Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

Wondering what’s NEXT in your portfolio of floral products and services? Today’s topic – the art and business of flower pressing — promises to inspire you. I’m thrilled to share our recent November Slow Flowers Meet-Up with Kate Punnett, who’s based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is a pressed flower artist dedicated to sustainability and she crafts custom pressed floral art, greeting cards and fine art with botanicals she grows and sources from fellow farmers. Her studio, The August Press, also creates professional-grade flower presses inspired by the timeless art of pressing flowers – listen and watch to learn more about her techniques and how you can get started pressing flowers in your own studio.

A few weeks ago, we held November’s Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up, a virtual Zoom gathering that showcases experts among our community who generously share their talents and knowledge with fellow Slow Flowers Members. Our session featured Ottawa-based floral artist Kate Punnett, owner of The August Press. As a longtime specialty cut flower grower who has spent the past several years perfecting her personal flower pressing technique, Kate now sells original and digitized pressed flower artwork, takes commissions, sells her custom-designed presses, and teaches others about the wonders and joys of pressing the flower we love.

It felt like a great time of year – especially for those of us who want to slow down and explore a new facet of our lives in flowers — and I invited Kate to lead this session. Flower pressing is an age-old practice. Think about placing a violet in the pages of a thick dictionary – and months later discovering its perfect, papery form! Kate is pushing the methods and elevating the art form far beyond dictionary pressing.

This is definitely one of our Podcast episodes that calls for you to click over to our show notes at slowflowerspodcast.com to find the video link – in which you’ll watch Kate demonstrate some of the techniques she employs. It is especially cool to see how Kate breaks down thick buds and blooms like roses and sunflowers so they can press flat, and to learn how she utilizes a bloom or stem’s most natural angles, much as you might observe them growing in the garden. SO much to consider and I’m delighted to share our conversation with you today!

You will also see more photography of Kate’s pressed florals and products, including her new version of the Handbook for the Pressed Floral Artist, a digital guide that you can order online for a modest investment.

Follow The August Press on Instagram

Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit 2025

In more news, if you’re listening to this episode when it drops on Wednesday, November 27^th, it’s time to take advantage of our Black Friday through Cyber Monday ticket promotion for the upcoming Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit, taking place online in the New Year – January 9-11^th.

That’s right, starting this Friday, November 29^th through Monday, December 2^nd, we are rolling back the Summit ticket prices to our $50 off introductory Early-Bird rate. And remember, Slow Flowers members always receive an additional $50 off their ticket purchase as a member benefit. Check out the link in our show notes, or click on the bio in our IG account — @slowflowerssociety, or visit slowflowerssummit.com. Enjoy fifteen hours of online education from some of the top floral experts in the Slow Flowers community and I hope to see you there!

Bonus Episode

By way of previewing our amazing speakers, we just posted a bonus to today’s episode — an encore interview I recorded in 2015 with Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement, based in Yorkshire England. You can find that Episode 692-Bonus in our show notes and on any platform where you subscribe to the Slow Flowers Podcast. There is a gallery of more than 60 beautiful images from Sarah’s world and I know it will inspire you to learn more in the days leading up to her presentation for the Slow Flowers Summit.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowersdot.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.

Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.

Thank you to the 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.

Thank you to 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.

I’m so glad you joined us today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one million 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 our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. 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. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I’ll see you next week!

Music Credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Tall Harvey
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue

Lovely
by Tryad 
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Field
audionautix.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

Hello everyone, Debra Prinzing here from the Slow Flowers Podcast. I hope you have been following along for the past few months as we have been posting Instagram live conversations with our amazing Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit speakers.

Today, I have a fun conversation to share and it will introduce you (or possibly re-introduce you) to Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement, who is based in the north of England in the Yorkshire region. Sarah will be one of our 15 inspiring presenters at the 2025 Summit, taking place January 9-11, 2025. Her presentation: Creating a Workshop Destination for Flower Lovers will share more about how Simply by Arrangement has become a must-visit venue for floral enthusiasts around the world – I can’t wait for you to attend and learn more!

