Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

We know that there’s been widespread embrace of the Slow Flowers Movement across the world, especially in countries that have seen their flower production move overseas. While the concept of Slow Flowers started right here, the term and philosophy have been adopted and embraced worldwide – and we definitely take credit! It’s inspiring to meet folks across the globe who are bringing local flowers to their communities – and today, you’ll meet Coralie Vinet, an organic flower farmer and farmer-florist in Western France, whose farm I recently visited.

Last week, you joined my visit to the magical place called Mill on the Rock with Tara Kolla, as we discussed her journey from owning Los Angeles-based Silver Lake Farm to her idyllic destination venue in Western France.

And this week, I’m sharing the other stop on that trip – to visit to Les Singulières Ferme Florale and a conversation with organic flower farmer Coralie Vinet.

After fifteen years as a florist working in various craft shops in the Grand-Ouest region of France, Coralie returned to the origins of plants, driven by her human and ecological convictions. She created “Les Singulières” a flower farm in April 2022. Now in her third season, Coralie writes this on her website:

“We cultivate seasonal organic flowers in the Vendée climate, respecting the soil and its biodiversity. Our production technique has a low ecological impact as we produce unique, imperfect and poetic flowers. We offer farm bouquets, naturally composed of wild flowers. Inspired by SLOW FLOWERS, our floral production respects the environment and its resources.”

In this interview, you’ll also hear the voice of Tara Kolla, who both introduced me to Coralie, she also provided French-to-English translation for the interview. Let’s jump right in and get started – and meet Coralie and Tara.

You’ll also find links to details about the upcoming Flower Art Workshop, taking place at Mill on the Rock on September 28th.

The session includes lessons in hand-held bouquet-making, wreath creation and vase composition. Lunch and snacks are included, plus tips for growing your own as well as a flower foraging as you are invited to wander through Tara’s garden at Mill on the Rock. 

If you’re in Europe, it’s just a day’s trip to attend – and I encourage you to check it out!

Find and follow Corlie on Instagram and Facebook

---

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 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.

And 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; Rue Severine
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

When she owned and operated Silver Lake Farms, Tara Kolla was one of Los Angeles’s pioneering urban flower growers.

She helped change legislation to approve backyard flower farming and was a popular vendor at Hollywood Farmers’ Market.

In 2016, Tara and her husband dramatically reimagined their lives and moved to the La Rochelle region of France. They bought a 18^th century stone millhouse and poured just as much love and care into its renovations as Tara had once devoted to growing flowers.

Earlier this month, I visited Mill on the Rock and today, I’m sharing a beautiful conversation to catch up listeners on the next chapter of Tara’s floral story.

Today’s episode is a very special one as we reconnect with former Los Angeles organic flower farmer Tara Kolla – consider this a new installment of our collection of “where are they now?” follow-up shows!

Fans of the Slow Flowers Movement first met Tara in 2012 in the pages of The 50 Mile Bouquet, the little book that launched so much awareness around local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers. I featured Tara in a chapter called “Flower Patch Politics,” profiling Silver Lake Farms, her urban, organic food and floral enterprise. Hers is an inspiring story of transitioning from a career in PR and Marketing in 2003 to become a farmer growing a diversified mix of flowers, organic greens, and vegetables. Tara’s story not only wowed our readers, but wowed her customers across the City of Angels. She became a passionate advocate who revived a 1940s-era “truck gardening” ordinance that neighbors insisted only permitted residential gardeners to sell the excess food they grew – NOT their flowers.

We captured Tara’s story with photography by David Perry, and I’ll share a PDF of the full chapter as a bonus in today’s show notes for you to download and read. In April 2014, Tara also appeared as a guest on the Slow Flowers Podcast, Episode 314.

By then, I was living in Seattle, so I managed to stay in touch with Tara long-distance. She visited us in Seattle once; I visited her in Los Angeles; IG was just taking off, so of course we followed one another – and then, to my surprise, in 2016, Tara posted that she was moving to France! I was enthralled by her story – seemingly ripped from the pages of Peter Mayle’s bestseller, A Year in Provence, about the renovations of an ancient edifice and a new life built around it.

If you followed Tara’s Silver Lake Farms account on IG, you also saw news of her transition to Mill on the Rock. Today, you’re in for a treat because I visited Tara when I was in France earlier this month – and we recorded a laughter-filled episode that continues her amazing tale.

Flowers are (of course) part of the story, and Tara’s upcoming event at Mill on the Rock, a retreat venue in France’s La Rochelle region, is at the heart of it. Learn more about the upcoming Flower Art Workshop, taking place at Mill on the Rock on September 28th.

The session includes lessons in hand-held bouquet-making, wreath creation and vase composition. Lunch and snacks are included, plus tips for growing your own as well as a flower foraging as you are invited to wander through Tara’s garden at Mill on the Rock. If you’re in Europe, it’s just a day’s trip to attend – and I encourage you to check it out!

Stay tuned for next week’s Episode 678 – you’ll want to watch and listen to Slow Flowers Visits France Part Two, and tour Les Singulieres, a French flower farm that Tara took me to. I can’t wait to share it with you!

