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SLOW FLOWERS Podcast: Fun with Flowers and J Schwanke (Episode 109)

I’ve been having fun running into American-grown flower advocate and floral industry personality J Schwanke. He was one of the friendly faces I enjoyed seeing in Miami earlier this year.

The name J Schwanke is synonymous with flowers and floral design and I’m pleased to introduce you to this energetic and super-talented guy. J is the owner and CEO of uBloom.com, a web site devoted to everything flowers – and the platform for J’s weekly web-based flower television show, “Fun with Flowers and J.”

J Schwanke, photographed on a recent fall day after he created the centerpieces for a Farm-to-Table orchard dinner.

He has been promoting American Grown flowers for so much longer than I have – and I credit J for pioneering the message that I’ve also embraced as my personal cause. It’s wonderful to have someone out there already trumpeting the message – and to join together in promoting the Slow Flowers movement.

Since I come from the gardening and DIY floral world and J is very well known in the professional floral world, I didn’t really know who he was during the years I was reporting and writing The 50 Mile Bouquet book. I first met J on my computer screen when I watched one of his California Grown Experience videos, which he produced in 2010-2011 as a series of online tours of California flower farms and related businesses such a floral wholesalers. That’s when J’s telegenetic personality, passion for flowers, and ability to draw out people and their stories impressed me. “Who is this guy, anyway?” I thought.

Kelly Blank snapped this photo of J and me on the day we finally met – in late April – at Disney’s EPCOT flower show.

Through our mutual friend and colleague Kasey Cronquist, I eventually met J via phone conference calls in which we both participated.

Then, earlier this year, J and his partner Kelly James Blank surprised me by attending one of my presentations at EPCOT’s International Flower & Garden Festival in Orlando.

That was pretty serendipitious – and it led to an evening of conversation, cocktails and dinner together – talking about our favorite subject: Flowers (former Garden Design magazine editor Sarah Kinbar was also with us – and that was such a treat to be together!)

Fun with Flowers and J is the weekly how-to Web series you can find at uBloom.com

The California Grown Experience is featured on uBloom.com, the first Web-Based TV Show about Flowers, which J created in 2006 – and which continues to air today. Every Monday, J releases a new “FUN with Flowers” episode.  You can find a collection of more than 500 how-to videos and flower farm documentaries on the site, including a new series called the “Florida Fresh Flower and Foliage Tour.” Previews of all J’s shows are included free on the site; viewers can purchase downloads for $1-$2 or subscribe to uBloom for $30 a year to receive complete access to the entire archive. 

1966: J in a greenhouse with his mother. Pretty darned cute~

J has lived his entire life surrounded by flowers, in fact, his mother gave birth to him a flower convention she and his father were running. A fourth-generation florist and foremost expert in cut flowers and foliage, J received the prestigious Tommy Bright Award, lifetime achievement recognition for flower communication. and the Crystal Rose Award, denoting him a “Living Legend” in the world of flowers.

J is a member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and the American Institute of Flower Designers (AIFD). He is a Certified Flower Designer (CFD) and a designated Professional Flower Communicator International (PFCI). His deep source of energy has sent J around the globe to give presentations, demonstrations and hands-on workshops in all 50 States, Canada, Mexico, and throughout Europe.

I invite you to listen in on our conversation and meet J, too. Then, mosey on over to uBloom.com to learn about all of its features, sign up for J’s free newsletter and learn more about the extensive content offered there. 

One of J’s newest ventures, which we discuss on the podcast, is the Professional Resource Guide. This is a free directory that lets professionals and DIY floral designers find WHERE TO BUY the many products and supplies featured on uBloom.com. Here is the link to that excellent new resource. 

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SLOW FLOWERS Podcast: Farmgirl Flowers & Christina Stembel (Episode 108)

Christina Stembel and I were guests of the California Cut Flower Commission’s Monterey Bay event in June. We were photographed on a tour of Pajarosa Roses, a wonderful source for cut roses.

If the term “imitation is the highest form of flattery,” then my friend Christina Stembel has been over-flattered, multiple times.

Meet Christina Stembel at her SF Flower Mart stall, which is where all the beauty happens!