In 2015, I was so fortunate to visit this beautiful, history-rich area as Sarah’s guest. Home to the Brontë sisters, and the beautiful RHS Harlow-Carr Botanic Garden, the architecture and landscape took my breath away. Sarah’s design studio and cutting garden are the source of all the incredible, natural beauty that she shares with followers around the globe who love her @simplybyarrangement feed on Instagram.

Sarah and her husband James, often called “Mister Simply” in her IG posts, were exceedingly generous hosts for my mom and me. We met many other flower farmers, including Gillian Hodgson, founder of Flowers from the Farm, who organized my entire itinerary and brought together the local flower farmers for me to meet while enjoying high tea.

It was an unforgettable visit, and today I’m sharing the encore replay of my 2015 podcast interview with Sarah. This is from Episode 198 – originally posted on June 16, 2015. I know you’ll enjoy the conversation as Sarah tells me how she left a stressful legal career for a life in flowers. In it, she refers to Christie Buchanan, her original business partner in Simply by Arrangement. When she launched Simply by Arrangement, Sarah’s original vision paired excellent food with seasonal flowers. Christie (aka Mrs. B.), prepared exquisite menus for workshop guests, and when I met her, I was smitten by both the woman and her handcrafted savory and sweet dishes. Now, Mrs. B. is busy with young grandbabies, so Sarah draws provisions from other cooks and chefs.

I reunited with Sarah in 2022 when I attended two days of floral workshops at the Cambo Estate outside Saint Andrews, Scotland. You can find the PDF of my story from the Fall 2022 issue of Slow Flowers Journal (below), to read and learn more about Simply by Arrangement:

Please Join Us at the Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit!

This year’s online Worldwide Summit is our first ever, inviting attendees to join us from across the international Slow Flowers Movement. Inspired by the great success of the previous seven live, in-person conferences, Slow Flowers Society is staging an expansive and inclusive Slow Flowers Summit for attendees across the globe!

This event will take place over three days early in the New Year – perfectly timed for floral professionals and flower lovers to fill their toolboxes with skills and techniques, and to uplift their goals and ambitions for the coming season.

Join Slow Flowers’ doers and thinkers for three days of progressive ideas, connections and inspiration – online! – January 9-11, 2025. Registration is now open!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement, based in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, U.K.

Welcome to our second episode celebrating British Grown Flowers. It’s timely because this is British Flowers Week in the UK, where flower farmers, florists, retailers and wholesalers across the country join forces to raise awareness among consumers and the media about the renaissance of their domestic floral industry. Take note, because we’ve got big plans here at Slow Flowers to launch American Flowers Week very soon.

My guest today is more than just a professional contact. I’ve gotten to know her and spend time in her home and community and I’m so happy to call Sarah Statham a personal friend.

Here’s the web site for “Simply by Arrangement,” the flowers-and-food workshop business that Sarah and Christie launched after careers as criminal prosecutors.

Hoo Hole House in Hebden Bridge, a centuries-old restored stone manor and HQ for Sarah’s flower-filled world.

It was lovely to meet Gill Hodgson face-to-face after our long-distance friendship! She is as committed to putting British flowers on the map as I am about doing the same with American grown flowers.

Sarah and I were introduced virtually by British flower farmer Gill Hodgson of Flowers from the Farm, a UK-based organization of flower farmers and florists promoting British flowers. You may have listened to my podcast interview with Gill last year.

When I knew I would be traveling to England last month, I reached out to Gill and suggested that I schedule a visit to Yorkshire, where her farm is based.

As it turned out, Gill and Sarah teamed up to create an entire itinerary for me and my mother Anita, my traveling companion.

Sarah and her husband James Reader opened the doors to their home to invite us to stay for three amazing, flower-filled days.

