnson Photography
She joined a few years ago after we originally met in 2016 at Red Daisy Farm outside Denver. Laura was new to flower growing and she was pretty isolated as one of the first growers in her region, so I was doubly impressed that she flew to Denver to network with others at the Slow Flowers meet-up and BBQ hosted by Red Daisy’s Megan McGuire for Colorado flower farmers and florists. Laura and I reconnected on several other occasions – at conferences and workshops — and earlier this year, I was able to feature Poppin’ Blossoms’ profile and flowers in Florists’ Review’s Rocky Mountain-themed issue.
Poppin’ Blossoms’ dahlias are featured in a beautiful bridal bouquet (c) Bobbi Tolman Photography
Laura and her family (including husband Brian
and son Grayson) welcomed me to Poppin’ Blossoms in Orem, Utah, about 40
minutes south of Salt Lake City. We started off by recording this episode,
followed by an informal gathering as seven local flower farmers and
farmer-florists joined us for a tour of Laura’s beautiful growing fields. We
enjoyed a great discussion over lunch, which Laura provided.
For me, it was an honor to witness the
emerging and exciting local floral scene in Utah. There are many talented folks
doing community-focused and collaborative projects — and I hope to feature
some of them on upcoming episodes.
These photos bring back memories of meeting up with Laura in 2018 at the Rose Design workshop held on All My Thyme farm in Mt. Vernon, Washington (c) B. Jones Photography
Please enjoy this conversation with Laura Pittard of Poppin’ Blossoms. Laura’s mission is to supply her marketplace and community with the highest quality, premier specialty cut flowers. In my opinion, she has already reached that level of excellence — and the future is rosy as the momentum can only grow for local, seasonal and bespoke cut flowers.
Find and follow Poppin’ Blossoms at these social places:
The emerging Utah flower farming community gathered at Poppin’ Blossoms on September 7th. I’m so glad I met everyone!
So happy we visited Utah — and a special shout-out of thanks to Laura for hosting our Slow Flowers meet-up. I’ve written a recap of my visit to Poppin’ Blossoms and the wonderful group of kindred spirits I met last Saturday. We now have five members in Utah, representing the exciting shift towards seasonal and locally-grown flowers serving everyone from farmers’ market customers and CSA subscribers to wedding florists and event designers.
Tammy Krein, photographed at the recent Inspired Design Retreat, courtesy of Patience Pickner and Ace Berry
Tammy Krein’s designs using all domestic flowers, photographed at the Inspired Design Retreat.
Ken’s is a local, full-service floral retailer based in the state capital of Bismarck. Tammy purchased an established shop in 2001 and decided to retain its original branding, although she has put her own spin on the business, developing a loyal customer base.
Bridal flowers by Ken’s Flower Shop and owner Tammy Krein
I first learned about Tammy through one of our South Dakota members, floral designer and educator Patience Pickner, and through Jason Lenz of Minnesota-based Len Busch Roses, which supplies Ken’s Flower Shop and others with a regular flow of fresh, high quality midwest-grown blooms on its delivery route through North Dakota. You’ll hear Tammy and I discuss the challenges to sourcing local flowers faced by a florist like her, located in a northern state (wedged between Minnesota and Montana, and sharing its entire northern border with Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Inspired Design by Tammy Krein
Find and follow Tammy Krein at these social places:
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 515,000 times by listeners
like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who
believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is
contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to
show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and
outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. 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.
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnysseeds.com.
Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com
The content and
opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone,
independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Jaclyn Rutigliano and Marc Iervolino of Hometown Flower Collective (c) Hometown Flower Co.
Jaclyn Rutigliano of Hometown Flower Collective is today’s guest. During our conversation, you’ll hear us trying to recall how we originally connected. And finally, while writing this intro, I searched my email archives to find the back story of how Jaclyn and I really did meet!
A new concept (with a twist) for Long Island floral customers — the mobile flower truck that comes to you! (c) Erica Schroeder photography
In March 2015, she reached out to me via the Slow Flowers “contact us” form. She wrote:
Hi there, I handle public relations and communications for the slow fashion brand Zady (Zady.com) and we are currently coordinating our events for Fashion Revolution Day and Earth Day.
I am wondering if there is someone I can speak with about possibly bringing in a slow flowers aspect to our events.
I would love to connect and look forward to hearing from you.