The creator of Farmgirl Flowers in San Francisco, Christina has poured considerable heart, soul and personal resources into developing her innovative floral design business. Customers and the media have responded enthusiastically (see Martha Stewart Living). And her reward in part has been the explosion of copycat businesses, not just in the Bay Area but in other major cities around the country.

That’s the downside of being a successful and creative business like Farmgirl Flowers. But  to me, the upside for Christina is that no one can imitate her personality or character. People can try, but they never will be the original.

Christina is an original. She shares her story in our interview, but you can read a little background here:

I’m Christina, also known as the farm girl behind Farmgirl Flowers. I grew up on a farm in Northern Indiana, and while I set my sights on leaving the farm for big dreams in New York City, I now appreciate more than ever my farm upbringing. Ten years ago, after moving around a bit, I settled in the Bay Area and, like so many others, decided to make it home.

In the past, ahem, years, I’ve had the privilege of working in many industries, mostly in hospitality and event planning. Pretty quickly, I noticed an exorbitant amount of money was spent on flowers. So, I started doing my own arrangements and realized tremendous savings along the way. Now, being the overly curious individual that I am, I wanted to know just why do flowers cost so much?

Here’s one of Farmgirl Flowers popular Trademarked Burlap Wrapped Bouquets – using all local, CA Grown Flowers. Sublime~

I started researching the reasons and came to some pretty startling conclusions. The flower industry has gone through a very tumultuous time in the past 20 years, and is pretty much in the same boat as the industries that numerous documentaries have been made about in recent years (ie: textiles, coffee, technology, etc). What used to be a big domestic business is now being whittled away due to imports. I had no idea that 75% of our flowers were being shipped in from other countries. It just didn’t make sense to me when over 75% of the domestic supply is grown right here in California. I don’t want to bore you with more stats – hopefully you see where this is headed.

The bottom line is that local farmers are going out of business left and right because they can’t compete with the prices of flowers imported from South America and other countries. And, normal people like me can’t afford to send flowers to friends and loved ones because it ends up costing an absurd amount of money. Not to mention all of the environmental damage caused by flying flowers across the globe – they have to be shipped in chemicals just to make it to your door.

And, another huge source of waste is having so many choices of flower arrangements. As a result of this approach, a huge percentage of flowers end up as waste, and are never even sold! We’re making our landfills so beautiful, but, really, isn’t there a better way?

I thought so, and devised a plan to fix the problems that have caused the inflated prices and high environmental impact, which is how Farmgirl Flowers was born!

What’s that saying about being able to take the girl out of the country, but not the country out of the girl?

There’s a charming vibe at Farmgirl Flowers, down to the logo and signage. 

One of the designers who works for Farmgirl Flowers wraps a bouquet at the studio.

Click on the “Why we’re different” page at Farmgirl Flowers where you will see a chart comparing the LOCAL bouquets Christina and her staff design with wire services, aka “the competition.” It’s amazing when you look at these very different business models side-by-side.

Here’s a link to the Podcast Episode 101, in which Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers and I joined Sunset Magazine’s Kathy Brenzel to discuss the Local Flower Movement. 

The Slow Flowers Podcast with Debra Prinzing is edited and engineered by the very talented Hannah Holtgeerts of HH Creates. Check out her web site here. 

RHYTHM IN GLASS

Chocolate cosmos blooms look fabulous in this art glass vase by Tracy Glover.

Ingredients:

Chocolate cosmos, grown by Katherine Anderson of Margold & Mint.

Vase:

Maybe we’re onto something here!

Here’s the vase I received in the mail, which Kathleen Williford found online.

It all started just before Labor Day weekend on August 30th, when my friend Kathleen Williford, special events manager for the Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers event, texted to tell me she had fractured the bottom of her fibula. “My ankle will not stop me,” she texted. But still, for a very active person, Kathleen felt sidelined. And I could tell she was discouraged.

“We should come up with a joint project,” I texted back. “How about a $10 challenge to find the perfect vintage vase online?”

“OK, you are on!,” she typed. “So we find the vase online, flowers local, $10 max.”

