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After over a decade as an attorney, Felicia Reid became a garden developer and designer. Her approach to gardens and gardening is about being a ‘good friend’— to both people and planet, so it’s fitting that her business is named Good Friend Ecological Gardens. Back in 2015, Felicia was a legislative attorney in housing, agriculture, and consumer policy. Through her work she witnessed how climate change and industrial agriculture impacted farmers – inspiring her to use her own garden as a positive response to those challenges. Since 2020, she has tended to the Good Friend Ecological Garden —home base, lab, and design studio— uphill from the Mohawk River in Niskayuna, New York, north of Albany. The Learning Garden is native-forward and combines edible and ornamental landscapes into a place where biodiversity and sustainability thrive. It includes formal and relaxed spaces, a seed lab, and an intensive, small-scale cut flower farm. As a designer, Felicia uses ecological principles to develop resilient, thoughtful, and beautiful spaces for her clients. She believes community education is critical to rethinking and enriching our relationship with the world around us. And she teaches others to develop their own observation- and evidence-based approaches to enrich the land around them, no matter how big or small. The gates open at Good Friends Ecological Gardens each season, as garden lovers and the gardening curious are invited to visit, tour, and learn from Felicia.

As I mention in today’s episode, I “discovered” Good Friend Ecological Gardens and owner Felicia Reid after she joined Slow Flowers as a member a few years ago. Whenever a new member signs up, I try to visit their websites, sign up for their newsletter and follow them on social media – and that’s initially how I “met” Felicia. Recently, she posted a link to a small business feature about Good Friend that appeared in the Albany, New York, publication called Metroland. I read it, bookmarked it, and though: I want to learn more about how she blends garden design with a from-the-garden floral design service. On the Good Friend website, Felicia writes: Good Friend specializes in feel-good blooms—locally grown and lushly designed.  Flower arrangements are available June through September only. We honor ‘slow flowers’, which prioritizes local flowers, sustainable growing practices, and customer relationships.

That certainly resonated with me, so I reached out and invited Felicia to join me on this episode. We recorded our conversation a few weeks ago to share with you today.

Here’s a bit more about Felicia Reid:
Aside from the wildlife that lives on site year-round and those that pass through Good Friend Ecological Gardens, she shares her world with her husband, Carl, a luthier and audio engineer; their dog Artie, and Squee, a cat who’s far too intelligent for anyone’s good.

In 2023, Felicia was accepted into the Master Gardener Program through Cornell Cooperative Extension (Schenectady County) and began speaking about ecologically-minded residential garden development. She has completed certificate programs at the New York Botanical Garden, Berkshire Botanical Garden, and the American Horticultural Society—including programs on ecological gardening, growing cannabis, and landscape design. She has written on gardening and food culture for Edible: Capital District. She says her greatest lessons come from learning to read and respond to the land, and the gardens that have grown alongside her.

This podcast is committed to shining a light and amplifying the voices of our members, celebrating the many stories of this community, stories as diverse as each of you.

Find and follow Felicia Reid of Good Friend Ecological Gardens on Instagram

READ Metroland’s feature on Good Friend here

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Slow Flowers Summit 2027 — Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Okay, it’s TIME! We just opened up Early Bird tickets for the 2027 Slow Flowers Summit! Early-Bird tickets come with a $100 off savings at both membership and general levels. Also, we’re offering you the chance to manage your payments through Klarna – a new feature for the Summit.

Check out the speaker lineup

Check out the fantastic program

Learn more about the venue at Filoli Historic House and Garden in the SF Bay Area.

EARLY BIRD Ticket Buyers: We also have a very special GIFT with PURCHASE for you:

If you register for an Early Bird Ticket, you will receive exclusive access to four encore video presentations from our 2026 Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit, originally aired this past January. The sessions have only been viewed by attendees of that online conference, and we’re now going to share more than three hours of floral education with you as a bonus with your registration. You will learn from amazing floral educators, including sustainable design with Shane Connolly, the Royal Florist; Françoise Weeks on Botanical Couture; Max Gill on growing and designing with clematis; and a bonus floral design demonstration with Dee Hall Goodwin of Mermaid City Flowers. When you buy your Summit ticket, we will send you the private link to view these sessions. I’m so excited for you to enjoy and enhance your knowledge and skills!

