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Back by popular demand, we’re hosting Johnny’s Seeds’ floral experts, Joy Longfellow and Hillary Alger, who will introduce some of Johnny’s Selected Seeds’ 40-plus new flower seed varieties for 2025! Hillary and Joy take us behind the scenes to learn more about the dazzling selections of floral varieties and mixes for 2025 – from the subtle to the vibrant, including four NEW introductions — straight from Johnny’s Exclusive Breeding Program. And learn from our bonus guest, Johnny’s Senior Plant Breeder Lindsay Wyatt, who discusses what it takes to select and breed gorgeous new petal palettes and bring them to market!

It’s that time of year again, when the seed catalogs arrive and as the winter solstice takes place in a few days, we turn our dreams to our 2025 cutting gardens and flower farms. Today’s show is a follow up to Slow Flowers Podcast Episode 640 from December of 2023, about one year ago, when Hillary Alger and Joy Longfellow unveiled Johnny’s Selected Seeds’ new flower seed varieties for 2024. The replay video of that show been viewed more than 5,000 times on YouTube – it was our most popular episode of 2024.

But I’m delighted to report that there’s even more exciting flower seed news for 2025, and that’s the topic of today’s show, with return guests Hillary and Joy. Hillary has more than 13 years of experience on Johnny’s Seeds’ research team, currently serving as the Product Manager for flowers and herbs, and Joy is the Flower Team Technician at Johnny’s, managing every aspect of Johnny’s flower trialing program. As a bonus, Lindsay Wyatt, their collaborator in new flower seed breeding, joins in the presentation to explain all about the “recurrent selection” method of breeding.

This episode covers some gorgeous and vigorous new introductions that the flower team has trialed, evaluated, and curated for 2025 — including agrostemma, China aster, snapdragon, strawflower, celosia, pansy and viola, and lisianthus. But what’s more exciting than that are the four new Johnny’s introductions from the breeding program that began in 2016. You’ll get to meet three lovely new zinnia introductions — Aurora, Agave, and Ballerina — and one beautiful new celosia mix called Shimmer.

Let’s jump right in and welcome the talented floral team from Johnny’s. Learn why their favorite standouts are worth considering!

More Resources:
Follow Johnny’s Seeds on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/johnnys_seeds/

Hillary Alger
https://www.instagram.com/hillaryalger/

Joy Longfellow
https://www.instagram.com/joyatjohnnys/

Lindsay Wyatt
https://www.instagram.com/lindsay564/

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Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit 2025

And we’re just three weeks away from the Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit, so now is the time to grab your ticket! The SLOW FLOWERS WORLDWIDE SUMMIT takes place online – January 9-11, 2025 – and you will enjoy 15 hours of amazing floral education from Slow Flowers experts. Check out the details at slowflowerssummit.com. Slow Flowers members receive $50 off their registration!

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.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 Red Twig Farms. Based in New Albany, Ohio, Red Twig Farms is a family-owned farm specializing in peonies, daffodils, tulips and branches, a popular peony-bouquet-by-mail program and their Spread the Hope Campaign where customers purchase 10 tulip stems for essential workers and others in their community. Learn more at redtwigfarms.com.

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.

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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

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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; Turning on the Lights; A Pleasant Strike
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

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I’m so happy today to focus our attention on what’s happening in the Slow Flowers world of floral wholesale.

I’ve heard from a number of you around the U.S. who are in various stages of exploration, evaluation or actual planning to create a hub around local flowers in your marketplace.

Yet it’s easier said than done and there are several models to consider. There is the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market example — a true producers’ cooperative with the straightforward motto: farm to florist.

And there are groups of farmers who join together to sell collectively, such as Fair Field Flowers in the Milwaukie-Madison, Wisconsin area, which has a farmer-fun shared sales & delivery service.

Today’s two guests and their businesses are based on a single ownership or partnership that operates for the good of the community, but these are certainly not co-ops.

You’ll hear from Christine Hoffman, founder of the new Twin Cities Flower Exchange, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and from Nichole Skalski, partner in Sonoma Flower Mart, based in Sebastopol, California. Both are past guests of this podcast and both have updates to share.

First up, I’m excited to reintroduce you to Christine Hoffman, owner of Foxglove, a floral design studio that evolved from her successful retail store Foxglove Marketplace. Christine was a guest of this podcast about two years ago when I visited her in St. Paul after being part of Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art in Bloom program.

Since closing her retail store, Christine has continued to design and teach. Her website sums up her philosophy beautifully. She writes:

As the Twin Cities first exclusively local and chemical-free florist, Foxglove is more than just a flower studio. I am a slow flowers advocate striving to form a strong community of sustainable flower farmers, small business owners, and folks who care about supporting these mindful endeavors. By providing a local, sustainable option to traditional flowers, putting a premium on collaboration, and reaching out to the community, I hope to foster change.

Hear from Christine about her new venture, which will bring regional flowers to Twin Cities Flower Exchange every week . . . housed at The Good Acre, a nonprofit organic food hub that incubates local food businesses — and NOW, local flowers! Watch Christine’s social feeds for images of opening day, June 7th.

Here’s how to follow along on her journey.

Find Foxglove/Twin Cities Flower Exchange on Facebook

Follow Foxglove/Twin Cities Flower Exchange on Instagram

Discover Foxglove/Twin Cities Flower Exchange on Pinterest

Check out Foxglove/Twin Cities Flower Exchange on Twitter

READ MORE…

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Before I introduce you to today’s inspiring guest, Megan McGuire of Red Daisy Farm outside Denver, I want to share more details about the upcoming Slow Flowers Creative Workshop that I’ll be co-teaching with Dundee Butcher of Russian River Flower School in Sonoma’s wine country — Monday, October 17th and Tuesday, October 18th.

This valuable workshop experience is designed to help you clarify, document and communicate your personal aesthetic message as a floral professional – in both written and visual formats suitable for your web site, social media and mobile platforms.

In a safe, supportive and intimate setting, our small group will focus on YOU! We’ll go deep into Slow Flowers “brand building” as each participant finds his or her own voice as a floral storyteller. If you’ve been thinking about investing in your businesses’ future, now is the time to sign up.

Now, I’m so pleased to return, at least in my memory, to Colorado. I spent several days in the Rocky Mountain State during the month of August, visiting flower farms, meeting talented designers and seeing their work, and recording several interviews.

Today’s conversation is the third in my Colorado series, so if you missed the interview with Denver floral designer Robyn Rissman and her collaborator Alicia Schwede — the design team that created the Field to Vase Dinner flowers at The Fresh Herb Co., or if you missed the recent interview with Don Lareau and Daphne Yannakakis of Zephyros Farm and Garden, here are the links to those episodes:

Episode 260: Blooming in Colorado with Robyn Rissman of BareRoot Flora and Alicia Schwede of Bella Fiori Floral Design and Flirty Fleurs

Episode 262: Luxury flowers on Colorado’s Western Slope with Daphne Yannakakis and Don Lareau of Zephyros Farm & Garden

For years, Megan McGuire and her husband Terry Baumann had their eyes on a charming early 20th century farmhouse in Brighton, Colorado, just outside Denver. By the time that they finally became the owners, it seems as if the Red Daisy Farmhouse possesses them – but in a good way, a very good way.

Meg is a Slowflowers.com member and we’ve corresponded for nearly a year about my wanting to visit her if I returned to Colorado.

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