Long Island-grown flowers on the “baby blue” mobile flower shop (c) Erica Schroeder photography
That email led to a long phone call during which Jaclyn brought me up to speed on slow fashion and I brought her up to speed on slow flowers — and we discussed some possible cross-promotions and collaborations. In her follow-up note to me, Jaclyn signed off with these comments:
I am going to spend a ton of time digging into your site but if you have any other initial suggestions for where I can begin to tackle these issues from the retail and floral design standpoint, I would love to look into that for my parents. Who knows- maybe I will take on the family business one day after all!
Fast-forward to this past January and I again heard from Jaclyn. It was long after her gig with Zady ended and many years after my Field to Vase Dinner Tour consulting that we referenced. But of course I remembered her immediately.
Hometown Flower Collective’s web site
This time, Jaclyn had
some news that delighted me:
Happy New Year and I hope this finds you well. You likely
don’t remember but we had emailed nearly four years ago at my previous job when
I was representing a company called Zady which was focused on the sustainable
fashion movement. I am from a family of florists and when I heard about your
slow flowers movement, it really resonated with me and you were kind enough to
provide some additional reading materials for me to further educate
myself.
From Long Island flower farms to Long Island floral customers (c) Francesca Russell photography
Years later, my husband and I are in the planning stages to
open up our own business . . . possibly a mixed use retail space which will
have the retail arm of my parents’ floral event design business. I am keen to
approach this differently as currently, I don’t believe there is any florist in
Long Island focused on locally sourced flowers. I really want to provide
artistically designed flowers that embrace natural beauty, lesser known
flowers, greens, naturally grown varieties, etc. And it would be great to
source these within a 50 mile radius or at least domestically. Our business
will be focused on a tight inventory to minimize waste and to embrace what is
readily available.
I would love to receive some guidance in terms of identifying
the right farmers, varieties, the questions to ask, etc. It will be easy for me
to follow the same path of my family and just source product from a regular
importer but I would love to support local small farmers and source directly-
though there are concerns about the cost associated. We are even considering
planting our own flowers as well.
Anyways, I’m not sure if you do this or are speaking anywhere on the east coast in the future but I would love to learn from you to help get on the right foot.
Hometown Flower Collective offers a floral subscription (left) and festive, floral-focused events (right) (c) Hometown Flower Collective photographs
It’s so wonderful how people can come into your life for what looks like one reason – only to learn from that experience that we can’t even predict how we influence and inspire one another. Hearing from Jaclyn four years later was an affirmation that all the messages and information I put out into the marketplace about flower sourcing and sustainable practices doesn’t land on deaf ears! When the timing was right, she eagerly devoured the mission of Slow Flowers.
Hometown Flower Collective’s beach-inspired flower crown party and feast (c) Christie Monteleone
Not only has Jaclyn absorbed these Slow Flowers concepts but she has put her entirely personal spin on them. Along with her husband Marc Iervolino, they launched Hometown Flower Collective earlier this year on Mother’s Day weekend, in fact. Their hometown is Huntington, New York – on Long Island. These two Long Island natives and residents are running Hometown Flower Collective as a family operation with their two daughters, August and Sage. Jaclyn’s the ones with her arms up in flowers, overseeing the floral designs, creative marketing, and branding for the company. Marc oversees the day-to-day business operations and logistics. Here’s a fun fact: they are two Leos who share the same birthday and a bold mission to shape a better future for their children and community.
More from the beach party (c) Christie Monteleone
Jaclyn and Marc write this on their web site: Hometown Flower Collective connects people who love flowers with the local farmers who grow them. A new take on the traditional neighborhood florist, Hometown Flower Collective offers fresh, local varieties delivered right to your doorstep through monthly subscriptions, and through its vintage pick-up truck, Baby Blue, a 1976 Ford F-100, re-imagined to become Long Island’s first mobile flower truck.
The “baby blue” flower truck is party-ready! (c) Christie Monteleone
Our mission is simple: to encourage people to look no further than their hometowns to find beauty grown nearby, and to provide access to locally-grown varieties in places where our farmers are typically unable to consistently reach. Inspired by a third generation flower designer’s experience growing up around the floral industry and witnessing how removed consumers and retailers were from where and how their flowers were sourced, Hometown Flower Co. was founded with a strong desire to change the status quo and encourage people to embrace their roots.
