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I have some very special news to share with you – GWA | The Association for Garden Communicators — announced last week that Slowflowers.com is a SILVER MEDAL winner in the 2016 Media Awards program.

This follows last year’s Silver Award for our infographic titled: “Where do your flowers come from?”

We’ve poured so much creative effort into developing Slowflowers.com’s valuable, meaningful content and it’s thrilling to receive industry recognition for this important digital resource that connects consumers everywhere with American Grown flowers across the country.

Please celebrate with me — together we’ve created this success!

Today’s guest is flower farmer Dawn Severin, owner of All My Thyme, which is based in Mount Vernon, Washington.

All My Thyme is a wholesale flower farm dedicated to hand-tending English garden roses, a variety of cut flowers and herbs, and fresh and dried lavender — all for the floral trade.

Dawn is a gifted grower — a civil engineer-turned flower farmer and current member of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market.

On a recent visit to her farm I saw beautiful perennials, herbs and annuals, and of course, beloved garden roses. Thousands of rose plants occupy the heart of Dawn’s farm, a well-organized layout of rows, beds and one high tunnel cover a four-acres-plus area, part of the 15-acre homestead in Washington’s Skagit Valley.

All you have to do is track Instagram to know that roses are more popular than ever before, especially in the wedding floral world. Dawn grows David Austins, Kordes, old-fashioned and hybrids alike, with a petal palette ranging from whites and creams to the deepest burgundies.

It’s really impossible to capture the vast knowledge and expertise that makes All My Thyme’s roses so cherished here in the Seattle marketplace. Her roses are romantic, fragrant, healthy and super fresh. Grown with great care and attention to what her floral customers really want — artistic design elements for their brides and special event clients.

I have known and loved Dawn’s flowers for a few years, but I only recently set aside time to visit her for a first-person tour of the roses! I turned on the recorder to capture our conversation, which took place while we walked through the farm.

Here is a list of the roses that Dawn and I discussed during our conversation:

A Shropshire Lad (David Austin)

Anna’s Promise (Weeks)

Charlotte (David Austin)

Clair Renaissance (Poulsen)

Crocus Rose (David Austin)

Crown Princess Margareta (David Austin)

Distant Drums (Weeks)

Eglantyne (David Austin)

Hot Cocoa (Weeks)

Ice Girl (Kordes)

James Galway (David Austin)

Jubilee Celebration (David Austin)

Jude the Obscure (David Austin)

Koko Loko (Weeks)

Lemon Pompon (Kordes)

Orange Pompon (Kordes)

Pink Pompon (Kordes)

Sombreuil (David Austin)

Spirit of Freedom (David Austin)

Susan Williams-Ellis (David Austin)

Tranquillity (David Austin)

Wollerton Old Hall (David Austin)

All My Thyme is a Salmon Safe certified flower farm, meaning that all of Dawn’s practices are safe for local waterways and salmon habitats, as evaluated by a third party agency.

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 109,000 times by listeners like you. THANK YOU to each one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

Thank you to our lead sponsor for 2016: Certified American Grown Flowers. The Certified American-Grown program and label provide a guarantee for designers and consumers on the source of their flowers. Take pride in your flowers and buy with confidence, ask for Certified American Grown Flowers.  To learn more visit americangrownflowers.org.

More sponsor thanks goes to 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.

A big bouquet of thanks goes to Longfield Gardens… providing home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Visit them at lfgardens.com.

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

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

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

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