Episodes

https://youtu.be/ng5wllVlQyU Back in 2018, we included Retail Garden Centers Adding Floral Design Services as one of our trends to watch in the annual Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast. I noted the early wave of retail nurseries and garden centers opening or reviving in-house floral shops with a distinctly local emphasis.As it turns out, that’s the year that Delisa Hiel joined Gardenwerks, an established retail nursery and landscape design business in Helena, Montana, founded by...

https://youtu.be/PDyvSAAA7FI We’ve recently highlighted Slow Flowers members who serve not only the professional floral market, but the home gardener in search of cut flowers, flower seedlings, education, and inspiration. Capturing the attention of this often-overlooked population is not hard these days. Home gardeners and flower lovers are avid followers of social media’s influential growers and designers.They are the principal buyers of books about cut flower gardening and about growing specif...

https://youtu.be/3dhAhas1Awg?si=LJUYkQflSCv8xZDu Megan Homewood is the owner, lead designer, and grower at House Flowers. She combines a diverse design experience and a passion for sustainable floristry to inform her seasonal, romantic design style. Inspired by the transient beauty of seasonal flowers and the dynamic landscape of the Pacific Northwest, she loves growing and designing with unique elements to create events that embody a particular place and time. Prior to settling in Shelton, a to...

https://youtu.be/cGL1isNsbbE?si=h00tMUumLpTPXCH3 Collective flower selling is on the rise and we continue to see numerous models across the continent and even abroad. The origin comes from traditional farmers’ markets and has since diversified to include cooperatives, co-marketing ventures and solo-run farmer-to-florist hubs. The structures reflect the desires and business objectives of their founders, and today you’ll hear from Colleen McCoole Payne, co-founder and chief administrator of the Ka...

https://youtu.be/tRuXU20m9Dc?si=eR5fwa5ZiZKdsiTf After several years of farming in an urban space – including on the paved driveway, sidewalk strip, and backyard at her Seattle home – Sarah Nayani has carved out a niche teaching gardeners how to grow a bounty of cut flowers, herbs, and foliages in residential environments. The founder of Grow Girl Seattle, Sarah encourages workshop students to create a thriving home cutting garden by focusing on sustainable techniques and small space growing. Sh...

https://youtu.be/xnlzif1Nue0?si=60_eh0nNVHX1Gg42 The theme of today’s episode is straight from our Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast – an insight that identifies cutting garden plants as an important business channel. Flower farmers are translating their expertise into new revenue streams by growing and selling cut flower seedlings and starts to flower lovers and fellow growers. Last fall, we produced a report for Johnny’s Seeds’ newsletter on this trend and today, three of the ...

https://youtu.be/eZ8rhWdiXGI?si=dpx4iDhOEBb3420T Foxglove Farmhouse is a small, regenerative flower garden in coastal Maine. If you follow the tidal York River from the sea, up along the winding salt marshes to the west side of town, there you will find owner Elizabeth Brown and her flowers. Her purpose is a simple one -- to grow sustainable local flowers, and to encourage others to do the same. Elizabeth believes flowers have the power to heal, connect, and bring joy, especially when we need it...

https://youtu.be/aZi_o0UniTU?si=qXVttU3ViO_6wIwD Everyone loves roses, and Janice Cox proves why in her new book, "Beautiful Roses: A Guide and Workbook for Growing, Using, and Enjoying America’s Favorite Flower." The book covers rose growing but also the endless ways you can integrate roses into cooking, crafting, and wellness. A nationally recognized expert in natural beauty, DIY skincare, and gardening for health and wellness, Janice is author of five books, and she has created a series of ha...

https://youtu.be/nEmy-vXnxos?si=3u8-foe5nFkee7KM Teresa Sabankaya believes that today’s technology gives us endless ways to communicate, yet we are often left searching for words when faced with a declaration of love, the loss of someone dear, or the marking of a pivotal moment. For centuries, people have turned to the language of flowers to express their most heartfelt emotions. In Teresa’s new book, “Modern Floriography,” she honors this enduring tradition while inviting readers to discover fr...

https://youtu.be/yjfsxcPy1H8?si=Y9WfgwZj_AX3Hbxm In her new book, “The Regenerative Gardener’s Handbook: Essential Techniques for Growing a Garden that Leaves the Land Healthier Than You Found It,” farmer-florist, YouTube influencer, and educator Briana Selstad Bosch translates her practices at Blossom and Branch Farm into backyard and residential gardening ideas for readers who want to change their relationship with the soil and with nature. In addition to sharing ways that she has eliminated c...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XWxUGAMELY Nestled in the heart of Somers, New York, about one hour north of Manhattan, Honeybee Grove is a cozy little flower farm offering cut-your-own flowers, small events, workshops, retail pop-ups, and more. As owner Sarah Coldwell enters her fifth season, she joined me to share her story and discuss the benefits of planning a full year of events while managing the flow of production, sales, and customers. In addition to flowering her community with local b...

https://youtu.be/-5Orqho8D14?si=IS52JfiTWRg8Fybi Expert tree growers Chris Robinson of My Patio Tree and designer Anne Bradfield of Analog Floral recently joined me to share their insights on how florists and wedding and event designers can integrate flowering trees into their menu of services. Analog Plant Rental is the sister company to Anne's Seattle-based design business, Analog Floral, which she’s operated for more than two decades. As a spinoff company, her plant-and-tree service primarily...

