CELEBRATING THE SEASON | FALL 2024 FARM MEETS FLORAL
CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS BOTANICAL JEWELRY
CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS BOTANICAL JEWELRY
NORTH FORK FLOWER FARM
NORTH FORK FLOWER FARM
FROM THE HEART FLOWER FOLLY FARM
FROM THE HEART FLOWER FOLLY FARM
SL OW FLOWERS SUMMIT OH, CANADA!
SL OW FLOWERS SUMMIT OH, CANADA!
FARM MEETS
hARVEST+ h
OLIDAYS
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Debra Prinzing
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Robin Avni
COPY EDITOR
Brenda Silva
CONTRIBUTORS
Erica Browne Grivas, Brooke Palmer, Janet Schuhl
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Alex Austin, Niesha Blancas, Nathan Bobey, Anne Bradfield, Emily Gude, Fausel Imagery, Tonneli Gruetter, Matt McDaniel, Kevin Perry, Janet Schuhl, Maura Whalen
ON THE COVER
Seen through the door of a vintage glass greenhouse, a sweetheart table is festooned with autumn flowers and foliage, all Oregon-grown. The vignette was designed and styled by Kelly Shore of The Floral Source, Jennifer Reed of Jennifer Designs Events, and their students during a recent Holiday Designs & Décor Workshop hosted by Continental Floral Greens.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.
seasonal vibes.
Consider this fall edition of Slow Flowers Journal a seasonal gathering of ideas and inspiration that will enhance your floral endeavors. We’re thrilled to showcase both harvest and holiday design ideas that incorporate locally grown botanicals, produced by two Slow Flowers members (Kelly Shore of The Floral Source and Jennifer Reed of Jennifer Designs Events), during a late September-early October workshop, including our beautiful cover look workshop, and the above design.
Award-winning journalist Erica Browne Grivas shares a profile of North Fork Flower Farm on New York’s Long Island, which she recently visited, and two members contribute new ideas for your farm, shop, or studio. In “The Business of Flowers,” Brooke Palmer of Jenny Creek Flowers shares how and why she’s embraced winter tulip production. In her “From the Heart” essay, Janet Schuhl of Flower Folly Farm writes about her heartwarming floral workshops for a local community of seniors.
We’re diving deep into lily cultivation with some new resources for you, too. Srini Perera of Kreative Hands plays with botanical accessories to stimulate your creativity. We’ve also collected a sweet and satisfying roundup of inspiring installations and brand activations produced by members around the country. Autumn is always a time for gratitude and reflection, and we are so happy you’re here.
MATT
ERICA BROWNE GRIVAS Erica is an award-winning journalist and lifelong gardener who explores the interplay between people and nature, aiming to help both be happier and healthier. Her features appear in Horticulture, The American Gardener, and Better Homes and Gardens, and she writes garden and wellness columns for several Washington newspapers. Erica studied Landscape Design at The New York Botanical Garden. Based in Seattle, she is a content consultant for Pacific Horticulture and serves as a Western director for Garden Communicators International. @ebgrivas
MATT MCDANIEL. Matt is the owner, lead photographer, and cinematographer at Matty Photo & Motion, a photo and film company based in Tacoma. His 20-plus year career has created a vast body of work, which has powered campaigns for over 100 companies ranging from television commercials, video series, magazines, billboards, and websites. The majority of his work is commercial-focused but he still enjoys the personal side of things, offering his high-end commercial chops for families and students. mattyphotography.com @mattyphoto
BROOKE PALMER. Brooke is the owner and flower farmer at Jenny Creek Flowers, a small flower farm in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. Brooke farms seasonal blooms from January through October, specializing in wintergrown tulips that bring beauty and joy to her community during the colder months. In addition to fresh-cut flowers, Jenny Creek Flowers offers guests opportunities to connect with the beauty of flowers and foliage through on-site workshops.
jennycreekflowers.com @jennycreekflowers
JANET SCHUHL. Janet is the owner of Flower Folly Farm based in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. After she retired as a high school teacher, her interest in floral design grew. She trained at Longwood Gardens and completed all the classes in floral design. “I realized I wanted to practice designing with interesting plant material and discovered that the most economical way to do that was to grow my own flowers,” she explains. That is how Flower Folly Farm began in 2019. flowerfollyfarm.com @flowerfollyfarm
ON LOCATION spotted. slow flowers members bring local blooms to distinctive collaborations 6
FLORAL WEARABLES creative expressions. botanical accessories by Kreative Hands.
PETALS OF APPRECIATION santa barbara in bloom. 18
HARVEST + HOLIDAYS farm meets floral. florists travel to Oregon for a harvest- and holiday-themed design workshop at Continental Floral Greens.
FLOWER FARMING north fork flower farm.
FLORAL SPECIFIC let's love lilies.
spotted.
Slow Flowers Members bring local blooms to distinctive collaborations and brand activations.
Our members are out and about in their communities, partneringwithandprovidingflowersforlocalbusinesses, topbrands,andbeyond.Here’saroundupofsomeofthe projects we’ve spotted.
ANALOG FLORAL (SEATTLE, WASHINGTON)
X JO MALONE LONDON AT NORDSTROM
FOR ITS PRE-MOTHER’S DAY PROMOTION, the luxury fragrance brand Jo Malone London tapped florists in key markets to create botanical installations to enhance sales of colognes, bath oils, soaps, and candles. The in-store events took place concurrently in New York, Southern California, and in Bellevue (a Seattle suburb), where Anne Bradfield of Analog Floral produced the installation.
Working from a concept developed by New Yorkbased floral designer Agnes de Villarson, Anne paired luxury silk flowers with a selection of mostly local and domestic fresh blooms, including wax flower, statice, lisianthus, tulip, freesia, and Monte Casino spray aster.
“They needed an on-the-ground florist who could express Agnes’ vision,” she explained. The springthemed florals adorned Jo Malone’s 10-by-10-foot
DETAILS
ANALOG FLORAL
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
JO MALONE LONDON
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
PHOTOGRAPHY | ANNE BRADFIELD
central display for three weeks leading up to Mother’s Day. Anne was well-prepared for the assignment, which came as a referral from another florist friend. “I have been doing flowers for Nordstrom for 16 years, so I’m used to working with their visual department,” she pointed out.
Anne told the team at Agnes de Villarson that Analog is a “no foam shop,” and asked to use a sustainable mechanic instead. “She trusted me – which was very cool of her,” Anne said of the New York florist.
The design required a vessel that was both sturdy and water-retentive. Anne sourced shallow tubs from a restaurant supply outlet and packed them with a matrix of chicken wire, secured by floral tape. “They were absolutely perfect,” she said, adding that the flowers lasted longer and performed better in water than in foam.