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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.

And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Thank you to the Seattle 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 seattlegrowersmarket.com.

Our next sponsor thanks goes 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.

---

The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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; Over the Fence
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

In late August, I joined other members of the Northwest Horticultural Society for a special event in Susan Ryan’s Tacoma residential garden. We learned her philosophy around designing florals from the landscape and created a seasonal floral arrangement using familiar and uncommon design ingredients. I was there to introduce and interview Susan, as the two of us discussed her garden-gathered approach to floral design. Susan led us on a walking tour as she described some of her favorite ornamental shrubs, perennials, vines, and annuals suitable for cutting. She encouraged gardeners to experiment with plants that may not be common floral design ingredients and showed how she relies on greenery and leaf texture to build structure in the vase. Today’s episode shares a peek into Susan’s garden and how she created a lush vase arrangement from plants at her fingertips — no special trip to the flower market for this experience. 

Susan Ryan is an APLD Certified Landscape Designer and Certified Professional Horticulturist and owner of Tacoma-based Gardendigs. She served 12 years as a community Master Gardener and studied extensively at South Seattle College in the landscape design, construction and horticulture department. Susan holds a BFA in Interior Design and her interiors have earned awards and been featured in numerous publications. She is a Northwest Flower & Garden Festival Gold Medal Show Garden winner.

A Slow Flowers member since 2025, Susan’s business model combines everything that I’m also drawn to, namely landscape design and floral design. Love of nature and a desire to create beauty led her interior design and textiles interest to expand outdoors and design a hybrid business model that makes total sense to me. Clients come to Gardendigs for nature-inspired floristry; site visits and coaching for residential gardens; and garden design and styling. There is a lot of education woven through these services, because Susan wants to empower and encourage her clients to have a deeper relationship with their own small parcel of yard or garden.

Today’s episode will introduce you to Susan during a short Q&A I led at a late-August workshop in her garden. Thanks so much to Gillian Mathews and Sue Goetz of the Northwest Horticultural Society for inviting me to be part of the morning in Susan’s backyard – and for participating in the fun. After the Q&A, you’ll enjoy the walking tour that Susan led through her property in a historic Tacoma neighborhood, followed by her design demonstration featuring just-clipped elements. Be sure to check our show notes for details on the “slow pottery” that Susan commissioned for workshop participants to use and bring home – I especially loved this aspect of the event.

Follow Susan Ryan of Gardendigs on Instagram and Facebook

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Slow Flowers Summit 2027 — Ticket Sales Open on November 1st

Head’s up for all of you interested in the Slow Flowers Summit for 2027! This coming week, on Sunday, November 1^st, we will open up Early-Bird ticket sales with a $100 off savings at both membership and general levels.

You can click over to slowflowerssummit.com to check out the speaker lineup, the program, the venue at Filoli Historic House and Garden in the SF Bay Area. Also, we’re offering you the chance to manage your payments through Klarna – a new feature for the Summit.

And, I’m very excited to announce our special Oakland Flower Lovers Garden Tour, a separately-ticketed private tour that will take place on Wednesday, June 23^rd, the day following the Summit. We’ve designed a small-group tour of Oakland area residential gardens and studios of four of our members, including Pilar Zuniga of Gorgeous and Green; Leslie Bennett of Pine House Edible Gardens and Black Sanctuary Gardens; Max Gill of Max Gill Design, and Sarah Reyes of Wildflower & Fern. The day includes round-trip transportation from Filoli and includes a catered taqueria lunch. Plus floral design demonstrations and a chance to geek out in garden spaces. You must be registered for the Summit to register for the garden tour – all the details can be found at slowflowerssummit.com.

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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.

And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Our first sponsor thanks goes to Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com.

Thank you to Charles Little & Company for supplying our industry with some of the most beautiful and sustainably-grown design ingredients, available nationwide through their website at charleslittleandcompany.com. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the farmers at Charles Little & Company have been growing and drying flowers since 1986. New products and dried flower collections are added to their website at the first of each month. Check it out at charleslittleandcompany.com.

