Episodes

Georgia flower farmers Mandy and Steve O'Shea (c) Brittany Towsell We’re continuing the 10-week celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Slow Flowers Podcast! I launched the first-ever podcast about flowers on July 23, 2013! This audio storytelling project resonates with so many listeners — people like you who love local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers and who are joining in the Slow Flowers Movement as members, supporters, and allies! We invite you to help us celebrate by sharing your stor...

Flowers in her arms! We're continuing the 10-week celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Slow Flowers Podcast! I launched the first-ever podcast about flowers on July 23, 2013! This audio storytelling project resonates with so many listeners -- people like you who love local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers and who are joining in the Slow Flowers Movement as members, supporters, and allies! We invite you to help us celebrate by sharing your stories of how the Slow Flowers Podcast has been ...

Today is red letter day -- the 10th anniversary of the Slow Flowers Podcast! I launched the first-ever podcast about flowers on July 23, 2013 with Episode 100! Little did I know that this audio storytelling project -- it was called internet radio back then -- would take off and resonate with so many listeners! The Slow Flowers Podcast is the longest, continually-running podcast in the floral design and flower farming space Commemorating our 10-year-mark is so significant. It recognizes that the ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92-MtDibJcs I'm so happy to share today's episode with you because it came together through total serendipity, thanks to arrangements made by my friend Jenny Ulum, Senior Director of Communications at King Estate Winery in Eugene, Oregon. We were in Eugene last weekend to attend the USA Track & Field National Championships, and when in Eugene, Jenny and her husband Tim Gleason always host us at their home. Jenny and I go way back -- we were editors together in the...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv9U3691n4w Hi all, last week, you met Anne Sumner of Walla Walla Flower Farm - what a fun episode, and I especially loved the bonus musical performance recorded in her flower field. Just down the road from Walla Walla Flower Farm, on Stateline Road, in fact, but on the Washington side, is a historic farm called Old Homestead. This is where Elaine and Mike Vandiver operate two complementary businesses -- Old Homestead Alpacas and Gholson Gardens. The Old Homestead...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BHac7fAq1Y Scott and Anne Sumner of Walla Walla Flower Farm performing in their fields Welcome, friends! I have such a lively and informative episode to share with you today. A few weeks ago - before we welcomed 150+ guests to the Slow Flowers Summit, I joined my husband Bruce to drive 5 hours east accompanying him on a short business trip. We drove across the state to Walla Walla in the southeast corner of Washington that's become a major winery and tourism hub....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT9xryOm-OA In 2015, Slow Flowers introduced American Flowers Week, inviting flower lovers, gardeners, growers, and designers across the country to share their red-white-and-bluish blooms during June 28- July 4th. The promotion celebrates domestic flower farming and engages people everywhere with local botanicals. We use the hashtag #americanflowersweek to encourage flower fans to follow and enjoy the campaign's beauty and floral diversity. Since 2016 when America...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRCouoc2Xyk We have an info- and inspo-packed show today in which you will meet six floral experts who will present at next week's Slow Flowers Summit. I'm thrilled that all of these gifted and talented flower friends were able to join me in the virtual studio this past week for a quick introduction and lively conversation. The Slow Flowers Summit takes place on June 26-27, 2023, at the Bellevue Botanical Garden in the Seattle area. It's our sixth annual gathering...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emYtcj-K6_w Today, I'm happy to share my recent conversation with Julio Freitas, owner of The Flower Hat, an event floral design studio and flower farm based in Bozeman, Montana. A longtime Slow Flowers member and past guest of the Slow Flowers Podcast, we've been eager to bring Julio to the Slow Flowers Summit stage - ever since our first year in 2017. Julio's passion for floral design grew into flower farming when he realized he could successfully grow flowers d...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtr9yat7pXw I'm thrilled today to bring you an informative conversation about Island Flower Growers, an emerging flower hub based outside of Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island in Canada. Island Flower Growers hosted a "Thrips workshop" at Lorna Jackson's Ninebark Farm for Co-op members with Emily Carmichael from the BC Ministry of Agriculture. If you caught Episode 611 a few weeks ago, you met Julie Remy of Fleuris Studio and Blooms, a farmer-florist ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHsxsPpF85k Last month, passports in hand, I traveled by car and ferryboat to the Island of Vancouver in British Columbia. The trip was to celebrate my mother's 88th birthday, enjoy high tea at the famed Empress Hotel, tour the spring borders and displays at the famed Butchart Gardens, and enjoy this beautiful destination for a few days. Of course, I had to invite myself to meet some of our Slow Flowers members in Victoria while there. As I mentioned, we took a fe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs6mhxbtMgg Today, we take a trip to rural Northern Colorado, where sisters-in-law Gretchen Langston and Gaylene Moldt operate Blooms Colorado on 40 acres north of Ft. Collins. Blooms Colorado delivery van It's fascinating to learn how they have grown this floral enterprise, established in 2017, to serve Ft. Collins, which is their closest metro market; and florists both south and north -- in Denver 2 hours to the south and those in the southern Wyoming cities of ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CielTmxu9gA Last month you met Jessie Witscher of Understory Farm as we discussed how she and her partner Gregory Witscher grow masses of cut flowers to sell through wholesale channels. Debra Prinzing (left) and Abby Matson (right) at Green Mountain Floral Supply (c) Jenna Brisson I met Jessie when we both participated in the Spring Educational and Workshop Series presented by Green Mountain Floral Supply in Burlington, Vermont. I called that March event a Slow Fl...