Agnes de Villarson’s studio procured and shipped silk botanicals to Analog Floral, which were returned after the campaign. Anne, who doesn’t typically work with silk florals, said she sees the benefit of combining a mix of silk and fresh flowers for longer-term installations. Her “win” was not using floral foam and sourcing almost all of the fresh florals domestically.
“The fresh product was awesome and I was super happy to see how long the tulips lasted,” she said. “It’s valuable for a florist in Agnes’ position to have trusted partners, and for me, it was fun to be responsible and carry out someone else’s vision.”
CASABLANCA FLORAL (SEATTLE, WASHINGTON) X THE BACHELORETTE
EARLIER THIS YEAR, MAURA WHALEN of Casablanca Floral received a phone call from an art director at Warner Brothers.
“He said he was curious to know if I could source an ‘insane amount’ of tulips in just a couple of weeks’ time,” she recalled.
During a follow-up phone call, Maura learned more, and she offered suggestions to make the project more sustainable. “The art director explained that he needed the flowers for a reality TV show and wanted to recreate the Yellow Brick Road in Seattle’s Occidental Park,” she recalled.
Not knowing any specifics, Maura suggested using a large percentage of flowering plants, along with cut flowers, to emulate a spring garden scene. It didn’t take long for the art director to embrace Maura’s ideas and he hired Casablanca Floral to produce several garden vignettes for an episode of the 2024 season of “The Bachelorette,” filmed in Seattle.
On filming day, the nursery vendor delivered hundreds of plants to the location and, Maura, her assistants, and the production crew moved things into place. They had just two hours to set up and “flower” the instant gardens, a task comparable to a wedding reception “room flip,” Maura said.
“I felt like my own art director,” she laughed. “I knew in my mind what I wanted it to look like.” The vibrant palette included ‘Champagne Bubbles’ poppies, heucheras, Senecio candicans ‘Angel Wings’, golden Tradescantia, geraniums, and geums.
Maura and her assistant Lexi McConkie tubed
thousands of tulips and inserted them into the potted plants, creating the promised-for lush garden look for the TV cameras. The designer took great pleasure in the fact that her 19-yearold son, Jack Rosenberger, helped with the installation; he added volumes of sheet moss to cover the wood pallets used to elevate the plants.
“When it was all over, Jack was determined that not one plant be left behind,” Maura recalled. They gave away tulips to passersby and many of the plants are now thriving in the Casablanca Floral cutting garden and at another florist’s garden, Maura says. “It felt good—from a Slow Flowers standpoint—that everything was locally sourced, nothing was wasted, and the plants are still thriving.”
FIELD & FLORIST (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) X THE TIE BAR (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS)
WHEN THE TIE BAR—A BESPOKE
menswear company based in Chicago— wanted to promote a new collection of floral ties and pocket squares, they turned to Field & Florist, a local flower shop owned by Heidi Joynt, a longtime Slow Flowers member.
Field & Florist is a hybrid business that began as a flower farm and has since opened two Chicago flower shops. The business is known for connecting Chicago flower-lovers, as well as wedding and event customers, with high-quality, locally grown blooms. Those traits appealed to The Tie Bar, said its president Michelle Kohanzo.
“We’ve always been an admirer of Field & Florist and we had started using their flowers in some of our photo shoots,” she explained. “Plus, we love the Monadnock Building where the flower shop is located – it’s so beautiful.”
The Monadnock Building on South Dearborn Street was constructed in the late 1890s and is considered an architectural landmark. One of two Field & Florist locations in Chicago, the shop sells local blooms and custom arrangements, and has a unique focus on niche fragrances and literature about the world of perfume.The photography campaign showcased The Tie Bar’s Kelly Ventura floral-inspired collection,
with the ties and pocket squares merchandised in and among Field & Florist’s blooms.
“Kelly is a watercolor artist who often turns her watercolors into repeat patterns, gorgeous fabric, or wallpaper,” Michelle explained. The designs feature peonies, snowdrops, cosmos, ferns, and other botanicals – depicted on silk and linen. The Tie Bar used the Nathan Bobey photography in email and social media campaigns, Michelle added.
Heidi said the photo shoot was an opportunity to associate Field & Florist with another unique Chicago-based brand. “We’re focused on making
sure that our work is consistently good – that’s my quest.”
By aligning Field & Florist with a men’s accessory collection – through flowers and visually attractive photography – both businesses reached their potential target customer. After all, said Heidi, men who buy ties are men who could buy flowers, too.
DETAILS
FIELD & FLORIST
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
THE TIE BAR
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
PHOTOGRAPHY | NATHAN BOBEY
FLOR DE CASA DESIGNS
(MARSHALL, VIRGINIA)
X RAFANELLI EVENTS
FOR THE WHITE HOUSE STATE DINNER
ON MAY 23, 2024, THE WHITE HOUSE State Dinner honored President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto of the Republic of Kenya. According to Rafanelli Events, the Biden administration’s party planner, “The evening’s theme, ‘Under One Sky,’ beautifully wove together the vibrant fuchsia tones and lush florals of both nations, creating a tribute to unity and kinship.”
At the press briefing, White House social secretary, Carlos Elizondo, described the magenta and pink palette that ran through each table, noting, “roses and orchids representing the United States and Kenya sit alongside peonies and ranunculi, some of the First Lady’s favorite flowers.”
Rafanelli tapped Flor de Casa Designs to produce the flowers and we congratulate Shanda Zelaya, the studio’s owner and lead designer, for this amazing accomplishment.
DETAILS
FLOR DE CASA DESIGNS
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
PHOTOGRAPHY | EMILY GUDE
ALEX AUSTIN
creative expressions.
A meditative exercise in making beauty.
When things slowed down with Srini Perera’s floral work earlier this year, she took a creative break to produce her own styled shoot to feature a collection of unique floral wearables and accessories. Owner of Kreative Hands, a wedding and event studio based in Woodland Hills, California, Srini nurtured her botanical muse by designing numerous pieces and recruiting her daughter, Jeneeka Perera (and a few of her friends) as models for a photography session.
“The models all put a lot of love into the photo shoot with their own creativity,” Srini said. “Like me, all three are Sri Lankan, and each has a different look.”
By challenging herself to use materials she had on hand, Srini also met her challenge to design sustainably. “It took my imagination and creativity to the next level. I had so many ingredients here in my studio, so I came up with a number of fun ways to use them, along with fresh and dried flowers.”
She was familiar with some of the wiring and glueing techniques used in making botanical jewelry and floral tattoos, having studied with Sue McLeary in the past. But she expanded her supply list to include garden and household items, such as the bamboo garden stakes that her husband Frank, an engineer, transformed into a beautiful umbrella frame. Cleverly wrapped, the artful piece became central to the photo shoot, framing the model’s face and hair.