Please enjoy this conversation and listen for some very useful tips from Jaclyn on how to interest the local media in your floral enterprise. I’m inspired and energized by Jaclyn and Marc’s story and I hope you can draw at least one wonderful branding tip or marketing technique from our conversation to enhance your efforts.
Social media, collateral material, messaging and education — all have helped launch Hometown Flower Collective in their marketplace (c) Francesca Russell photography
Find and follow Hometown Flower Collective at these social places:
We’re taking a little hiaitus from our theme
for 2019 – Fifty States of Slow Flowers – I’m committed to recruiting a North
Dakota guest for you and we just need
another week to pull that off!
We learn so much when we gather together! This photo was taken at the August 28th Slow Flowers Summer Soiree for members in the Oregon & Washington area (c) Missy Palacol Photography
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. 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.
Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist. Look for the American Flag Icon to find Syndicate’s USA-made products and join the Syndicate Stars loyalty program at syndicatesales.com.
Arctic Alaska Peonies,a cooperative of family farms in the heart of Alaska working together to grow and distribute fresh, stunning, high-quality peony varieties during the months of July and August – and even September. Arctic Alaska Peonies operates three pack houses supplying peonies throughout the United States and Canada. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com
FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com.
Local dahias from Laughing Goat Farm, Seattle Wholesale Growers Market and the Slow Flowers Cutting Garden, arranged by Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore (c) Missy Palacol Photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 513,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for 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 Brenlan. Learn more
about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Just-picked North Carolina flowers, so beautiful! Photographed at Flourish Flower Farm.
Our theme for 2019 – Fifty States of Slow Flowers – continues today with the entire episode dedicated to North Carolina, celebrated for naming the flowering dogwood as its state flower.
There is so much great news coming from North Carolina! We have featured several Slow Flowers members as previous podcast guests, so to give you a richer snapshot of the state, I’ve collected all of their appearances for you to find below. They include a great introduction to the
dynamic floral scene — in both growing and design:
Diane Joyal and Lily Joyal of Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary (c) Kim Branagan
Our first guests are mother-daughter duo, Diane Joyal and Lily Joyal of Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary, based in Chapel Hill. In our conversation, Diane and Lily share their “local floral” point of view as retail florists in the eastern part of North Carolina’s triangle of Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Durham. They have grown rapidly and have some cool news to share with you.
Niki and William Irving (left) and Niki teaching at an event on Flourish Flower Farm (right)
Part Two features Niki Irving of Flourish Flower Farm in Asheville, the heart of western North Carolina. Niki is a farmer-florist who serves a diverse range of customers– from grocery to weddings and events — to on-farm customers.
I hope you enjoy our
tour of North Carolina! Before we jump into the recordings, here is a bit more
about each guest:
Beautiful blooms, North Carolina-grown, from Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary
Diane Joyalis the founder/Ceo of Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary. She loves anything that keeps her smiling. This includes small puppies, big local blooms, and a good conversation. Her days at Bowerbird are filled with client interactions, vendor relations, and tracking down the best of the best in product. Diane’s Secret talent is being up with the floral trends and knowing just where to find a specific flower. Her favorite flowers are off-beat tulips, bearded iris, and not your average roses.
Two appealing floral palettes express the range of styles by Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary
As the Founder of Bowerbird, Diane started the business with the idea that arrangements should be created to showcase what each individual bloom can do. Diane trained with Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua and she has taken classes with well known designers such as Pondarosa & Thyme and Bows & Arrows Flowers.
A wedding by Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary
Lily Joyalis operations manager and designer at Bowerbird. She loves anything that keeps her moving, including but not limited to coffee, a nice sunny day, and a good work-out class. Her daily duties at Bowerbird include making lists, gathering blooms, and accomplishing the impossible. Her secret talent is car tetris she can load any car with flowers without a single snapped head. Her favorite flowers are Hellebore and whatever is in season. In her free time she enjoys going for a nice long run and getting good food with friends. She is also a painter and graduated from UNC Asheville with her BA in 2017.
Find and follow Bowerbird Flowers & Apothecary at these social places:
Niki (right) and a floral display at Flourish Flower Farm (left)
Niki Irving and her husband William Irvingown Flourish Flower Farm. After years of working in education and outdoor education, Niki finally turned the dream of becoming a Farmer-Florist into reality. As the daughter of a landscaper and tree farmer, you could say that Niki’s love of plants was inevitable. Niki loves growing, nurturing and creating beauty. William spent his childhood helping his grandfather tend a giant vegetable garden and he is the master of the farm maintenance tasks. William still has a full-time job off the farm, but he helps Niki make sure the farm is run like a sustainable business and fixes the things that she breaks.