---

The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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; Crown of September
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

Last month, I partnered with Seattle Growers Market to host a group of flower and garden lovers who had joined Laura Iarocci’s Explore Flower Tours visit to the Pacific Northwest. An Atlanta-based floral designer who specializes in weddings and events, floral design education for church and cathedral flower guilds, and floral-enriched tours in Europe, the U.S., and beyond, Laura is also a Slow Flowers member who highlights local flowers and sustainability in her programming. Since 2011, Explore Flower Tours has been an extension of Laura’s Faith Flowers design school and studio, leading curated tours that include flower workshops with local, leading designers and instructors, flower farm visits, garden tours, flower shows, unique floral events, and more. During my day with the Explore Flower Tours group, we began with staff-led tour of the cooler and displays at Seattle Growers Market. After lunch, the group joined me in a floral design workshop using a bounty of seasonal flowers, foliages, and textures – and together we created a 100% compostable, foam-free centerpiece. The following day, I caught up with Laura to record today’s conversation about her unique business model that combines teaching, touring, and wedding design.

Before Laura Iarocci joined the volunteer flower guild at The Cathedral of St. Philip, the Episcopal cathedral in Atlanta, her relationship with flowers was as simply loved them. Up to that point, she had been a Wall Street banker. A relocation to Atlanta and a search for a creative outlet sparked what has become a fulfilling career and life in flowers.

At the time, when her children were little, Laura loved the quiet joy of arranging behind the scenes, creating florals that commemorated and provided hospitality and fellowship – and making services, funerals, and weddings more beautiful.

She tells the story in her 2018 book, “Faith Flowers,” a guide to arranging church flowers. “There were not so many flower arranging classes then as there are today. A very kind gentleman named Tyler Gresham, whose family had owned a flower shop in Atlanta, took me under his wing when I became the Flower Guild chair. He taught me how to buy flowers, prepare recipes and design in the classic English style. I worked as much as possible with the many other experienced arrangers on the Flower Guild.”

Over time, Laura has taken classes with some of the leading designers and instructors around the world, exposing herself to new ideas and techniques to apply to church design.

She formed Faith Flowers in 2010. Her studio now includes a flower school, flower tours around the world, and floral design for weddings, events, and funerals.

We recently sat down to record the conversation you’ll hear now, the day after I taught a sustainable design workshop for her Pacific Northwest flower and garden tour produced by Laura’s sister business, Explore Flower Tours.

I hope we spark some new ideas for your business, as you think about creating floral design experiences and excursions for your customers and communities. This podcast is committed to shining a light and amplifying the voices of our members, celebrating the many stories of this community, stories as diverse as each of you.

Find and follow Faith Flowers on Instagram and Facebook
Find and follow Explore Flower Tours on Instagram

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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.

And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Our next sponsor thanks goes 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.

Our final sponsor thanks goes to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com

---

The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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; Contrarian
by Blue Dot Session
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

The 2027 Slow Flowers Summit will take place live and in-person on the grounds of Filoli Historic House and Garden, the famed cultural destination in the San Francisco Bay Area. Late last month, I traveled there for a site visit and planning session, meeting up with several of Filoli’s horticulture and floriculture team members, including Jackie Salas, today’s guest. The weather was glorious and Jackie led Niesha Blancas, our social media manager, and me on a walk through Filoli’s cutting garden while we filmed and recorded content. While introducing us to the vast perennial and annual beds and borders, Jackie clipped and gathered some of her favorite blooms, foliages, and texture elements for an arrangement she subsequently designed. This was a delightful education for a flower-lover like me, as Jackie shared about the character of California gardens, the history of cut flower growing and design at this renowned estate garden, and how she favors plants with two or three uses – both in the landscape and the vase. Filoli plays a leading role in horticulture and gardening education, with an emphasis on sustainability and design, and we know you and other Slow Flowers Summit attendees will be enriched by your time there next June. Today’s conversation is a beautiful preview – as we are gearing up to open Early Bird ticket sales on November 1st.