Their generosity blew us away, and beyond that, Sarah made sure that we met many others in the local floral community.

Tea at Harlow Carr, hosted by the flower famers and florists of Yorkshire.

Unforgettable – the best English afternoon tea I’ve ever enjoyed!

A highlight was a gathering and full-on British afternoon tea at the RHS Harlow-Carr Botanical Garden in Harrowgate. Forty kindred spirits gathered to listen to my short presentation about Slow Flowers and the American Grown flower movement, but I have to say that what I learned from them in return was so valuable.

That afternoon we tagged along for one of the photo shoots of the Yorkshire community of growers and designers, all part of the PR campaign to coincide with British Flowers Week.

The Yorkshire flower farmers commissioned the very talented Sarah Mason whose images of Yorkshire-grown flowers, flower farmers and florists have been showcased on this blog all week.

On our last morning together, I turned on the recorder to interview Sarah about her own business, as well as about her British Flowers Week activities.

Sarah, the flower maven.

You’ll hear me refer to the fact that we are seated in a cottage in the Cotswolds and just to explain, Sarah and James brought my mom and me with them for the first day of their week-long vacation in a charming village called Snowshill. Yet another amazing bonus of this visit and of their hospitality.

The co-creator of Simply by Arrangement, which she started two years ago with Christie Buchanan, Sarah Statham is a floral designer and educator based in Hebden Bridge, in Yorkshire.

Christie calls herself a cook, but having eaten her delicious food, I’d say she’s a chef extraordinaire.

Christie, the food goddess.

Their artisan flower and food business. pairs floral workshops with delicious food, which easily turns the educational aspect of a day playing with flowers into an entire luxury experience.

Simply by Arrangement also provide flowers and food for private clients as well as flowers for larger events and weddings.

Sarah grows many of our flowers used in her own beautiful cutting garden (which, by the way, the bedroom in which I slept conveniently overlooked).

Christie sources her menu ingredients locally from farms in Lancashire, where she is based.

I know you’ll enjoy my conversation with Sarah and please follow Simply by Arrangement at these social places.

Simply by Arrangement on Facebook

Simply by Arrangement on Twitter

Simply by Arrangement on Instagram

A Simply by Arrangement floral design workshop in full swing.

Sweet treats from Mrs. B.

And if you find yourself in the UK, a Simply by Arrangement Workshop that feeds your creativity and tempts your palate is certainly in order.

Sarah and Christie would love to include you at the table.

After wrapping up our interview Sarah and I continued to chat about the similarities in our philosophies.

I asked her to write something for me to use at the close of this podcast relating to how she uses British flowers in her work, and here is an excerpt:

We would dearly love to use British flowers for all of our work. Sadly, maybe because British flower growers have yet to be able to match supply with demand there aren’t always the quantities available and also the British climate does mean that in winter months supplies of cut flowers are relatively limited as are the varieties available especially in our more Northern parts. 

Our philosophy is this: locally grown flowers are our first choice always. We grow some unusual varieties ourselves but don’t yet grow as many as we need. We are lucky to have some amazing Yorkshire growers relatively nearby and they are the ones who we go to first. 

Next will be a grower in Cheshire ( but that demands a 3 hour journey which is well worth it as her flowers are of such high quality ).   

We also have a supplier in Cornwall called Flowers by Clowance, who is reliable and sends supplies by Fed Ex. During winter months we do have to obtain more flowers from the flower market although we still have some supplies from Cornwall. We look forward to the day when the British flower growing market is back to full strength and can meet our needs and hope that the ‘quiet revolution’ in British flowers will give the growers confidence to produce more quantities. Our workshops through spring and summer to around October are British flower based. 

What I have tried to do at workshops is to show our attendees the real difference between locally grown flowers which haven’t been ‘traumatised’ by transportation from abroad and haven’t been grown in ‘battery farm like’ conditions and so I will have a small selection of non British flowers available for comparison. I can say without doubt that everyone always goes for the locally grown varieties. I think I mentioned the lady a couple of weeks ago who has vowed never to buy supermarket flowers again and who I have put in touch with a local grower in her area and who is already buying from her. 