“I wanted to show the natural structure of the umbrella rather than covering it with flowers, so I wrapped the spines with rat tail statice (Limonium suworowii), which
FLORAL WEARABLES
I had sourced from CamFlor Inc. No glue. No wires,” Perera said.
To construct a clutch purse, Srini combined two raffia fans and embellished the opening with air-dried bougainvillea and other flowers from her garden. Similarly, she wrapped a fan with blooms, covering them with green cedar, chamomile flowers, more rat tail statice and dried limonium. These are pieces now featured on Kreative Hands’ website, along with flower crowns and jewelry commissions from past clients.
She fashioned a botanical choker with layers of dried berries and scabiosa pods, clustered like pearls and beads to a metal jewelry base
from Jan's Jewellers. New bracelets were originally coconut shell cuffs, commonly worn in Sri Lanka handcrafted by Kanchi crafts, but now flowered for everyday or special-occasion attire.
“It all came together beautifully and more than anything, they show what one can create with minimum resources,” Srini said. “To me, creating wearables can be a form of meditation, calm, and peace.”
KREATIVE HANDS
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
ALEX AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY
WEBSITE
The model wears a black wool choker adorned with a chamomile floral pattern that alternates with mini clothespins, while the skirt of her dress is embellished with more clipped-on chamomile blooms.
we're thrilled.
gold medal for slow flowers journal
Slow Flowers Journal and BLOOM Imprint have received the GOLD LAUREL MEDIA AWARD from GardenComm (Garden Communicators International) in the Consumer Magazine category for the Winter 2023 issue.
This coveted honor goes to BLOOM Imprint, Slow Flowers' publishing arm, and collaborators Debra Prinzing (editorial director) and Robin Avni (creative director). It is the third time GardenComm has recognized Slow Flower Journal for publishing excellence. We previously received Silver Laurel Media Awards for our American Flowers Week (Summer 2021) special issue and our Harvest + Holidays (Fall 2022) issue.
Thank you to all of our contributors - and a special congratulations to the team who created the issue's cover look. The beautiful, winter-inspired photograph features Carolyn Kulb’s exuberant botanical couture piece, designed with Washington-grown hellebores for American Flowers Week 2021. The look evokes a romantic-futuristic vision and showcases the luxury and diverse range of this winter-blooming perennial.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STUDIO ARNA
santa barbara in bloom.
Florabundance throws a flower party to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.
Long-time wholesale florist, Joost Bongaerts, is a man with a mission: to put more flowers in the hands of more consumers, more of the time. Joost and the Florabundance team wanted to signify the company’s 30th anniversary by infusing their community with beautiful blooms. They brainstormed “Petals of Appreciation,” a huge floral production staged in late July at prominent locations around Santa Barbara, California, and the nearby communities of Summerland, Montecito, and Carpinteria, where the company is based.
Inspired by other large outdoor floral installations around the country, Florabundance teamed up with American flower growers and volunteer designers (all long-time customers) to create
LOCATIONS AND PARTICIPATING FLORISTS
Carpinteria: Arts Center
Created by Dirt Botanicals & PacWest Blooms
Summerland: Porch Bus Stop Designed by Porch
Montecito: Upper Village (San Ysidro Pharmacy) Arranged by Hogue & Co.
Montecito: Coast Village Road (Renaud’s and Richie’s) Floral design by Hogue & Co.
Santa Barbara: Maritime Museum Crafted by Jenn Sanchez Floral Design
Santa Barbara: Cabrillo Blvd (Dolphin Fountain)
Designed by Nicole Chapman Design
botanical displays for high foot-traffic areas. The six floral installations beautified public spaces including Santa Barbara’s popular dolphin fountain. The teams designed their installations using flowers and foliage donated by 30 farms.
Founded in 1994, Florabundance has grown to become a fullservice wholesaler serving customers across the U.S. As Joost pointed out, “We’ve always had about 70 percent of our flowers procured from U.S. flower farms.” As a Slow Flowers member, Florabundance works closely with growers in California and beyond.
“This event was our way of saying thank you to the community that has supported us for so long, and raising awareness about the incredible benefits of buying and receiving fresh-cut flowers.”
The festivities highlighted the importance of the flower industry and encouraged the public to support local growers. “I thought it would be great to shed light on the fact that flowers are good for you, that science has proven that everybody should buy flowers on a weekly and daily basis, which ties in with our goal of increasing flower consumption in the U.S., and That Flower Feeling and Slow Flowers are part of that effort,” Joost said.
Volunteers from the Dream Foundation handed out 7,000 stems of California-grown gerbera daisies to passersby at each of the installations. Following the event, all flowers used in the installations were donated to the Dream Foundation’s Flower Empower program, spreading more joy across the community.
FLOWER DONATIONS
A&M; Alexandra Farms; Aspen; Best Miami Growers; CamFlor Inc.; Central California Flower Growers; Coastal Floral; Continental Floral; Continental Flowers; East Texas Smilax; Endow; Eufloria; Floriway; Fisher Farms; Fresca Farms; Gladaway; Golden State Flowers; Green Point; Green Valley Farms; Greenwell; Gro Flowers; Groot in Flowers; Holex; Island View; Joseph & Sons; Mellano & Co.; Mobi’s; Myriad; New Zealand Bloom; Ocean Breeze; Resendez Brothers; Rosaprima International; Sun Valley Farm; and Westerlay Orchids FLORABUNDANCE
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
DESIGN BY KELLY SHORE + JENNIFER REED PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT McDANIEL
Farm Meets loralF
Florists travel to Oregon for a harvest- and holiday-themed design workshop at Continental Floral Greens.
FLORAL DESIGNS THAT REFLECT SEASON, PLACE, AND A MOMENT IN time, and that are created using sustainable methods, are the best expressions of the Slow Flowers Movement. That’s why we love it when florists build deeper relationships with local growers and flower farmers.
These sentiments provided a theme for the recent Holiday Designs & Décor Workshop, held September 30-October 1 in Forest Grove, Oregon, led by instructors Kelly Shore and Jennifer Reed. Kelly, owner of The Floral Source and Petals by the Shore, is based in Damascus, Maryland, and Jennifer, owner of Jennifer Designs in Mullica Hills, New Jersey, collaborated to teach and inspire their students as they learned to create tabletop designs, build large-scale installations, source locally grown botanicals, and use foam-free production techniques.
The two-day session began with a guided tour of the Continental Floral Greens growing fields, where woody ornamental shrubs and perennials
KELLY SHORE | THE FLORAL SOURCE
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
JENNIFER REED | JENNIFER DESIGNS
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
are produced for wholesale and mass-market channels. In addition to experimenting with some of the crops grown at the Forest Grove location, students designed with textural winter greens and berryladen branches unique to the Pacific Northwest, harvested at CFG’s farms across the region.
Kelly and Jennifer added a proliferation of locally grown botanicals sourced from the Oregon Flower Growers Association at the Portland Flower market -- dahlias, chrysanthemums, China asters, roses, cosmos, and other annuals and perennials.