https://youtu.be/v7pqI-dII0I?si=kZTRQdoz4Pz9SLW_ As we enter the 13th year of publishing our Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast, new impressions continue to infuse our mindsets and enthuse us. The Year 2026 presents a consequential time in our industry. We have been impacted by economic challenges that affect consumer confidence and spending choices; we’ve been clobbered by supply chain and tariff constraints; and we’ve continued to see consolidation and closures among large-scal...

https://youtu.be/aGuwB5HbiKs?si=-4q1L4xSFOv9DCys There’s an Instagram trend going around as we flash back to 2016, sharing highlights from one decade ago. Today’s episode does just that, as I reunite with Hudson Valley farmer-florist Marybeth Wehrung of Stars of the Meadow Flower Farm. In 2016, I visited Marybeth, toured her farm, and interviewed her about the emerging local floral scene in her region. Today, many of those dreams of creating a hub for seasonal and sustainably-grown flowers have ...

https://youtu.be/qge-cJ0Z_XU On a sweet, 6-acre country parcel in Rochester, Minnesota, Deb Majerus and Joel MacDonald are creating a place of beauty and sanctuary, spreading joy to their community as an oasis just beyond busy roads, paving and residential developments all around. Minnesota natives who dated in high school and reunited years later, Deb and Joel grow spring perennials, peonies, and specialize in native plants for floral design and to create a more welcoming, regenerative habitat ...

https://youtu.be/WO7OgXBJtks?si=hA2AbAvNFiOTBN1q According to Brooke Palmer, the ranunculus is THE iconic bloom of early springtime. A seasoned grower and owner of Jenny Creek Flowers, based outside of Ithaca, in New York’s Finger Lakes Region, Brooke grows a wide array of specialty cut flowers that she sells through her flower CSA and a seasonal U-Pick program. Students take her workshops in person, including a successful dahlia-growing course, and she sells bulbs, tubers and plants to avid gar...

https://youtu.be/0HFUC-qb-3Q?si=ftg-AyUSDwYRpKoV Luxury floral designer Susan Chambers, owner of San Francisco-based bloominCouture. She’s a longtime Slow Flowers member whose high-end residential and corporate clients support her sustainable values, which do not compromise her design aesthetic or her approach to seasonal sourcing. Many of you first met Susan when she and her shop appeared in our 2021 book, Where We Bloom. Since opening doors of her postage-stamp-sized storefront in San Francisc...

https://youtu.be/NilyUEdksYA?si=G8oSgsVXGSVQPzlz As a special year-end episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast, you’re invited to join me today in conversation with garden tour producer Lois Moss, and my dear friend, Lorene Edwards Forkner, artist, author, and regular contributor to the Seattle Times. Together, we are planning a one-of-a-kind botanical tour in Spring 2026 – a unique Slow Flowers Experience that takes us to Holland and Belgium in April for a 7-day river boat cruise, plus several opti...

https://youtu.be/VminWzvUNIk In 2018, we named Slow Pottery one of our ten floral insights of the year, and the interest in combining locally-grown flowers with curated pottery and vase collections has only continued to gain momentum. The demand for American-made pottery first caught our attention in a 2015 New York Times article titled “The Budding Ceramics-to-Table Movement,” with the subtitle: “Why handmade ceramics are white hot.” The story noted that ” . . . the rejection of factory-produce...

https://youtu.be/iDXNEEP74dg?si=95xtQpkBIExFdBQd You may be familiar with today’s guest, Jennifer Gulizia of The Flowering Farmhouse and The Backyard Bouquet Podcast. Like many of us, Jennifer’s story began in her own garden, as her flower-growing fascination naturally melded with her professional photography career. In 2019, she and her husband, T.J., built a modern farmhouse on a 1/3-acre lot, in Oregon’s Hood River. While it was not enough space for a true flower farm, Jennifer planted almost...

https://youtu.be/D6ZrP98HNEg?si=xnsb-hjNywgQYrPr Today’s guest, Eva Eliasson, joins me from Stockholm, Sweden, where she is the chairwoman of Snittblomsodlare, the association of cut flower farmers in Sweden. We met virtually earlier this year when Eva reached out to introduce herself while on a family trip to the U.S. We scheduled time to chat further and I learned about the emerging market for locally-grown flowers in Sweden, a country with about 11 million citizens. Snittblomsodlare was forme...

https://youtu.be/LBywkd_2XK8?si=ZHwpJ8cUm23yV4cS Feathers & Flowers is a small, family-run, flower farm growing seasonal, sustainable, and local flowers in Wenatchee, Washington. The farm’s cute logo includes an illustration of a KuneKune pig, a few chickens, and of course, a vase of flowers. I recently visited Feathers & Flowers as Rachel Burgoon’s guest at the first annual grower and florist gathering for the greater Wenatchee Valley. As a natural connector, Rachel says she’s long dreamed of b...

https://youtu.be/Fz6QYN9w3ik For ten years, New York-based artist and illustrator Abbie Zabar had unique, early-morning access to the Great Hall at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. With colored-pencils and a small square of paper, Abbie drew the dramatic floral arrangements on display in the Great Hall, designed by Chris Giftos, the Met’s floral master who served from 1970-2004.Now, Abbie’s tiny masterpieces are collected in a beautiful new book called BOUQUET: Floral Arrangements at the M...

https://youtu.be/SoA1IvHkzaM?si=urT9z6upZ5F639zr Earlier this year, at the first of April, a long-awaited hub for flowers grown in the NY-Connecticut-New Jersey tri-state region opened its doors. Unlike many of the emerging North American hubs selling local flowers, Flower Aggregate is not a collective or a cooperative. It is a privately-owned wholesale florist serving the floral trade with the distinction of local and sustainable botanicals. I met co-founders Jessica Balnaves and Annie Quick in...