September 5th:

“A beautiful vase arrived today,” Kathleen texted. “I LOVE it!” I had sent her a vintage olive-green glass pedestal vase, just like one I own (and LOVE). Kathleen admitted to not really having much experience arranging in pedestal vases, however, she also admitted to being a sucker for colored glass anything.

September 6th:

“Just arrived! So lovely!,” I texted when the vase Kathleen ordered for me arrived. The slender porcelain vessel was embellished with a gold filigree design. And it had this imprint on the base: “Made in occupied Japan,” which I think means it was manufactured during the American occupation of Japan after World War II, from 1947 to 1952.

Yesterday we both posted our respective vases on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, letting people know about the #friendlyflowers challenge. One of my friends saw the photo of the vase Kathleen sent me and she commented: “It’s so gypsy euro retro-ish!” — love that description.

Today, September 10th, Kathleen and I posted our designs. Here is mine:

A truly local bouquet using all foliage from my garden and my neighbor’s garden. In a very special #friendlyflowers vase

Ingredients include all the goodies I was able to glean while gardening this week:

• Burgundy Japanese maple foliage, deeply cut. This is a weeping form tree, so you can see how nicely those fringed leaves drape
• Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’), from my neighbor Colleen. Actually, it’s a flower, not foliage. But I tried to get the greenest stems still in bud
• False Hinoki cypress – one spray from a container plant (Chamaecyparis obtusa, unknown cultivar)
• Euphorbia myrsinites (Donkey tail euphorbia)
• Lime-green leaves from the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), also in Colleen’s garden

Here’s the vase I sent Kathleen:

See her finished bouquet at Kathleen’s Facebook page, Twitter (@kathinated) or Instagram (caflwrpower)

Here’s the bouquet from Kathleen, using flowers from her parents’ garden:

Kathleen used persimmons, sedum, grasses, assorted salvia, butterfly bush blossoms, and lions beard. Stunning~

If you like this idea, we encourage you to start your own #friendlyflowers challenge. The rules are easy:

1. $10 maximum vase budget

2. Send a vase to your friend and have him/her do the same for you

3. Fill it with #americangrown #slowflowers – all local

4. Post and share to inspire other friendly flower lovers!

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Meet a Young Flower Farmer (Episode 105)

Meet new flower farmer Janell Patterson of Flower Forest Farm in Auburn, Washington

Earlier this year I met Janell Patterson, a young cut flower grower who launched Flower Forest Farm, a micro-agriculture endeavor that’s part of Seattle Tilth’s farm incubator program called Seattle Tilth Farm Works.

There’s a forest and farm here, which perhaps inspire Janell’s charming business name: Flower Forest Farm

Located about 40 minutes southeast of Seattle in Auburn, where there are still patches of agricultural land that the developers have missed, Janell and several other new farmers at the are learning the art and science of growing through hands-on efforts. Tilth instructors provide extensive small farm business training and support. Here is some of the curriculum:

This program provides: 

• A comprehensive educational program covering farming, business planning, operations and marketing 

• On-site mentorship from experienced farmers

• Hands-on experience growing food on 1/4 acre plots

• Access to farmland, equipment, water and other necessary farming inputs

• Assistance in creating marketing channels for products

Peek through one of Janell’s pink dahlias catch a glimpse of the nasturtiums and Queen Anne’s Lace flourishing beyond.

Each participants’ time and sweat equity yields food or flowers that supply Tilth’s weekly Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions. Janell’s Flower Forest Farm is the only flower grower involved and it’s wonderful to see her beautiful ingredients supplying CSA customers and local farmers’ market shoppers. She manages a one-quarter acre parcel filled with beautiful rows of annuals and gorgeous dahlias.

A young mom, Janell brings an eclectic background to her endeavor. She has experience as a professional interior designer and she has been studying horticulture at South Seattle Communit College (which is where I gained my training in horticulture and landscape design). Janell also worked as an environmental volunteer managing a small rural tree nursery with the Peace Corps in Ghana, West Africa.