With an emphasis on home and corporate designs for Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashanah, Christmas, Hannukah, and more, the instructors devoted the workshop’s first day to autumn- and harvest-themed arrangements and seasonal décor. On the following day, they explored winter designs with a focus on conifer and evergreen elements.
As they demonstrated centerpieces, tablescapes, garlands, and freestanding arrangements, Kelly and Jennifer spoke about their personal sourcing philosophies as designers.
“I’m always actively looking for local farms,” explained Jennifer. She led the retail floristry session, teaching students how to layer foliages and other textures in their vase, followed by clustering flowers for an organic appearance.
When teaching how to design in a shallow vessel using a chicken-wire mechanic, Kelly discussed how to create dimension using a mix of deciduous and evergreen foliage, including variegated foliage. She showed students how to add depth to an arrangement by placing lighter elements next to dark-toned flowers or foliage.
As she designed, Kelly told the story of the first time she visited a flower farm – and said it was a game-changing experience. “I realized I was designing with flowers that had no seasonality; no personality. It changed my life to see what the farmer was growing.”
The story is now the basis of The Floral Source, her hub for workshops,
retreats, and wholesaling of U.S.-grown flowers, she said. “Some designers live in ‘flower deserts’ and they don’t realize that it’s possible to source domestic flowers for their work. It’s so important that I bring designers to flower farms; otherwise, there can be a disconnect.”
Kelly and Jennifer invited each student to create individually and have their vase arrangements photographed for use on their websites or on social media. Students also collaborated in groups to produce largerscale pieces, including garlands that were eventually hung around the doorway of an antique, glass-and-wood greenhouse and the entrance to a rustic barn – both structures perfectly weathered to reveal the character and charm of a working flower farm.
Tami Turnbull of Turnbull Farms in Lakebay, Washington, valued the opportunity to learn floral design methods in a creative, hands-on setting. A newer flower farmer, Tami is deeply familiar with holiday greens and conifers through her husband Troy Turnbull, who is vice president for CFG’s Northwest operations.
“It was so nice to learn how to incorporate flowers with the greens and to learn different design techniques from Kelly and Jennifer,” she observed. “I learned a lot!”
“My goal in hosting this workshop was to connect florists with our farm,” Madison explained. “We wanted to give them visibility behind the scenes and to see how our product is grown and cared for throughout the process.” about.
Continental Floral Greens
Madison Milgard, brand director for Continental Floral Greens, was on hand to help educate students about the diversity of choice the company offers, including learning how greenery and foliage can be used in both traditional and nontraditional ways. CFG supplies bulk greenery in over 85 varieties, as well as consumer bunches, greenery bouquets, and holiday seasonal items to wholesale channels.
“The product has such great longevity and durability, and we love seeing how florists and event planners design with it,” she explained. Florists and event planners are directed to check out CFG’s buying guide or contact the company to find the best wholesale sources for their needs.
north fork flower farm.
A lawyer’s second career blooms on New York’s Long Island.
Serendipity is a wonderful thing. After 37 years as an attorney on New York’s Long Island, when Charles Sherman began considering a second act after retirement, his thoughts went back to his roots – in the garden. Growing up in Mississippi, he caught the love of gardening from his mother, who adored growing flowers.
As an adult, he lived on a horse farm in Huntington, New York, and created “elaborate gardens” there. The dream of flower farming was born after reading the book Slow Flowers. He began taking advantage of the State University of New York in Farmingdale’s senior program, enrolling in one course per semester to study ornamental horticulture for five years.
A constellation of unlikely events unfurled to make Charles’s dream a reality. When drought conditions derailed his initial plans to move and start a California farm near his sons, Charles moved in with his new partner Karen Braziller in Orient, on the North Fork of Long Island. The North Fork, known for potato farms and now vineyards, is revered for its soil and temperate climate, moderated by water on two sides. They thought perhaps they could find land on which to grow in the area.
At a community meeting the first week after moving in, Sherman mentioned his idea to Kevin Perry, whose wife Drianne Benner – it turns out – had always dreamed of flower farming. The new friends formed a partnership named North Fork Flower Farm (NFFF) and began growing flowers on just one-twentieth of
FLOWER FARMING
STORY BY ERICA BROWNE GRIVAS PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN PERRY
ERICA BROWNE GRIVAS
an acre on a friend's tree farm.The next phase involved a five-year land lease from a local farming family (and NFFF customers).
In 2021, Charles, Karen, Kevin, and Drianne found a property in nearby Southold and joined with another couple, Alfonso and Raquel Martinez-Fonts, to acquire the land and establish a permanent home for North Fork Flower Farm.
Recently named the top area florist by The North Forker, a local magazine, North Fork Flower Farm now offers seasonal CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscriptions, hosts education workshops on flower arranging, as well as dye-plant crafts and floral and botanical painting. They provide full-service wedding floral design and sell fresh-cut flower bundles to DIY brides, dyers, upscale food markets, and restaurants. Local florists and designers purchase through North Fork Flower Farm’s wholesale program.
On a recent visit in August, I witnessed fields ablaze with color, from a sunset of celosias to sunflowers and zinnias, the last of which were teeming with butterflies. Beyond annuals, woody plants like crabapple trees (Malus), hydrangea, spirea, and ninebark (Physocarpus) shrubs, so useful for structure and texture in arrangements, were in abundance.
Unusual plant choices help set North Fork Flower Farm apart. For Sherman to grow it, it must last well as a cut flower – divas or flighty characters need not apply. “We don’t grow roses and daylilies because they don’t last,” he said. But if a variety is distinctive, inspiring, or surprising, all the better.
Among the estimated 300 flowers and grasses he grows, Sherman says roughly half are perennials, with biennials, annuals, and shrubs making up the balance. Most are grown from seed. Other favorites are sea holly (Eryngium), teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris), quinoa (Amaranth), and Carolina lupine (Thermopsis).
“I’m always on the lookout for weird flowers. We have tons of flowers people have never seen before because they are just not grown in commerce,” Sherman said. “People are not accustomed to seeing Agastache or Monarda, for example.” He grows about 10 black-eyed Susan varieties, calling out “Sweet rudbeckia” (Rudbeckia subtomentosa), which is, “about six-feet-tall and has
BRANCH MANAGER
TEACHING FOOLPROOF ARRANGING OR FROG-FREE ARRANGING
Sherman teaches many design styles and methods in his workshops but has a trick to help new students. Because they often use clear vases, you don’t want to use floral frogs or chicken wire, but without support, the taller elements flop over.
“That’s one of the biggest problems when people are first starting out,” he said. So he creates structure first. “I start with something branchy, like privet, in the center, which acts as support for the flowers.”