You may have heard that we’re celebrating our 10^th Slow Flowers Summit next year. The dates are set for June 20^th to 22nd, 2027 and you’re invited to join the Slow Flowers community as we highlight new ideas and leading voices in floral design, flower farming, and sustainability topics. The big news is that the Summit will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area at Filoli Historic House & Garden. This might sound familiar, and it is – because Filoli’s leadership has invited us to return after our successful 2021 conference there.

I’m so excited that we’ll again experience a full immersion of the gardens, landscape, and natural areas at Filoli, as we learn from expert Slow Flowers instructors, including from Filoli’s horticulture and floriculture teams.

Today’s guest is Jackie Bergquist Salas, Horticulture Production Manager at Filoli. Here’s more about Jackie. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native who has always had a passion for petals. As a child growing up in the East Bay, she thought it normal to harvest backyard roses for Thanksgiving centerpieces, and large bouquets of fresh Calla Lilies from her yard long into May. She took this passion to UC Davis, where in 2005 she earned a B.S. in Environmental Horticulture with specializations in Landscape/Turf Management and Nursery Production/Floriculture. While at Davis she also worked in the university’s Floriculture Labs. Continuing her florific journey, Jackie she obtained a M.S. in Public Horticulture from the University of Delaware and the Longwood Garden’s Graduate Program in 2009. She picked up floral arranging skills at a private estate after college, and honed her growing skills at Children’s Fairyland in downtown Oakland, California. These experiences led her to her dream job at Filoli Gardens and Estate, where she manages the Horticultural Production spaces and staff.

As I mentioned, Niesha and I spent a few hours recently, touring the cutting gardens as Jackie introduced us to the late summer-early autumn plantings. After meeting the plants where they grow, we followed her into the floral arranging room in Filoli’s mansion, a special place where all the vase collections are stored, flowers are dried, and design supplies are stocked for staff to easily create close to 20 arrangements weekly for the public and administrative areas. I encourage you to watch the replay video of my conversation with Jackie as we toured the gorgeous Filoli Cutting Gardens and as she designed a seasonal arrangement. You’ll find it at slowflowerspodcast.com or on our YouTube channel for Episode 790. By the way, Filoli Horticulture is a member of the Slow Flowers Society and we’re so grateful for their involvement as both a host venue and fellow members.

One more series of thank you’s I want to share. During our few days in the Bay Area, Niesha and I were joined by several Slow Flowers members, including some of our Summit speakers and designers. We had a great time on a walk-through of the Filoli mansion, and later visited in the Café at Filoli for networking and good friendship. A special thank you to our Filoli counterparts, including Jim Salyards, Brendan Dellerba, Sonia Capitant, Aimee Sanders and Marlene(a) Delgado for all their input and guidance – you showed us a magnificent time and it’s a preview of what’s to come.

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Thank you to speakers who joined us, including Kristine Albrecht (and her husband Brion Sprinsock) of Santa Cruz Dahlias, Jacqueline Pham of Pham Peony Gardens, and Melissa Olson of Penflora Designs. We also welcomed Teresa Sabankaya, who has agreed to serve as the Creative Director for the Floral Takeover at the Filoli mansion. Sarah Reyes and Laura Sasso of Wildflower and Fern in Oakland also joined us. What a treat to connect in person as we all began to imagine the many ways we can deliver a fantastic, inspiring, and idea-filled 2027 Slow Flowers Summit.

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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.

And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Thank you to Charles Little & Company for supplying our industry with some of the most beautiful and sustainably-grown design ingredients, available nationwide through their website at charleslittleandcompany.com. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the farmers at Charles Little & Company have been growing and drying flowers since 1986. New products and dried flower collections are added to their website at the first of each month. Check it out at charleslittleandcompany.com.

Thank you to the Seattle 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 seattlegrowersmarket.com.