Wedding personals and ceremony flowers by Niki Irving of Flourish Flower Farm.
Together, they balance a love of nature, hard work, creating beauty and spreading joy at the farm. They believe that flowers make the world a more beautiful, enjoyable place and are inspired by the way a fresh bouquet of flowers lights up someone’s entire face. Niki loves creating lush, seasonally-inspired arrangements for weddings and special events with their gorgeous farm fresh flowers, and William is always behind the scenes helping to make it all run smoothly.
Students are immersed in hands-on design at one of the popular Flourish Flower Farm workshops.
Find and follow Flourish Flower Farm at these social places:
I think you’ll enjoy this cross-state North Carolina tour featuring two Slow Flowers business models that are design-driven and dedicated on local sourcing. I love our visit, giving you two unique ventures from which to draw inspiration and lessons for your own enterprise.
Here is another cool resource about North Carolina-grown blooms: Click below to download a PDF of my 2017 Florists’ Review article about Southern Flower Hubs — with sections on Piedmont Wholesale Florists of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area (which Diane and I discussed in her segment); and the Western NC Flower Farmers group, which Niki and I discussed.
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.
NW Green Panels. Based in Madras, Oregon, NW Green Panels designs and constructs a wide array of wood-framed greenhouses offering versatility, style and durability. Their greenhouses are 100% Oregon-made using twin-wall polycarbonate manufactured in Wisconsin, making NW Green Panel structures a great value for your backyard. The 8×8 foot Modern Slant greenhouse has become the essential hub of my cutting garden — check out photos of my greenhouse in today’s show notes or visit nwgreenpanels.com to see more.
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. Visit them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.
I want to give a special shout-out and welcome this week to Terri Carstens of Dream Dirt FloralsinReardan, Washington in the Eastern part of the state. Terri is the lucky winner of a one-year Premium membership in Slow Flowers — which we donated to the Washington Flowers Project for their summer promotion. The WA Flowers Project aims to increase awareness of locally-grown flowers, build relationships within the flower industry, & increase local sales – and is a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant funded initiative. Welcome Terri!
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate
participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry,
the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and
invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing
advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
(c) Mary Grace Long photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 510,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for 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 Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Sylvia Lukach of Cape Lily,
sharing her love of South African flora with lovers of flowers and travel
This wasn’t entirely planned but it turns out, we have two New York-based guests this week.
Our first featured guest comes by way of South Africa, Harlem and lower Hudson Valley, Sylvia Lukach of Cape Lily.
Our second guest is Charles Sherman of North Fork Flower Farm in Orient, New York, who appears as part of the 2019 – Fifty States of Slow Flowers series. Listen for my great conversation with Charles in the second portion of this episode.
A botanical display from Cape Lily’s first botanical excursion to South Africa
Sylvia and I first connected when I hosted a Slow Flowers Upstate New York Meet-up in Hudson, New York about three years ago. She traveled about two hours north of her home and studio in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood to join the gathering of Hudson Valley flower farmers, farmer-florists and other designers like herself — a group that loosely called themselves the Hudson Valley Flower Growers Network. We discussed some of the emerging issues facing Manhattan and Brooklyn-based wedding and event florists like Sylvia and the growers whose flowers they so eagerly source. Issues like transportation, special ordering, access to markets and more.
Two floral collaborations that reflect Sylvia’s Harlem, New York, ties with artists and makers.
Sylvia and I continued a friendship when Cape Lily joined Slow Flowers and after we reunited just months later at the first Whidbey Flower Workshop in 2017, hosted by Tobey Nelson. There, during our introductions and the creative writing exercises I led, it emerged that Sylvia dreamed of blending her South African heritage, her love of South African floral, and her love of travel into an unique brand for her business Cape Lily.
Since then, Sylvia has developed a studio-based floral enterprise serving New York City, Westchester County, where she now lives, and the Hudson Valley wedding and event marketplace. And she led her first botanical journey for Cape Lily — a floral-themed tour with Susan Mcleary to South Africa last fall.