LEARN MORE NORTH FORK FLOWER FARM WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
floral standards.
A Practical Guide for Harvesting and Delivering Professional-Qu ality Products.
Written by flower farmers for flower farmers, growers, and gardeners, this essential reference covers 230 cut floral crops grown by members of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market.
The flower farmers of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market (SWGM) have accumulated more than 200 years collectively as cut-flower growers who supply the commercial floral marketplace. This invaluable experience is now compiled in their first-ever publication, FLORAL STANDARDS, which identifies best practices and product specification sheets for 230 top floral crops.
Since 2011, SWGM has cultivated a national reputation for offering a diversity of fresh, seasonal, and high-quality products for florists, shops, studios, and other customers in search of local and domestic botanical ingredients. Its member-owners include 18 Washington and Oregon flower farms, and the market also distributes the products of several additional West Coast growers.
With the publication of FLORAL STANDARDS, the flower farmers and staff share proven advice ranging from selection and harvest stage to criteria for post-harvest
FLORAL STANDARDS
A Practical Guide for Harvesting and Delivering Professional-Quality Products by the flower farmers of Seattle Wholesale Growers Market
PRICE: $79.95 | 336 pages
YOU CAN ORDER THE BOOK HERE
crop treatment, stem length, stem count-per-bunch, and other important considerations. The book’s goal is to help farmers ensure product vitality and provide the best vase life for individual crops desired by the floral professional – from Abelia to Zinnia. Harvest stage instruction is also included for drying more than 60 plants.
The compilation of FLORAL STANDARDS took place over a number of years, initiated by a desire to create “specification
sheets” for 230 of the many products grown and marketed by SWGM. Led by longtime board member and founder Diane Szukovathy, member growers invested hundreds of volunteer hours to document their successful approaches to selection, care, harvest, and post-harvest, as well as advice for packing, shipping, and supplying customers ranging from wedding and event designers to mass-market retailers.
They researched vase life for numerous varieties, noting
recommended cultivars for commercial growing and singling out grower favorites.
The 336-page, full-color book is illustrated with 425-plus images of floral products (images reveal correct bud size and other attributes for optimal harvest stage). Also included are specification charts for top crops, including bulbs and tubers (allium, daffodil, dahlia, and tulip); vines (clematis, grape, hops); chrysanthemum, ferns, peony, poppy, rose, scabiosa, sweet pea, ornamental grasses, as well as for woody trees, fruiting branches, and conifers.
“FLORAL STANDARDS is an essential reference for experienced and aspiring flower farmers, as well as for avid flower-lovers and gardeners. It contains priceless expertise and is filled with proven production and harvest knowhow that will assist and guide other growers to achieve success as flower farmers,” said Aaron Gaskey, SWGM board chair. While the book covers crops that grow successfully in the Pacific Northwest, its value reaches far and wide, providing practical and helpful information to flower lovers worldwide.
multiple flowers on each stem. Each flower is relatively small, but that’s a real favorite of mine. It lasts a really long time. People love it,” he said.
NFFF also grows many plants known for their practical use, like herb, dye plants, and fragrant plants. “I’ve realized that a lot of plants used for dye and medicine have really beautiful flowers,” such as madder (Rubia tinctorium), he said.
What’s Coming Up
The property totals 24.5 acres, more than three-quarters of which is zoned exclusively for agricultural use. That’s where a new barn will soon appear. Already framed, it should be completed by next season, Sherman said.
With about seven acres devoted to growing flowers, “we still have quite a bit of room for expansion.” Meanwhile, two acres are being leased to a poultry farm, and another five for an arborvitae grower.
Currently, the NFFF is doing its production in an insulated hoop house. The CoolBot cooling system uses standard air conditioning units for a fraction of a conventional florist shop cooler.
The barn will have a much bigger cooling system, and offer space for production, processing, storing, and workshops, Sherman said. He recently started experimenting with growing in-ground in a hoop house, pushing the seasonal boundaries of cold-tolerant plants like larkspur. “We were able to grow a lot of flowers much earlier than in the past, because they were grown in a protective environment,” he said.
As North Fork Flower Farm grows, “I want it to be a visual treat for everyone who visits,” Sherman said. “It’s a flower farm and a business, but I want it to be like a botanical garden when people wander in amazement at all the butterflies and bees.”
let's love lilies.
The iconic and elegant flower is having renaissance.
In his recent appearance on the Slow Flower Podcast, expert flowergrower Chet Anderson of The Fresh Herb Co., declared: “I don’t think enough cut-flower growers are growing lilies – and I’m not sure why, because it’s really not that difficult. There are things to know . . . but I’m far more intimidated by growing lisianthus than growing lily bulbs.”
We couldn’t agree more! Lilies are among the most recognizable flowers in the world. For decades, they have been top-sellers, thanks to their long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and wide selection of vibrant and subtle petal colors.
The popularity of lilies among cut-flower growers is on the rise, in part because lily-growing isn’t especially labor-intensive. At The Fresh Herb Co., the Anderson family grows thousands of lilies, succession-planting bulbs each week to produce a year-round crop that customers snap up at the Rocky Mountain region’s Whole Foods stores. The farm’s three-stem lily bunches are consistently well received by grocery shoppers.
“We aim to have four-to-six buds on each stem,” Chet pointed out. The number of buds, combined with a long vase life, means “people enjoy our lilies for 10 to 12 days.”
Gretel and Steve Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Columbus, Ohio, say lilies are an easy-to-grow, affordable crop that is a standout in their mixed floral bouquets. In October, Gretel
RESOURCES
LILY BULB SUPPLIERS WEBSITE
GROWING LILIES DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE GUIDE (PDF).
To reach even more lily growers, the Flower Farmer’s Guide to Growing Lilies has been translated for Spanish and Hmong language speakers.
DOWNLOAD HERE the Flower Farmer’s Guide to Growing Lilies Hmong Language Version.
DOWNLOAD HERE the Flower Farmer’s Guide to Growing Lilies Spanish Language Version.
shared her lily know-how as one of our Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up presenters.
“Our standard grocery bouquet includes LA lilies with about 15 other stems,” Gretel said. “What's nice about lilies is that even as some of the other more-fleeting flowers fade, like zinnias or cosmos, the lily still remains. Lilies help customers perceive a value in their bouquet – a value of a longer vase life.”
As lilies continue to grow in popularity, so does demand for new breeding work to bring new petal colors and flower forms to the floral marketplace. Double lilies are taking the floral industry by storm, with a fuller, multi-petaled bloom that is long-lasting; traditional lily traits like pollen and fragrance aren’t present –which is a plus for many consumers. Sunny Meadows grows double lilies for their deluxe mixed bouquets, sold direct-toconsumer at their farm stand.
Here are some of the most widely available lilies:
ORIENTAL HYBRIDS. “Stargazer types”are some of the most popular Oriental lily varieties. Available in single- and doubleflowering forms, with new pollen-free varieties.