Fellow garden blogger Filiz Satir and I visited Seattle Tilth Farm Works in July and walked through the fields on a tour with Janell. You’ll hear Filiz’s voice (and a few of her own questions) on this recording as part of our conversation. See more of my photos below:

The forest looms beyond the Seattle Tilth Farm Works, creating a beautiful setting for growing flowers (and food)

Zinnias on display in straight rows, ready to be harvested.

Another pretty dahlia, one of hundreds that Janell planted this season.

Sweet peas were at their peak when I visited in July, trellised inside the hoop house at Seattle Tilth Farm Works.

Love the dark Opal basil that Janell grows for her mixed CSA and Farmers’ Market bouquets.

Click here to learn more about Tilth’s CSA program, including how to order Janell’s weekly bouquets.

Click here to learn more about Flower Forest Farm’s flowers, bunches, bouquets and custom services.

A lovely table arrangement where the vases seem to blend into the primitive wall mural of Orient, New York . . . as imagined and painted by Skip many years ago.

Last April 2012, I wrote about the beautiful memoir by my late friend Clyde “Skip” Wachsberger.

The book is called Into the Garden With Charles.  It was first published privately by friends of Skip’s (under the guidance of editor and friend Karen Braziller) in December 2010. Farrar, Straus and Giroux published it commercially in early 2012, although Skip did not live to see that event. Read more about the book here.

I have not been able to visit Orient, New York, or see Charles Dean, Skip’s surviving husband, since January 2012, when I traveled there for the memorial service honoring Skip’s life. I love this place and all of the friends I’ve met through these two men. The garden during summertime at Adsworthy, where Skip and Charles made their home, is very special. And for some reason, my trips in recent years were during fall or winter, so I hadn’t toured that verdant place during its peak since 2005 or so. Too long!

Last week I was fortunate to return for a mere 36 hours. It wasn’t nearly enough time, but every moment was filled with wonder, delight, friendship and memories. 

One of the highlights was getting ready for a big, yummy, community dinner prepared by the man Charles has now found to spend his life with. That is Charles’s very personal story to tell, so I won’t say more. I’ll only add that he is now with a dear, charming person and I’m pleased to see Charles so happy.

Skip’s presence is still very much evident in his garden. I was mindful of his exuberant spirit watching over me as I snipped stems, leaves and flowers from uncommon specimens that he originally selected, planted and tended to over the years. The opportunity to create the centerpieces for our wonderful dinner party was all the more special for the connection I felt between those plants and Skip. While the bouquets’ dahlias came from a local flower farm stand and the yellow roses were a gift to Charles from a family friend visiting his sister, artist Frieda Dean, everything else came from Skip’s garden. I relied on his plants for bold and fine foliage, tiny buds, fern fronds and seed heads. Charles supplied the beautiful cut glass urn and two small cream pitchers for the vases. 

Our table sparkled with vintage linens, pottery, silver and stemware. You can see how it looked above.

Here are some more images of the bouquets, in the garden:

A still life with three bouquets, on a vintage cast-iron bench in the garden.

A small glass pitcher looks so beautiful in the dappled light that spills onto an iron garden chair.

The larger vase features all sorts of gorgeous leaves, fronds and stems from Skip’s garden.

I’ll close with one of Skip’s quote about his garden, excerpted from Into the Garden with Charles:

 “I had been presented with a blank canvas, a large one at that. For an artist, this was ideal. I gardened the way I painted: I began with a picture in my mind and then I figured out how to create it. The only difference was that my colors and textures were living beings with a thirst for life; they would grow every which way once I had placed them on the canvas. I had no intention of ever finishing the painting.”

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This week’s podcast features two interviews that I recorded during an 11-day trip to many beautiful venues.It’s my summer vacation gift to you!

Here’s the smiling Miriam Goldberger, surrounded by a sea of golden coreopsis flowers.

I met up with Miriam Goldberger of Wildflower Farm, a fellow author whose forthcoming book Taming Wildflowers promises to educate and inspire those of us in the floral industry.

Confusion about the terms “wildflowers,” “native plants” and “indigineous plants” always raises a red flag for me. I’m never sure what’s okay to grow or harvest and I certainly do not want to pick endangered plant species. Miriam’s mission is to demystify those terms as she singles out 60 flowers and grasses that fall into these categories. These are plants that are adapted to North America and have been since the first Euopean settlers arrived. They can be easily grown from seed and find a home in your garden, flower farm and floral arrangements.