Beautiful creations from the Sue Mcleary workshop during Cape Lily’s South African botanical excursion
I wanted to invite Sylvia onto the Slow
Flowers Podcast to share her story and to discuss how she has indeed zeroed in
on the unique brand attributes of Cape Lily. If you’re at a similar place in
your own floral enterprise — seeking a way to highlight your singular story
and distinct place in the marketplace — I know that Sylvia’s narrative will be
inspiring.
Sue Mcleary joined Sylvia as floral design instructor. Photography (c) Heather Saunders
Sylvia wrote a beautiful essay for our Slow Flowers Journal online magazine called “An African Slow Flowers Story,” which we published in December 2017. Its opening lines begin as follows:
Florists, flower farmers; local South African designers + North American students. They all came together for a love of flowers, place, friendship.
I grew up in a small coastal town in South Africa, Plettenberg Bay, in an area called the Garden Route, where fynbos, a distinct aromatic indigenous shrubland, flows down the mountains and hovers on the sand dunes along the ocean. I would run up the hill in my Wellies (for protection from snakes) to harvest some of the pride of the Cape Floral Kingdom like Sugarbush Proteas, Leucadendrons and Ericas, which my mother, our town’s first florist, would use to supplement her designs.
Fast-forward to present day and I find myself a long way from home here in the urban hustle of Harlem, New York, but with that same urge to harvest seasonal, local flowers.
Thanks to the growing network of local cut flower farmers and support from the Slow Flowers community, this is still possible. My go-to supplier is Rock Steady Farm, a women-owned cooperative farm using holistic and sustainable farming practices, located outside Millerton, New York. I love the creative possibility yet natural constraints that exist when designing with buckets-full of flowers harvested just up the Hudson Valley that same morning.
As I embraced the Slow Flowers philosophy in the U.S., I was curious to learn if something similar existed in my home country, given its long floral history and current status as one of the largest Protea exporters in the world.
Images from Sylvia’s recent installation for the LEAF Flower Show in New York. Sylvia embellished a vibrant fountain called called “The Source,” by Ester Partegàs at Plaza de Las Americas.
Find and follow Cape Lily and its creative director Sylvia Lukach at these social places:
Thank you so much for joining me today! As Sylvia mentions, the next Botanical Journey to South Africa is scheduled for this coming October, so check out the itinerary and learn how you can be part of the trip.
Three of the four partners in North Fork Flower Farm, from left: Charles Sherman, Karen Braziller and Kevin Perry. Not pictured: Drianne Benner
We’ve been to the suburbs of New York City where Sylvia is based. Now, let’s travel to the farthest point of Long Island’s North Fork, to the town of Orient, where we’ll continue the #fiftystatesofslowflowers series and meet Charles Sherman of North Fork Flower Farm.
Charles Sherman is one quarter of North Fork Flower Farm, the two-acre farm he started four years ago with his life partner, Karen Braziller, along with Kevin Perry and Drianne Benner.
As you will hear in our conversation, Charles and I have a dear mutual friend in fellow Orient resident Charles Dean, who I’ve known for more than 15 years through the Garden Writers Association (now GardenComm) and who has produced a number of books with editor Karen Braziller, Charles Sherman’s partner. So this is a fond conversation and it makes me yearn to return to Orient, NY, since I haven’t visited there since 2011.
Find and follow North Fork Flower Farm at these social places:
Thank you so much for joining me today as we visited two distinctly beautiful floral destinations in New York. Download the PDF of “Botanical Influences,” my March 2018 Florists’ Review interview with Sylvia Lukach.
Follow this link to a recent article written by Jim Merritt of Newsday, the daily newspaper on Long Island, which features Slow Flowers members North Fork Flower Farm and florists Jaclyn and Marc Rutigliano of the Hometown Flower Co. It’s exciting to see the local press feature Long Island’s local flower renaissance against the backdrop of the Slow Flowers movement!
Mums, zinnias, dahlias, gomphrena, amaranth, scented geranium — all from Washington. I added a few goodies from my friend Cheryl’s backyard in Altadena, California (including tree fern fronds and limelight hydrangeas)
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious.
I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities.
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.
Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Yes, the dahlias are exploding in the #slowflowerscuttinggarden, but now it’s time to start our spring bulb order! Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.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.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnysseeds.com and check out my past articles featuring the wisdom and voices of flower farmers.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 507,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
I am in love with my greenhouse, designed and built sustainably by Oregon-based NW Green Panels (c) Missy Palacol Photography
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.