---

The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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; Speaker Joy
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

In The Genius of Flowers, award-winning journalist and flower historian Jill Brooke reveals a truth that resonates: flowers are not passive, fragile objects. They don’t suffer in silence—they are master strategists, adapting, collaborating, and thriving through ice ages, climate shifts, and constant change. Blending science, history, and personal growth, this eye-opening book explores the meaning of flowers, the symbolism of flowers, and how nature’s intelligence can guide us toward resilience, happiness, and success.
Jill is an award-winning journalist, former CNN correspondent, and founder of Flower Power Daily, an online platform celebrating the beauty and meaning of flowers. A columnist for Florists’ Review magazine and recipient of the American Institute of Floral Designers’ Merit Award, she brings decades of storytelling experience to the world of flowers. Through her work, she explores the intersection of flowers, culture, wellness, and human connection. We recently recorded a conversation about The Genius of Flowers, as Jill introduces her new book to the Slow Flowers Community.

Jill Brooke describes herself as a flower historian. She is a gardener; she lives on a flower farm from the 1790s; and she documents the stories of flowers through the lens of a journalist. For every major news story or world event, Jill identifies the flower “angle,” the connection between the flower world and the rest of the universe.

In her introduction to “The Genius of Flowers,” she writes: “People often dismiss flowers because they fade. But that’s precisely their genius. Their beauty if fleeting by design – a reminder to pay attention now, not later. They bloom to teach presence, not permanence. If they lasted forever, we’d stop noticing.”

She concludes . . . “One should never mistake a flower’s softness for weakness. Flowers have their own way of knowing, one deeply attuned to the rhythms of the Earth, the turning of the seasons, and survival. The power of the flower has toppled empires, crowned monarchs, and mended hearts, and it has been history’s most impressive peacemaker – a task very much needed in these times.”

In my conversation with Jill, we discuss the many ways flowers can float into and intersect with our lives. Her book is a curation of chapters meant to inspire, and to offer ways to access the power of flowers in your own life.

Order The Genius of Flowers
Follow Jill Brooke on Instagram and Facebook

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NEWS: Slow Flowers Summit 2017 — Meet our Speakers

We’re thrilled to announce our speaker lineup for the 2027 Slow Flowers Summit! In developing our program, we have invited inspiring  presenters for the 10^th annual conference, live and in-person, June 20-22, 2027 at Filoli Historic House and Garden in Woodside, California.

This is a reunion of sorts because we’re welcoming author and landscape designer Leslie Bennett, owner of Pine House Edible Gardens to the stage – she is also the founder of the Black Sanctuary Gardens project in Oakland and the Bay Area – and Leslie was a speaker at our first Slow Flowers Summit in 2017! In addition to sharing the story of Black Sanctuary Gardens and the ways you can incorporate your mission and values into your floral enterprise, Leslie will be joined in a second presentation by her team members as they speak about and demonstrate the idea of creating a “Landscape for Your Vase” – a topic that will appeal to gardeners, growers, and florists.

We’ve made a commitment to a Slow Flowers California celebration, and our speakers represent member flower farmers, farmer-florists and designers from the Golden State. Others include floral designers Melissa Olson of Penflora Designs, Nichole Skalski of California Sister Floral Design, Jennifer McClendon of JenniFlora, and Jacqueline Pham of Phamily Peony Gardens. We’ll also learn from expert dahlia grower and breeder Kristine Albrecht of Santa Cruz Dahlias, and farmer-florist and dried floral expert Hannah Muller of Full Belly Farm.

In addition, we’re planning a number of incredible immersive experiences to get your hands on locally-grown botanicals as you expand your design skills and creativity. Also, the horticulture and floral design team at Filoli will be involved as our guides and instructors as we engage with nature and its beauty throughout the grounds of this historic destination.

You can read all about our speakers at slowflowerssummit.com, and keep an eye out for more details when we open Early Bird ticket sales on November 1^st. I can’t wait for you to join the celebration.

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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.

And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Thank you to Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com.

Thank you to Charles Little & Company for supplying our industry with some of the most beautiful and sustainably-grown design ingredients, available nationwide through their website at charleslittleandcompany.com. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the farmers at Charles Little & Company have been growing and drying flowers since 1986. New products and dried flower collections are added to their website at the first of each month. Check it out at charleslittleandcompany.com.