OT HYBRIDS. Oriental lilies crossed with tetraploid lilies. OTs have impressively large, fragrant, and long-lasting blooms.
ASIATIC HYBRIDS. Well known in the marketplace, they are easy to grow, not fragrant and produce a high bud count.
LA HYBRIDS. Asiatic lilies crossed with Lilium longiflorum. Because they generally outperform Asiatic lilies, LA lilies have replaced most Asiatic lilies. LA hybrids are perfect for customers who are sensitive to strong fragrance but want color options, long vase life, and upward-facing flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. 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.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF FLOWERBULB.EU
NIESHA BLANCAS AND TONNELI GRUETTER
oh, canada!
banff, alberta.
The 2024 Slow Flowers Summit traveled to the breathtaking setting of the Canadian Rockies at Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, a conference venue where our attendees gathered for education, inspiration, connections, and professional and personal development. As our seventh annual conference, this was a huge first for Slow Flowers Society because we embraced the energy, ideas, and innovation of the Canadian Slow Flowers community in showcasing speakers and topics.
Attendees hailed from five Canadian provinces, 17 U.S. states, AND, we were treated to the presence of one guest who traveled to Banff from Melbourne, Australia! Truly international!
Programming featured a diversity of speakers – all Canadian Slow Flowers members and horticulture experts – with topics rooted in our commitment to sustainability.
Informed by the many values outlined in the Slow Flowers manifesto, we developed programming to highlight a diversity of speakers – all Canadian Slow Flowers members and horticulture experts – with topics rooted on our commitment to sustainability.
The conference kicked off with a welcome reception on Sunday evening, June 23, where attendees reunited with friends from past Slow Flowers Summits, as well as mixed-and-mingled with speakers and put names to faces with people only previously known through their social media handles.
The reception was held in Banff’s Cenovus Great Hall, a space with ceiling-to-floor glass that overlooked the Canadian Rocky
Mountains in the distance. This imposing and beautiful backdrop of the natural scenery was ever-present for the next two days of the Summit.
As with all of our Slow Flowers programming, we designed the educational presentations to appeal to flower farmers, floral designers, and farmer-florists alike. There is always an artistic thread for our design-focused attendees, and attention to growing subjects for gardeners and flower farmers. Throughout, of course, is the emphasis on leaving a light footprint on the planet through sustainability.
Day One on Monday kicked off with two backto-back presentations under the theme of
“Meet the Farmer-Florist,” and our speakers delivered huge doses of inspiration. Melanie Harrington, of Dahlia May Flower Farm, and Janis Harris, of Harris Flower Farm, brought their personal stories to the room. Both women have been flower farmers for more than a decade, and they shared how they have developed their floral enterprises through crop choices, market development, customer engagement, and personal branding.
Melanie treated us to a mini-course on how she is expanding beyond a social media platform to newsletters and a customer mailing list over which she has more control –which prompted everyone to begin rethinking how much effort and value they place on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Janis
Hitomi Gilliam, AIFD, taught “Artful Mechanics”.
Cynthia Zamaria presented “Flowers for the Home and Table”.
discussed growing an impressive wedding and event emphasis at Harris Flower Farm, ending her talk with a beautiful floral demonstration of a hand-tied wedding bouquet featuring all Alberta-grown flowers.
There has been a tradition in recent years to have a “floral takeover” at the Slow Flowers Summit, all of which take shape in different ways determined by the venue and availability of local flowers. For this conference, we were blessed with the beauty of local, Alberta-grown flowers. Most were provided by our Slow Flowers Summit partner, the Cooperative Flower Network of Edmonton. But some attendees surprised us with donations of flower buckets from their Alberta farms. We wanted to do something
creative that showcased three expert instructors and three distinct approaches to designing with local flowers. That led to our “Floral Immersion”—an afternoon session led by Hitomi Gilliam, Heather Henson, and Lourdes Still. Each attendee chose to participate in one of the in-depth, hands-on sessions and everyone created a take-home project to reflect what he or she learned.
With Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms, the focus on designing a hand-tied bouquet with dried florals gave participants a new understanding of selection, growing, harvesting/processing, and designing. The Slow Flowers community has learned from Heather during virtual sessions and in articles, but the chance to learn from her
A guest captured locally grown flowers for her social media post.
Lourdes Still led the “Floral Pigments for Textiles” session.
Slow Flowers Summit 2024 -- a beautiful gathering in a breathtaking setting.
Haley West-Chow of Little Hill Farm and Flowers (left) and Kristen Rubin of Sweetwater Stem Co. participate in the dried florals session taught by Heather Henson.
Conversations with friends new and familiar brought us together around flowers.
in person was a bonus. Heather shared her expertise and stimulated a new confidence in how a focus on dried florals can benefit both growing and design businesses.
Hitomi Gilliam, AIFD, is a world-class floral educator based in British Columbia. A good friend to the Slow Flowers Movement, we were so happy Hitomi brought her talents to the Summit. Her students were treated to a session on building artful and sustainable mechanics – from headpieces to freestanding arrangements to hand-tied bouquets. Hitomi introduced participants to the idea of building mechanics with easy-to-source, organic materials – and then to utilize the armatures over and over again. When fresh flowers are combined with the pieces, there are inventive and innovative results.
The topic of dye plants and floral pigments for textiles was led by Lourdes Still of Masagana Flower Farm & Studio. Lourdes treated students to a condensed version of her onfarm “Tinta Experience” workshops. She introduced specific floral varieties to grow and use in dying projects, and led participants through the process of bundle-dying on natural fibers. Students chose from a wide selection of flowers and petals to scatter or place in patterns across their pieces of silk. They rolled and tied the scarf into a bundle to add to a huge pot of steaming water; together, the heat and moisture transferred plant pigment to the silk’s surface. The session ended as participants gathered with Lourdes on the lawn to unfurl their scarves, scattering the leftover petals back to the earth as the breeze picked up the silk panels like colorful
Hands-on sessions ensured that every attendee had a chance to create with local blooms.
Summit producer Debra Prinzing with two past Slow Flowers Summit speakers, Theresa Sabankaya and Dee Hal.
banners reflecting a moment in time.
On Tuesday, Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed led a morning wildflower walk for a good number of participants who rose early for time in nature, learning from Latifa about native plants of Alberta, as well as her insights about restoring native habitats for the benefit of pollinators and people alike. It was so gratifying to spend time with her in the mountain setting as a beautiful start to Day Two!
Lessons that began during Latifa’s wildflower walk led to her presentation , “Dive into Native Plants,” a fabulous exploration of the ways that flower farmers and floral designers can and should be elevating native plants into their work. As a specialist in growing native Alberta and Canadian prairie plants, Latifa shared an approach that encouraged our attendees to bring her ideas home to apply in their own regions.