With her Dahlias: Jen Ladd of Sweet Posy Floral, a Bend, Oregon-based specialty cut flower farm and floral studio.
Located in Central Oregon, Bend is an incredibly beautiful place – across the mountains from where I live, so an entirely different landscape. Yes, the area is considered high desert, but the local agriculture scene for food and flowers is vibrant and active.
Last week took me there for a two-day getaway and you can be sure I wanted to visit a few flower growers during the trip. Today, you’ll join me on one – a tour and conversation with Jennifer Ladd of Sweet Posy Flowers.
Jen Ladd (right) posing with #flowersonyourhead at the 2017 Slow Flowers Summit. Photo by Mud Baron
I thought the last time I saw Jen was in 2017 when she attended (and contributed flowers) to the first Slow Flowers Summit held in Seattle. But she reminded me that we had a very brief “passing hello” at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival this past February. Turns out, Jen helps a family member set up a plant sale booth at the flower show – so we’re going to be more intentional about connecting there next year.
But what a treat to drive just about 10 minutes east of Bend, turn off the highway onto a long, gravel driveway, and come upon fields of annuals surrounding a charming white cottage-style studio and two sturdy high tunnels also filled with blooms.
The studio at Sweet Posy Floral.
I arrived at Sweet Posy Floral, was greeted by two friendly dogs
and today’s bubbly guest.
Jen Ladd of Sweet Posy Floral
Jen aptly describes Sweet Posy Floral as an heirloom flower farm and bespoke floral design studio. She owns the farm with her firefighter husband Brandon Ladd, about whom she says, “I truly wouldn’t have been able to bring this dream to fruition without him. He works his full-time shifts at the fire station and comes home and works the farm and helps me with logistics of wedding setups.” A true farm-him partner for the farm-her.
Flowers on Display with Jen Ladd
Jen shares this on her “about” page:
I’ve loved flowers my entire life. As a child, I would go with my grandmother into her garden and watch her love and cultivate the plants, talking to them as she went. “You have to talk to them because it’s a relationship,” she’d tell me. “They’ll only grow and blossom for you if you love them.
When it was time to plan my own wedding, second only to the groom and the dress in importance was the flowers. Destiny brought me to a wonderful woman on a glorious flower farm who set me loose with shears and buckets to cut as many of her beautiful heirloom flowers as I wanted to make my day complete. In those fields, surrounded by the bright blooms, I realized this is what I’d love to do.
The dream of sharing beautiful, sustainable, local flowers is what Sweet Posy is all about.
Identical in idea to the slow food movement, we believe in the slow flowers movement. We believe that a bouquet can come from a fifty-mile radius, even in Central Oregon’s climate. We believe that special, unique heirloom flowers can be accessible even if they aren’t bred to withstand weeks of shipping. We believe that a wider variety of flowers leads to a wider variety of floral visions we can make reality.
Local is beautiful, when local means real flowers that are pollinated by real bees and destined to brighten the days of real people who love supporting their local farmer artisans. Welcome to Sweet Posy’s growing world!
Love those sentiments!
The seasonal bounty of Sweet Posy FloralSweet Posy Floral’s “jar posies” at Market of Choice in Bend.
Even though she was up at dawn to harvest, make market bouquets, deliver them to Market of Choice, a local grocery store customer, and tend to countless other farm projects, when I arrived at Sweet Posy last weekend, Jen greeted me with a warm welcome as if she had not a care in the world. She gave me a tour of the fields, the high tunnels and the studio. We shared a glass of pink champagne and noshed on some delicious appetizers – and finally turned on the recorder to grab this interview.
What a brilliant array of summer blooms!
Find and follow Jen Ladd and Sweet Posy Floral at these social places:
I’m so pleased that you joined me today! Finding balance is a theme we keep coming back to on this Podcast –a balance between passion and wellness; between creative urges and sustaining a creative livelihood. Neither my guests nor I have all the answers, but we strive for honesty and transparency in our dialogue and we want you to be part of that conversation.
A recent Bend area wedding, with lush and local flowers created by Sweet Posy Floral
Another constant
theme of the Slow Flowers Podcast is community. We didn’t have time to share
the story of Jen’s first CSA week ever, but suffice it to say, it involved the
biggest disaster a new flower farmer could face – a freak June frost that
decimated her entire early season flower crop.