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-TDDV7okIE Amelia Ihlo of Rooted Farmers (left); Leah Ducey (and family) of Spring Wind Farm and Garden State Flower Cooperative (right) The spring flower season is warming and today I have invited two guests to share about crop pricing strategies and selling through wholesale flower hubs. You'll meet return guest Amelia Ihlo of Rooted Farmers, an online platform for flower farmers and a Slow Flowers Podcast sponsor, and New Jersey-based flower farmer Leah Ducey ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR1Q2nhREYw It's great to be back with you today -- and to share another inspiring and uplifting conversation about the healing power of plants and the ability of flowers to nurture us, body and soul. Kate Watters (left) and a Wild Heart Farm CSA share, including a poem tucked inside the bouquet My guest today is botanist-turned-farmer-florist Kate Watters of Arizona's Wild Heart Farm. I first met Kate several years ago through the community of florists and flower...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYrwKoC7OY Last month I participated in the Spring Educational and Workshop Series presented by Green Mountain Floral Supply in Burlington, Vermont. It was a Slow Flowers love fest, bringing me together with Tom and Kim Jennings, owners of Green Mountain; Jayson Munn, seminar coordinator; Holly Chapple, who taught floral design and business workshops for three days; and today's guest, local Vermont flower farmer Jessie Witscher, co-owner with her partner Gregory ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvWLhmacHaE The Color of Roses by Danielle Dall'Armi Hahn If you're a rose lover, you already know about Rose Story Farm in Carpinteria, California, a mecca for garden roses -- all 40,000 plants that produce cut flowers to supply the national floral trade and event design world. Rose Story Farm thrives under the care of Danielle Dall'Armi Hahn, her husband Bill Hahn, her mother Patricia Dall'Armi, her sister Nina Dall'Armi, her business manager Patti Keck and so m...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teU8Wyco1Y4 Today's guest is one such individual and I'm delighted to introduce you to Ingrid Carozzi of New York-based Tin Can Studios. Ingrid is the author of two books, Handpicked, a guide to custom flower arrangements; and just published last year, Flowers by Design - creating arrangements for your space. Ingrid Carozzi of Tin Can Studios Ingrid Carozzi (c) Dana Gallagher One of New York's most sought-after florists, Ingrid's work has been covered in Vogue, th...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VocQnTiLjts&t=2177s Earlier this month, for our March Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up, we invited several members who incorporate what I like to call "Slow Pottery" into their floral enterprises. What is "Slow Pottery?" I originally wrote about Slow Pottery in our 2018 Slow Flowers Floral Insights & Industry Forecast, inspired by a New York Times article entitled: Why Handmade Ceramics Are White Hot. The story noted: Handcrafted small-batch ceramics are everywhere the...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRQ1j-0DtM We have all heard the research about the influence of flowers on the health and mental wellness to all humans. And so many of our members - flower farmers and floral designers - integrate floral donations into their business model. Erin Achenbach and What Cheer Flowers What Cheer Flower Farm's logo and dahlia wall The folks at What Cheer Flower Farm in Providence, Rhode Island, provide floral goodness to their community, reinforcing the scientific find...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9DXCY1vGD8 I've been eager to record a conversation with today's guest, Rita Feldmann of the Sustainable Floristry Network -- and we did just that earlier this week. The Sustainable Floristry Network - or SFN - evolved from the #nofloralfoam campaign, which we all witnessed on social media, as florists from all over the world are abandoning the use of floral foam, an environmentally harmful, single-use plastic. At the same time, many florists entering the industr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O53UX2DNEF0 Today I have invited Becky Feasby of Prairie Girl Flowers and Instagram's #SustainabilitySunday to return the Slow Flowers Podcast to talk about a project she is spearheading to evaluate the floral industry's relationship with invasive plant species -- both growing and designing with problem plants harmful to the environment, to local economies, and to the larger community. Becky Feasby, Prairie Girl Flowers This past December, Becky convened an Invasi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Y_mqgi4f8 I'm so happy to introduce today's guest to you, Susan Chambers of bloominCouture, a San Francisco-based floral design studio that combines the beauty and aesthetics of a European luxury florist with the relaxed elegance of the California lifestyle. Susan Chambers of bloominCouture I first met Susan in 2016 at a creative writing workshop in Healdsburg, California. We wrapped up the two-day floral design, video and writing sessions when each student sat ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt2AoZR-xKc A few weeks ago, Slow Flowers and our publishing partner BLOOM Imprint released our 2023 Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast. We called our first insight "Non-Floral Florals," acknowledging the broadening plant palette for cut flower growers and florists who are adopting all types of botanical ingredients -- from mushrooms and vegetables, to foraged materials to nontraditional plants such as native species. Michigan's Seeley Farm and Joe...