Next up, Cynthia Zamaria treated attendees to the unique way she designs home interiors with the flowers she grows, including how she has developed a collection of vases and vessels by shapes and materials, including many that are thrifted or repurposed. As the author of House + Flower, Cynthia demonstrated the simple shifts that take place when using the same bunch of tulips in three different types of vases. She also treated the audience to a beautiful tabletop design session featuring vintage, thrifted, and collected pieces. The concept of “layers, levels, and repetition,” came to life before our eyes, as Cynthia designed a summery, garden-themed tabletop. The final design illustrated how she uses linens, dishes, stemware, flatware, candles, bud vases, teacups, and flowers. Sublime and certainly
something everyone planned to take home and try with their own collections.
Jaimie Reeves (whose floral studio is called InScape), co-founder of The Local Flower Collective in Toronto, shared highlights of the wholesale hub’s growth from its 2018 founding, touching on lessons learned when florists and flower farmers share a belief in their interdependency and mutual success. Moira MacKinnon (whose floral studio is called Love & Fantasy Flowers), past president of Edmonton’s Cooperative Flower Network founded in 2013, introduced the story of how the flower farming community came together to launch a new hub in Alberta’s capital city. Both Moira and Jaimie concluded their presentations by sharing their approaches to floral design with locally grown flowers.
Our capstone presentation brought together the conversations that two full days of time together had explored, with Hitomi Gilliam’s discussion of sustainability in floral design, and her approach to reduce, reuse, and repurpose in order to change the conventional approaches to floristry. We were treated to a slide show at the top of her session, followed by a dazzling presentation of eight completed floral designs to feature how Hitomi integrates locally grown flowers with her artful mechanics.
Excitement and energy filled the room as the Summit came to a close. We felt the collegial warmth of friendships, a distinct sense of professional admiration for our peers, and a true sense of an inclusive community of like-minded creatives. These are the values of the Slow Flowers Movement, as we bid one another goodbye, those values will continue in our individual paths – until next we gather!
JOIN US ONLINE JANUARY 9-11, 2025
We’re thrilled to announce our inaugural Slow Flowers Worldwide Summit. With a new, online format, the event builds on the success of our first seven Summits, all held as live, in-person conferences.
SLOWFLOWERSSUMMIT.COM
The Worldwide Summit will take place over three days early in the New Year. These dates are 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. The program format includes 15 floral education sessions and round-table panels with international sustainable floral leaders, as well as bonus content from special guest presenters.
We are excited to go big internationally – making this an inclusive, accessible, and affordable conference, without the added cost of travel and lodging. Slow Flowers Society has partnered with Great Grow Along to produce the Slow Flowers Worldwide Summit.
Learn from these amazing speakers:
Briana Bosch
Holly Heider Chapple
Becky Feasby
Melissa Feveyear
Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht
Natasa Hansen
Kirsten McMahon
Hannah Morgan
Toni Reale
Sarah Statham
Amy Stewart
Eileen Tongson
Mara Tyler
Shanda Zelaya
Pilar Zuniga
THE BUSINESS OF FLOWERS BY BROOKE PALMER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FAUSEL IMAGERY
winter tulips.
Meeting Customer Demand for Local Flowers.
The unexpected joy of growing winter flowers began four years ago when I had a casual conversation with a friend. We were standing at the end of her driveway in late summer when she mentioned her longing for flowers in the dead of winter. "Everyone has flowers in the summer. What I want is your flowers during winter."
Her comment would soon become the driving force behind my business, Jenny Creek Flowers, a small flower farm in upstate New York where winters are harsh and absent of blooms. Wanting to provide a unique offering, I began researching how to grow winter flowers without a heated greenhouse.
I discovered the Tulip Workshop, a program that teaches commercial growers how to force tulips to bloom during winter. Within a few days, I signed up and planned a trip to Vermont. Any business owner understands the significance of those serendipitous moments where a single decision makes a profound impact. Spending a day with Linda D’Arco and Emily von Trapp, experts in tulip-forcing, was a game changer for my flower farm.
While the workshop was inspiring and influential, growing winter tulips comes with a learning curve, with challenges like stems that topple or are too short. However, the biggest hurdle I overcame has been philosophical. As a supporter of the Slow Flower Society, I initially questioned whether my winter tulip business aligned with the organization's focus on seasonal, sustainable, locally grown flowers, since I was “forcing” flowers to bloom out of season.
As beautiful as the tulips in my cellar are, I have had to wrestle with a few hard questions about my business values: Is local more important than seasonal? Does programming tulips to grow during winter offer a more sustainable solution for winter flowers than imported ones? And
GETTING STARTED
Expand your crop mix with winter tulips.
ONE
Do Market Research. Analyze demand and competition. Winter tulips have higher production costs. Will your potential outlets pay a premium price for forced tulips?
TWO Invest in Education. Maximize your success by attending The Tulip Workshop, the gold standard in industry knowledge. Online and in-person course options are available.
THREE
Start Small. Trial 1,000 bulbs to minimize your initial investment. Consider focusing on Valentine’s Day tulips as your first-year goal.
FOUR
Expect Infrastructure Costs. You’ll need cooling, rooting, growing spaces, and bulb or hydroponic trays. There will be costs associated with forcing tulips.
JENNY CREEK FLOWERS
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
lastly, do I truly belong in the Slow Flower Society if I’m “forcing” blooms for half the year rather than only offering seasonal flowers?
As I enter my fourth year of growing winter tulips, I've expanded my forcing program to 25,000 bulbs, up from 1,000 in year one. I anticipate moving 1,200-1,400 stems per week— direct to customers—from January through mid-April, with a surge for Valentine's Day.
Along with improved forcing skills, my business values are more solid than ever because I’ve taken the time to answer those questions. My perspective on my business values may not be universally shared, but it’s the right choice for me and my farm. Likewise, forcing tulips doesn’t make sense for every grower.
Is local more important than seasonal? It is. Having locally sourced flowers 12 months a year can significantly reduce our reliance on imported flowers. My customers appreciate local products and are eager to support local businesses. They’re also flower people and won’t go half the year without flowers in their homes. Without a local winter option, they’ll settle for those imported roses at the grocery store because that’s all they can get. My winter tulip program provides them with a local alternative. They don’t care that the tulips are forced.
Does programming tulips to bloom in winter offer a more sustainable solution than imported flowers?
Yes. All tulip production requires transportation for bulbs.
While forcing tulips uses additional energy for cooling and LED lighting, my operation is more sustainable than flown-in flowers. Again, providing a local option empowers my customers to make more conscious choices about the flowers they purchase and offsets the global flower industry, even if only at the small scale of my operations.