---

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 Store It Cold, creators of the revolutionary CoolBot, a popular solution for flower farmers, studio florists and farmer-florists. Save $1000s when you build your own walk-in cooler with the CoolBot and an air conditioner. Don’t have time to build your own? They also have turnkey units available. Learn more at storeitcold.com.

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.

---

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; Le Marais
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

What a week. Our last to enjoy the home and garden we’ve occupied for the past four years. Downsizing is wonderfully aspirational, but boy is it a lot of work. In fact, I’m rushing to post this because the Garden Lovers’ Garage Sale resumes in 1-1/2 hours!

But with only 72 hours left before closing on the sale of our nearly 3,500-square-foot home and moving into a not quite 1,200-square-foot apartment (still in Seattle), I had to take a Slow Flowers Challenge “moment” yesterday.

The cause for my joy? These amazing hydrangeas! I inherited numerous hydrangeas from this home and garden’s previous owners, more than a half-dozen. In one shaded corner beneath the fir and cedar trees, there is a trio clustered between the fence and the driveway. Occasional irrigation; otherwise much neglect.

Still, they are glorious come summertime. Look at these iridescent hues ranging from powder blue to French blue to rosy purple. These flowers do not disappoint – even when there are piles of garage sale junk strewn at their feet.

PS, don’t you LOVE this metal carrier? It was designed and custom fabricated by Silver Lake Farms, the urban flower farm based in Los Angeles’s Silver Lake neighborhood, owned by flower maven Tara Kolla. You can read about Tara in a chapter of my book The 50 Mile Bouquet – and at her beautiful web site here.

Tara designed these carriers so she and her crew can harvest flowers, pop them into the jars of water, and bring them to their various sales outlets. One of the most popular is Hollywood Farmers’ Market, where you can find Silver Lake Farms every Sunday, February through July. You can also join Silver Lake’s FLOWER CSA for custom-picked beauties – straight from Tara’s urban growing fields. And, you might get lucky and be able to purchase a carrier. It’s a perfect tool for gardeners and flower farmers alike!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

This week we’re celebrating a huge milestone for this young floral-focused podcast. The first episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast debuted last July. As of this week, more than 10,000 episodes have been downloaded! This is such encouraging news – and I thank YOU for listening and allowing me to share my interviews with influential leaders in flower farming, floral design and other related topics each week.

For the past 10 days, I’ve been teaching, reporting and traveling in California, working my way from south (Los Angeles) to north (Eureka-Arcata) and points between (Carpinteria-Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and SF). Eventually, I’ll get home to Seattle. The excursion has offered me a wonderful chance to sit down for some face-to-face interviews with new guests whose voices you’ll hear on the Slow Flowers Podcast in the coming weeks.

 

The first person I’d like to introduce you to is Tara Kolla, owner of Silver Lake Farms in Los Angeles. We met at her urban farm (ahem. her backyard!) for a little lunch and then turned on the recorder in order for me to catch up on her 10-year career as a flower farmer specializing in organic blooms in all 12 months.

In 2012, when we published The 50 Mile Bouquet, I was delighted to tell Tara’s story of flower farming, despite many odds, in the heart of Los Angeles.

The narrative began in 2004, when Tara left her career in public relations and marketing to follow her dream to be an organic urban farmer. She planted sweet peas in her half-acre backyard and sold the fragrant flowers by the bunch at her local farmers’ market.

 

In doing so, she never expected to become the poster child of the city’s urban farming movement.  I called the chapter “Flower Patch Politics,” and shared her tale of tenacity and passion as she endured an enforced shut-down from LA’s Department of Building and Safety.

 

That experience lasted nearly two years and involved Tara’s work to reverse an obscure 1946 “truck gardening” law that limited residential farms to only the cultivation of vegetables for off-site sale – not flowers. 

Facing fines, jail time or a costly legal battle to obtain a land-use variance, Tara dug in her heels and decided to lobby for a change to the ordinance.

“I didn’t want to lose, give in or submit,” she says. Tara’s fierce belief in justice helped sustain her during a yearlong fight for what became known as the Food & Flowers Freedom Act, although she acknowledges that it took a toll on her physically, emotionally and financially.

Yet Tara feels grateful for the wave of support from her community, including longtime Silver Lake Farmers’ Market customers and fellow urban farming activists.

The media thrust Tara into the role as spokesperson for everything from sustainable agriculture to the plight of the small family farm.

Ultimately victorious, she’s been back in the business of growing flowers for several channels of distribution for nearly four years. Tara’s story is a huge inspiration and you’ll find its happy ending heavily seasoned with reality. We’ll discuss that in today’s podcast as we cover everything from diversification, branding, marketing and the future plans for Silver Lake Farms and its bountiful, healthy, organic and fresh flowers.

Here’s an overview (from Tara’s web site) of her flower farm and its many offerings. Take note of the links to various locations and social media platforms where you can find Silver Lake Farms’ flowers:

Silver Lake Farms was started in 2004 by Tara Kolla in the back yard of her home.