Jen put out a call for advice to others she had met through the PNW Cut Flower Growers annual gathering and several flower farmers not only jumped in with encouragement and advice, but farms actually gifted Jen and her husband Brandon enough flowers to cover week one and week two of their CSA commitments.
Those flower farmers have become good friends to Jen and Brandon, and I just want to acknowledge them today – Erin McMullen and Aaron Gaskey of Raindrop Farms in Philomath and Beth and Jason Syphers of Crowley House Flower Farm in Rickreal – both in the Willamette Valley. To this day, Jen wonders if she would have given up in discouragement if the community of Oregon flower farmers hadn’t stepped in to help support Sweet Posy Floral through that natural disaster. Of course, both of those flower farms are part of the Slow Flowers Community so it was no surprise to learn of this story. And I know for certain that Jen and Brandon would do the same thing to pay it forward with a fellow grower or florist in need.
Thank you, Jen, for
being that voice of honesty this week. I love your work, the beautiful life
you’ve shaped for yourself, and your grit balanced with lovely artistic
expression.
The Calhoun women flower farmers, from left: Lillian, Emily, Susannah, and mom, Diane.
A desert-inspired bouquet, grown and designed by Calhoun Flower Farms.
In the podcast, you’ll hear me flub a couple of times and call their farm: Calhoun Family Farm. We laughed because it’s certainly that, too. Theirs is a farming family. Sister Lillian Calhoun is a frequent support on the business side of things and you’ve actually met Diane’s daughter and Susannah’s sister Emily Calhoun as a past guest of this podcast on two occasions – Emily owns FloriographyNM, based in Albuquerque.
Dazzling flowers, photographed in the white sands of New Mexico (c) Justin Lee Burr
Calhoun Flower Farms is boutique floral enterprise located in the magnificent Mesilla Valley of New Mexico. Diane and Susannah grow and distribute their field grown flowers for the floral trade, consumers, and events flowers throughout NM and West Texas. They offer farm tours by appointment and often rent their farm for photography sessions.
Find and follow Calhoun Flower Farms at these social places:
Susannah Calhoun (center), with her floral designs (left) and Calhoun Flower Farms (right)
I am so grateful to you for joining me and for spending your time listening to the Slow Flowers Podcast today. Thank you to our entire community of flower farmers and floral designers who together define the Slow Flowers Movement.
Calhoun Flower Farms employs and serves the community of El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico (c) Justin Lee Burr
If you feel moved as I am to support the people of El Paso, Texas, some of whom work for and buy flowers from Calhoun Flower Farm, follow this link to join Slow Flowers in donating to the El Paso Community Foundation.
El Paso Community Foundation’s short-term goal has been to use donations to assist families and victims by paying for funeral, travel, and basic need expenses. Long term, the foundation wants to support the community’s need to heal as a collective while addressing the trauma people there have suffered as a whole. The Foundation has also established the El Paso Victims’ Education Fund – a scholarship fund for the children of those shot and injured or killed by the shooter on August 3, 2019. Your contribution will join others in providing tuition assistance and related expenses to college or university, or an established trade or vocational school. Learn more by searching the hashtag #elpasoSOstrong.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. 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 family farms in the heart of Alaska working together to grow and distribute fresh, stunning, high-quality peony varieties during the months of July and August when the normal growing season is complete. Arctic Alaska Peonies operates three pack houses supplying peonies throughout the United States and Canada. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com
FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com.
Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist. Look for the American Flag Icon to find Syndicate’s USA-made products and join the Syndicate Stars loyalty program at syndicatesales.com.
Photographed at Everyday Flowers in Stanwood, Wash. (c) Missy Palacol Photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast
has been downloaded more than 505,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you
for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast.
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.
Misty VanderWeele of All Dahlia’d Up, a Palmer, Alaska-based flower farm
Today, we’re visiting Palmer, Alaska, and spending time in conversation with Misty VanderWeele of All Dahlia’d Up Flower Farm.
Misty isn’t your typical Alaska grower because you won’t find a single peony in her fields. She claims she’ll “never say never,” but for now, there are so many other flowers, including, of course, dahlias, that Misty loves growing on her highly diversified flower farm.
The famous sweet pea tunnel!