As a small business owner, I’ve come to believe that sustainability extends beyond environmental impact. Sustainability also means economic viability. My tulip-forcing program ensures a sustainable business model for my family by providing steady revenue, which enables me to have a year-round employee. It’s also become a niche offering that helps me stand out
from other farmers. A trip to the farmer’s market in July proves my friend’s point: everyone does have flowers in the summer. But come winter, I’m the only grower around.
Do I belong in the Slow Flower Society if I am forcing flowers to bloom? Absolutely! As American flower farms strive to offset the global floral industry amidst a changing climate, innovation is the way forward. Rather than question the value of my winter-grown tulips as I once did, I’m embracing their power and magic more than ever.
As months of twice-daily tulip harvests near, I'm more convinced than ever of the value I'm providing. I’m doubling down on winter growing and embracing the value that winter tulip customers have shown me they cherish above all else: JOY.
top five.
Slow Flowers Podcast Episodes (April-June 2023)
EPISODE 671 | JULY 10, 2024
Learning from Tree Collectors, a conversation with Flower Confidential’s Amy Stewart about her new book.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 674 | JULY 30, 2024
Floral designer Jayson Munn on living slow and seasonally, letting the garden be your aesthetic influence.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 676 | AUGUST 14, 2024
Petal & Pitchfork’s Stacy Marshall hosts sustainable design workshop with Rachel Wardley of UK’s Tallulah Rose Flower School.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 677 | JUNE 7TH
Slow Flowers visits France to catch up with former Los Angeles flower farmer Tara Kolla of Mill on the Rock.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 681 | JUNE 14TH
Slow Flowers goes back to school with sustainable floral educator Sarah Berquist of Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
WATCH HERE
blooms for joy.
Local flowers enhance the quality of life for seniors.
I'm excited to share the delight I experienced during the 2024 season when I launched my new sales outlet: Blooms for Joy. My hope is to inspire other local flower farms to embrace this idea.
In previous seasons, I noticed that my sales would slow down dramatically in the middle of the summer, just as my flowers were in full bloom and ready to sell. It became clear that many customers were away on summer holidays. Events like weddings and graduation celebrations typically decrease after the Fourth of July holiday week. The oppressive summer heat also contributed to the lack of interest as most people prefer to stay indoors with their air conditioning. For many reasons, buying fresh flowers is less appealing in mid-summer.
As I thought about how to share my floral bounty, I came across the idea of connecting with the local senior living community. Brandywine Living at Longwood is located a few miles away from my flower farm, and it seemed like a perfect place to start.
I realized that the senior residents were most likely not venturing outside in the sweltering heat and I began to
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Blooms of Joy is a delightful and therapeutic activity designed to engage the residents of independent living communities in a creative, natureinspired endeavor.
The mission is to add a touch of nature's elegance to the lives of others, and create memorable moments that Bloom with Joy.
This activity encourages seniors to express their artistic flair and engage their senses while fostering a sense of connection to the changing seasons by experiencing locally grown flowers.
All flowers and foliages are field-grown organically, without pesticides and using sustainable practice. Facilities are encouraged to order a weekly or biweekly bucket of 50-75 freshly cut stems. Vases and materials can be sourced by FFF or residence staff.
FLOWER FOLLY FARM
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
wonder how I could engage them by sharing my bounty of flowers.
I reached out to the activity director, Kristen Aran, and she was interested in giving Blooms for Joy a try. We worked out a program for Brandywine where I would teach a floral design workshop during the first week of the month. To get started, I supplied snips and vases for their designs, and, of course, the flowers. The class was such a big success with the residents that Kristen scheduled additional sessions for the second and third weeks of the month. On those weeks, I dropped off buckets of flowers and foliage and the health aides assisted the seniors with their designs.
As the months passed by, I found I was always looking forward to the workshops. Sharing my flower knowledge with these seniors brought me pure pleasure. They would often ooh and ahh over the pretty flowers and relish the touch and smell of each bloom. It was such a great feeling knowing that I had grown these posies from seed, nurtured, harvested, and brought them to the seniors, esepcially for their class. Nothing makes a farmer-florist happier than to see people appreciate our labors.
Blooms for Joy is a vibrant, multi-sensory experience, creating and fostering social connections and enhancing emotional well-being.
As the growing seasons changed, so did the varieties of flowers: Tulips and daffodils in the early spring, followed by peonies and snapdragons in late spring, and then, a summer of sunflowers, zinnias, and dahlias. As the fall approached, I still had dahlias and celosia with other filler elements, too. Kristen has scheduled me right through December. I won't have fresh-cut flowers then, but a variety of evergreens and pinecones will fill the bill. I think the seniors really benefit from the changing seasons, helping them connect with nature. The sensory experience of handling and smelling the flowers can unlock memories and bring a sense of delight.
The cognitive benefits of designing flowers has been really fun to experience. As the Brandywine residents choose flowers and foliage for their arrangements, they make
decisions, plan their designs and evaluate their choices, all of which stimulates critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This is especially important for those with memory challenges.
Many residents tell me they feel a renewed sense of purpose as they see their creations come to life. They take pride in their work, often displaying their designs in their rooms or gifting them to family and friends.
An often-overlooked aspect of these activities is their contribution to sustainability, and I tell the folks that their use of locally grown flowers reduces our carbon footprint, avoids the environmental impact associated with imported flowers, as well as pesticides and chemicals used in many imported flowers.
Blooms for Joy is a vibrant, multisensory experience, creating and fostering social connections and enhancing emotional wellbeing. It connects seniors to their community, their past, and their natural world, offering moments of reflection and joy. As the seasons change and the new flowers bloom, so do the relationships and experiences that blossom from my classes. It has been my personal highlight of the 2024 season.
SLOW FLOWERS MANIFESTO
Slow Flowers aims to reconnect flower consumers and floral professionals with the source of their flowers. We believe that when the origin of all botanical varieties sold to consumers and florists is clearly labeled, we place higher value on local, seasonal, and sustainably grown florals, used artistically to express beauty.
SLOW FLOWERS COMMITS TO THE FOLLOWING PRACTICES
1. To recognize and respect the seasons by celebrating and designing with flowers when they naturally bloom.
2. To reduce the transportation footprint of flowers and foliage by sourcing as locally as possible.
3. To support flower farmers small and large by crediting them when possible through proper labeling at the wholesale and consumer level.
4. To encourage sustainable and organic farming practices that respect people and the environment.
5. To proactively pursue equity. inclusion. and representation in the floral marketplace. intentionally valuing Black floral professionals and farmers. floral designers, and vendors of Color in our business practices with as much support as we give to environmental sustainability.
6. To eliminate waste and the use of chemical products in the floral industry.
The Slow Flowers Movement puts a priority on sourcing local and domestic flowers. In a way, this also means that we redefine beauty. As a Slow Food chef cooks with what is seasonally available, a Slow Flowers florist designs with what is seasonally available.