We now grow more than 100 different kinds of organic flowers and greens on less than an acre in Silver Lake and Glassell Park – so close to Downtown LA!

Typically our season begins with layers and layers of soft pastel petals in deep violets, blues and pinks. From late Jan to Mother’s Day: delicate dreamy ranunculus, anemones, and oh so fragrant sweet peas. Spring covers the field with antique wildflowers, adding an air of romance to our palette, and a delicate, natural touch: larkspur, Queen Anne’s lace, soft grasses, airy branches…

From Summer to Fall, it’s all about passion, texture, drama! Velvety, papery, tassely forms saturated in color: cockscomb, amaranths, strawflowers. But the Summer season’s main protagonist has to be, of course, the dahlia.  Who can resist our Cafe Au Laits?….

We grow everything naturally, employing biological, organic and sustainable farming practices, without chemicals or pesticides. This way, our flowers are stronger, more vivid in color, longer lasting and richer in depth of tone and fragrance.

You can purchase our flowers in a number of ways.  We’re at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market every Sunday from 8am-1pm. We’re there from February 1 thru October 31st.

Our flowers are also available through our Flower CSA, through FarmboxLA,GoodEggsLA, and on the first Saturday of every month we pop up outside Valerie Echo Park.

Love our blooms? We do floral design for weddings and private parties.  For more information, contact flowers@silverlakefarms.com

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

“For a truly sustainable event, think about what’s on the table, not just what’s on the plate.” 

Because of the support from you and others, listeners have downloaded episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast more than 10,000  times! I thank you for taking the time to join to my conversations with flower farmers, florists and other notable floral experts.

If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

Until next week please join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. 

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about her work at hhcreates.net. 

 

 

 

 

 

The editors at Sunset asked me to update the story about Tara Kolla, Los Angeles-based flower farmer, urban farming advocate and owner of Silver Lake Farms. In The 50 Mile Bouquet, she is profiled on pages 47-49 in a story called “Flower Patch Politics.”

It was great to have an opportunity to reconnect with Tara and learn about what she’s been up to since we visited her last November. It was no surprise to discover that Tara is up to her ears in beautiful blooms, selling them at farmer’s markets and fulfilling custom orders for regular clients who love her organic approach.

As these things go with magazines, my interview with Tara was completely rewritten into a narrative format. You can see the published piece it above, or on page 18 of the June 2012 issue, on newsstands now.

But there is a lot to learn from this talented woman. And so here, since space is not an issue, is our original Q&A:

ONE TO WATCH

Flower Patch Politics

In 2009, when Los Angeles officials shut down Tara Kolla’s backyard flower farm, citing a 1940s truck gardening ordinance that limited off-site sales of homegrown crops to vegetables, not blooms, she joined forces with fellow urban farmers to fight back. Passionate about sweet peas and the many other flowers she grows, Tara and her supporters successfully changed the city’s policy – and now the spunky owner of Silver Lake Farms has returned to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market where you can find her every Sunday selling bountiful, organic and seasonal bouquets. Her advice for other urban flower farmers:

What has been the response of your customers to your policy fight?

Some customers think I’m new because I’ve just returned to the market. Those aware of my struggle are delighted for me. It makes them feel good that L.A.’s politicians used common sense to change an antiquated law. Flower fans are now begging me to come to Santa Monica Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays – I hope that happens soon.

How might other would-be flower growers address their own community’s rules, if they face similar restrictions?

My issue was not about growing flowers, but about being prevented from selling them off-site! If someone’s facing similar opposition, I suggest creating a support group – we called ours Urban Farming Advocates. Request a meeting with local officials and be prepared with evidence as to why urban farming is advantageous for the community and why cities should support and encourage urban farmers.

Do you think the updated truck gardening ordinance means more floral variety at local L.A. farmers’ markets?

Eventually, but it is all dependent on land, time and money. I never thought I’d get rich doing this and I continue to run other facets of my gardening business to support myself, including a CSA and designing organic vegetable gardens.

On the zoning front, what still needs to be done in L.A. to support local farmers?                                           

We need backyard beekeeping to be legalized — for ensuring that food crops have pollinators and for producing organic honey. We also need home-based farm stands, meaning you could sit outside your house at a table and chair and sell your garden’s extra oranges or avocados to passersby. Kids and their lemonade stands are legal, but a farm stand with flowers, fruits or vegetables is not.

Could you argue that L.A. hasn’t kept up with other cities in the west when it comes to nurturing urban farming?

No, I think L.A. does care, but it needs to get some codes sorted out. For example, I also grow micro greens. I can sell them to chefs who shop at the farmers’ market, but I can’t go direct to restaurants because then the health department has to get involved. This is new ground and we still have some archaic laws that don’t make sense for today. 

What flower variety do you think is going to be the next big thing at farmers’ markets?

In terms of a cut flower, I think it’s cotton. I first saw cotton in the flower markets in Paris. It’s not just white; you can find cotton in sea mist green or light tan – and they look great in mixed bouquets.

–Debra Prinzing