Taming Wildflowers will be published by St. Lynn’s Press in February 2014.

Here’s a little background about how Miriam and her husband Paul Jenkins started Wildflower Farm in 1988:

Founded in 1988, Wildflower Farm began as wholesale dried flower growers. In 1991, Wildflower Farm expanded to become a pick your own flower farm. This quickly attracted the attention of people in Southern Ontario, drawing thousands of people to the farm during the summer months.

Over the years, Miriam and Paul became increasingly interested in the low maintenance advantages of growing native wildflowers. Working with plants that required no watering, no fertilizing and minimal annual maintenance was very attractive. At that time there were very few sources for truly native wildflower seeds and the seeds that were available were very expensive and of dubious quality and origin. Seeing an opportunity, in 1997, Wildflower Farm expanded its focus and has since blossomed into becoming a leading native seed grower supplying hardy, native perennial seeds and site specific wildflower seed mixes to homeowners, landscape contractors, municipalities and corporations.

During this same time, what began as a simple walk in the forest planted a seed in the minds of Miriam and Paul, when they spotted clumps of a rich green grass growing in the deep shade of the northern woods. Perhaps, they thought, these emerald patches could be used as natural grass pathways for their wildflower meadows. Trial and error led to the development of the drought-tolerant, low maintenance turf grass Eco-Lawn™ from a blend of fine fescue grasses, a move which has changed the face of “lawnscaping” for homeowners and businesses across North America.

Wildflower varieties range from Yarrows (Achillea millefolium) and Alliums to Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) and Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea). By the way, she mentioned Parthenium integrifolium, wild quinine — one of her favorite floral ingredients and I thought you’d like to see what it looks like.

Wildflower Farms’ super-cool annual “Wild Quinine” — an uncommon variety favored by Miriam Goldberger.

Miriam’s book, Taming Wilflowers: The Complete Wildflower Cutting Garden Guide, will be published by St. Lynn’s Press in February 2014. Its subtitle is: “From Seed to Vase – Growing, Gardening & Designing with Wildflowers.” You can pre-order her book at the Taming Wildflowers web site here. 

A few days after my conversation with Miriam, I traveled to Saunderstown, Rhode Island, to visit Polly and Mike Hutchison of Robin Hollow Farm. Polly and Mike specialize in flower growing and full-service wedding and event flowers through their floral studio. They fall into that unique category of “farmer-florist,” doing it all beautifully, with passion, artistry and professionalism.

Robin Hollow Farm’s sign at the local farmers’ market stall, surrounded by fresh-picked flowers.

I spent a wonderful 24 hours with these talented flower farmers who welcomed me into their home, shared amazing local seafood with me (thanks Matunuck Oyster Bar!), toured me through their growing fields, let me tag along on flower deliveries and observe the design process. Before I left, we grabbed a few minutes to sit down and talk about their lives and work as organic growers for today’s podcast.  Here’s some background on Polly and Mike: 

At Robin Hollow Farm, a wide range of gorgeous flowers and plants are grown in the fields and greenhouses. Mike and Polly farm using sustainable and/or organic methods on about five acres in Saunderstown, RI, just minutes from Newport and Providence.

Our flowers are grown without chemical pesticides, for our health and yours. Our fields are maintained with our cultivating tractor, our hoes, and mulches for maximum organic effect. We use these flowers at farmers markets, in our events, and for arrangements. Robin Hollow Farm is a proud member of ASCFG , the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Polly is currently President of ASCFG.

Discover and enjoy some of my favorite images from my 24-hour visit with this creative and dynamic couple:

Mike Hutchison (left) chats with Tran. She’s a lettuce and greens grower who has been volunteering at Robin Hollow Farm to learn more about growing flowers.   

READ MORE…

FRUIT AND FLOWERS

Bowls and urns are ideal for low tabletop arrangements. And this vintage silverplate bowl is perfect for summer’s best blooms.

Beauty is in the details here.

Seasonal Choices