I have to be completely honest though, there are times when a bride might have her heart set on roses and they are not available here. Whilst I will always try and steer our brides towards seasonally grown ( and thus British) flowers, sometimes it just isn’t possible. 

A quiet vignetter at Hoo Hole House caught my eye. Even the utilitarian is treated as a thing of beauty through Sarah’s eyes.

This description sounds so familiar to what I hear from florists and designers here in the U.S. I applaud transparency but I also want to respect that people have to make tough choices as small business owners.

At Slow Flowers I want to support anyone who engages with American grown flowers at any level, while also encouraging them to strive toward 100% American grown flowers as the ultimate goal. And I hope to be a resource to help equip those who make such choices.

A jam jar filled with Yorkshire-grown flowers, part of the decor at the Tea.

Thanks again for joining me today for another wonderful conversation.

Yes, I am devoted to celebrating American flowers and the designers and farmers who are changing this entire industry for the better.

But as I said last week, I’m also thrilled to introduce you to ways we can borrow ideas and inspiration from places like the U.K., where many parallels occur between our two marketplaces.

Next week is our 100th podcast and you will hear from an established American flower farmer with a long history and deep Midwest roots, and where one doesn’t always expect to find year-round blooms.

Listeners like you have downloaded this podcast more than 52,000 times. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

Until next week please 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.

A classic Land Rover embellished in British-grown flowers in the countryside of Yorkshire! (c) Sarah Mason of Sarah Mason Photography

To help you find the Yorkshire region of the UK, check out this map

Day Two of British Flowers Week begins with photos taken by the very talented Sarah Mason, a photographer I met when visiting the U.K. last month and whose work simply captures the wild and beautiful character of the region I visited: Yorkshire/Northeast U.K.

These are just part of the evocative images created to promote the variety of British-grown flowers cultivated and grown by Flowers from the Farm members in that region. Many of the wonderful Yorkshire/Northeast flower farmers and florists I met and spent time with contributed behind the scenes to bring the Land Rover Defender setting to life.

Fiona (left) and Sarah (right), look pretty happy as they decorated and designed a classic Land Rover Defender. (c) Sarah Mason

They include Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement (she’s also tomorrow’s Slow Flowers Podcast guest – stay tuned), and Fiona Pickles of Firenza Floral Design.

The idea of using a Land Rover Defender, says Sarah, “is really just because I have been daydreaming for some time about stuffing a Land Rover full of flowers in a more aesthetic way than I usually do day to day.”

I’m laughing as I transcribe this comment from her last email because, of course, like most florists, the “stuffing” part means loading buckets and buckets of flowers into the back of a car – NOT under the hood, right?!

Sarah drove us around in a Land Rover, which seems to be the official vehicle of UK flower farmers and florists. And she adds: “The Land Rover Defender is quintissentially British. Sadly it has no connections with Yorkshire other than the fact a lot of the growers drive them.We need them here in winter.”

Is this dreamy or what? (c) Sarah Mason

A man, his dogs and his Land Rover (oh, and a field’s-worth of Yorkshire-grown flowers) (c) Sarah Mason

The design process was in itself a beautiful exercise, right? Here’s Holly Marsden, a design intern who volunteered on the project. (c) Sarah Mason

The setting: Hardcastle Crags, a National Trust area located just north of Hebden Bridge, the village where Sarah hosted my mother Anita and me for several delightful days.
The model: James (who I’m told doubles as a web designer)
The whippets: Flo and Ruby
The designers: Sarah, Fiona and design apprentice Holly Marsden
The photographer: Sarah Mason, Sarah Mason Photography

And this is what our friends at British Flowers Week, aka London’s New Covent Garden Flower Market, have created for Day Two of the campaign. Thanks to Liz Anderson and Helen Evans for sharing!