I first met Misty in person when she attended the inaugural Slow Flowers Summit held in Seattle in 2017. She is a force of nature — high energy, inquisitive, intelligent and passionate about sharing her story. It was hard to miss her, sitting in the front row during the lectures, interacting by sharing positive feedback with our speakers and making meaningful connections with fellow Summit attendees.
Alaska’s fields of flowers at All Dahlia’d Up Flower Farm.
As soon as I met Misty and heard pieces of her personal journey, I added her to my mental list of future podcast guests. We almost had a chance to record an episode this past February when Misty returned to Seattle to attend the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. I was working for the show that week, and while we had coffee together, there wasn’t enough time to grab a recording. Soon, we agreed. Soon.
Well, soon was this past week and Misty
graciously agreed to jump on Skype with me to talk about all things Alaska
flower farming. It is at the peak of her flower farming season and I seriously
wonder how many hours of sleep Misty is getting in each 24-hour period.
Probably only as few hours of darkness up there in the land of the endless
summer sunshine.
Sleep-deprived or not, this is a fabulous conversation and you’ll learn volumes. Here’s a little more about Misty, excerpted from her web site:
Misty VanderWeele on the lecture circuit, as she shares how growing flowers gave her a chance to manage her grief and loss of a child.
“I am a born and raised Alaska Chick with a flower addiction for sure. I’m proud to grow award winning seasonal blooms for market, weddings, flower CSA and our seasonal farm stand and flower shop.
“From July through the first frost our gardens are bursting with color and flower magic. We grow vibrant Dahlias, fragrant long stem Sweetpeas, Sunflowers and more.
“All though not entirely a one-woman-show I run farm management, floral design, marketing, and field operations. I consider the flower farm my baby. That being said I couldn’t do what I do without the loving strong support from my husband, Glen, daughter Jenna and the best in-laws a girl could ever ask for.
This summer’s farmers’ market stand is pretty impressive!
“I started growing our award winning flowers 5 years ago in remembrance of my son. When he was in kindergarten he brought home to me a potted dahlia plant not yet blooming for Mothers Day. But when I learned dahlias grow from tubers you can divide for more and more every year my interest was piqued.
You see, Luke had Duchenne (Due-Shenn) Muscular Dystrophy, an incurable muscle wasting 100% fatal disease. We were told Luke would be lucky to graduate high school. Which he did in 2010. However my entire world came crashing in when he suddenly passed at age 21. I was left not only devastated but not really knowing what to do with myself. My daily life as I’d known it changed in an instant! The grief at times was unbearable. Then I remembered all those tubers! Flowers started healing my shattered heart.”
The new on-farm store at All Dahlia’d Up
Find and follow Misty VanderWeele at these social places:
Bethany Bernard of The Flower Peddler in Bridgeton, New Jersey
Now, let’s visit New Jersey as the next stop in our #fiftystatesofslowflowers series. Please meet Bethany Bernard of The Flower Peddler, based in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Bethany and her husband Dan Vohringer grow cut flowers on 10 acres, serving wedding and event florists, DIY wedding clients, and customers at four farmers’ markets.
The beautiful fields at The Flower Peddler
I recently interviewed Bethany for a Johnny’s Seeds’ newsletter article, called “Your Seed Chronicles: Planning & Planting for an Abundant & Frequent Floral Harvest” — Read the article here — it has great info from Bethany and four other Slow Flowers member growers.
As a footnote to today’s episode, I have to give a shout out to fellow podcaster Anahit Hakobyan of Viva La Flora Live Podcast.
An AIFD and EMC designer and host of the new podcast about the art and business of flowers, Anahit recently invited me to join her in a conversation all about the Slow Flowers Movement. It’s fun being on the other side of the mic, and as always, I’m delighted to have any chance to share the Slow Flowers story, mission and vision with a new floral audience. Thanks so much, Anahit!
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. 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.
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. Visit them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com.
NW Green Panels. Based in Madras, Oregon, NW Green Panels designs and constructs a wide array of wood-framed greenhouses offering versatility, style and durability. Their greenhouses are 100% Oregon-made using twin-wall polycarbonate manufactured in Wisconsin, making NW Green Panel structures a great value for your backyard. The 8×8 foot Modern Slant greenhouse has become the essential hub of my cutting garden — check out photos of my greenhouse or visit nwgreenpanels.com to see more.
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.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 503,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
(c) Missy Palacol Photography
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast.
Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time.
The content and
opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone,
independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