Hattie Fox of That Flower Shop (c) Julian Winslow

A wild bouquet by Hattie Fox of That Flower Shop (c) Julian Winslow

Please enjoy the work of the fabulous young florist Hattie Fox of That Flower Shop in Shoreditch, in which she plays with British foliage, the unsung hero of floristry. Hattie has created three gloriously free and wild floral designs exclusively for British Flowers Week.

Her style lends itself naturally to British flowers and foliages, where no two stems are the same and where seasonality is everything. Hattie has an extraordinary feel for color and texture and passion for British foliage.

Hattie’s design above is wild and loose and overflowing with locally-grown nepeta, delphinium, astrantia, ox-eye daisies, foxgloves, stocks and peonies, offset by the green tones of hornbeam, cotoneaster, a hint of silver eucalyptus, and the yellow pop of euonymous and golden privet.

“Warming up a Riot” a vase of British Blooms (c) Julian Winslow

Above: White leaf (sorbus), eucalyptus, variegated euonymous, cotoneaster and rosemary frame this low retro ceramic vase. The warm tones of deep ruby red peonies, cornflowers, astrantia, sweet William, valerian and allium bulgaricum lift to coral sweet peas and soft lilac allium.

A tall jug of foliage – and more (c) Julian Winslow

Above: A tall blush-pink enamelware jug struggles to contain a profusion of lush foliage and vibrant flower stems. Arching branches of hornbeam, prunus, golden privet, and purple beech share the billing with delphiniums, foxgloves, stocks, alliums, peonies, and nepeta.

Read more about That Flower Shop here.

Read more about British Foliage here.

The Garden Shop at Petersham Nurseries

Lovely spring urn with heuchera, ferns and more.

After a harrowing taxi ride (one hour for 12 miles?) from London, my mom and I arrived on Wednesday at Petersham Nurseries. And once we discovered what was inside the gates, we concluded that our 40 pound fare was totally worth it!

We took the journey in order to meet up with Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement, an up-until-now virtual flower friend, who had invited us to spend a few days with her in Yorkshire.

She was also in London for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and made the brilliant suggestion that we use Petersham as a meeting place before driving to Hebden Bridge, where she lives and designs flowers (and more on that later!).

Petersham Nurseries dates to the 1970s when it was a local garden center carved out of the Petersham House estate.

After years of neglect, the nursery reopened in 2004 after extensive restorations by Gael & Francesco Boglione, the current owners of Petersham House.

Plant displays on old carts – what’s more perfect?

Foxgloves galore! It is spring, after all.

Lunch at Petersham Nursery: pea-and-mint soup with tomato and burrata salad.

Beautiful garden furniture, gifts, tableware and antiques can now be found amongst the plants which adorn the vintage glass greenhouses.

In a ramshackle wooden teahouse we found delicious pastries and homemade cakes (as well as lunch!).

There is also a popular restaurant to which I would love to return some day.

This is a thoroughly charming destination not far from London.

It has history, an obviously talented team of horticulturists, beautiful plants and that timeless character you can’t get in the U.S.

The cutting garden, where we met up with Caroline and Rosie. This lovely long raised bed supplies flowers for Petersham House, as well as the Restaurant and Cafe.

Sarah planned a huge surprise for us – a private tour of the Petersham House grounds. Her friend Caroline is gardening here as a volunteer, working alongside Rosie, who is the genius behind many of the landscape plantings you see in these images.

Not much more to say than this: Please gaze upon the beauty of a 150-foot-long English garden double-border in May. Few can replicate this, due to lack of time, money, or land – but please feel free to borrow a few ideas for your own patch! And if you will be in London on June 7th, you can visit the private grounds of Petersham House as part of the National Gardening Scheme charitable program.

Petersham House, as seen from the long border.

The glorious Petersham double border. Sublime!