---

The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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; Cast in Wicker
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

Jennifer Jewell’s long-running public radio show “Cultivating Place“ asks: “Is cultivating place well the ability to feed your family better? Is it the ability to have a say in how our climate and our environment is cared for, starting right in our own backyards? Is it, in part, the tending to your household or community economy in a healthy and sane manner? Is it carrying the culture of your ancestors forward into the future or perhaps even rewriting the culture as you found it into the one you would like to tend and grow?”
She continues, “Cultivating your place might even just be a matter of putting beautiful flowers on your bedside table every week you can, or having the gift of a public park or greenspace near enough that you can walk there, sit in the sun, or greet the trees and other neighbors there…”
Jennifer is a Slow Flowers member who has joined us in advocating and supporting for domestic floral agriculture, local and seasonal flower growing and sourcing, and sustainable floral design practices that honor the land, the people connected to that land, and their communities. Today, she joins me to share news of the first, live, Cultivating Place symposium, taking place in South Bend, Indiana, later this month. It is called “The Power of Gardeners,” which is also the title of the new, 10-part Cultivating Place documentary series set to debut on PBS nationwide next spring. I’m delighted to catch up with Jennifer and you’re invited to listen in!

I’m thrilled to welcome Jennifer Jewell as a return guest to the Slow Flowers Podcast, as she updates us about all that’s happening in the Cultivating Place community.

Jennifer is the founder and host of Cultivating Place, a national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast that debuted in 2016. The show evolved from Jennifer’s first public radio program, “In A North State Garden,” which aired on North State Public Radio in Northern California from 2008 to 2015. Her current one-hour, interview-based program, “Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden,” is co-produced by North State Public Radio and focuses on the culture of gardening around the world. Cultivating Place is syndicated on NPR affiliate radio stations across California and in Ohio and available as individual episodes to public radio stations on Public Radio Exchange (PRX).

The Power of Gardeners speaker lineup:

Over the years, a passionate community has formed around Cultivating Place, and later this month, hosts, listeners, and friends, will gather for their first in-person symposium, called “The Power of Gardeners” The Symposium includes a full day of lectures and panels on Friday, September 25. In addition to the show’s co-hosts Abra Lee and Ben Futa, Jennifer will be joined by Wambui Ippolito and Chris Fehlhaber to round out the speaker lineup. The gathering will also include a panel on the creation of The Power of Gardeners documentary series, with filmmaker and director Myriam Nicodemus.

The Power of Gardeners will continue on Saturday, September 26^th, with a guided tour led by Ben Futa, as participants will visit his South Bend floriculture and horticulture enterprises, including the gardening boutique called Botany & Co. and the Lot Next Door Nursery. Later, guests will visit and hear more about the background and future of gardens and green spaces contributing to the reconnection of people, plants, pollinators, and purpose of place in South Bend. Ben is a new member of Slow Flowers, as he is now a cut flower farmer who grows on satellite land near Botany & Co. We’ll learn more from him in a future episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast, I promise.

Let’s jump right in and welcome Jennifer Jewell to the Slow Flowers Podcast. Together we will explore what she means by the phrase “cultivating place,” and how we all should embody the word “Gardener, with a capital G.” A program note: The first 3 minutes of today’s episode includes a trailer for “The Power of Gardeners;” it’s a sneak peek into the new PBS documentary series set to debut next April. This will be followed by my extended interview with Jennifer.

There is still time to register at the Early Bird rate of $140 to attend The Power of Gardeners – the discount continues through September 15^th. Follow the link in our show notes for more details. As I mentioned to Jennifer, this is an incredibly affordable event, so if you’re in the region and you can make the trip to South Bend, I encourage you to do so.

In South Bend, you‘ll learn lessons from people tending plants in their places, despite many odds, and in doing so growing everything better: the ecology of interdependent gardens, the look and feel of the city, the economic and cultural integrity and vibrancy of their communities, and the future history of these people and this place.

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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.

And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Thank you to Charles Little & Company for supplying our industry with some of the most beautiful and sustainably-grown design ingredients, available nationwide through their website at charleslittleandcompany.com. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the farmers at Charles Little & Company have been growing and drying flowers since 1986. New products and dried flower collections are added to their website at the first of each month. Check it out at charleslittleandcompany.com.

And thank you to the Seattle 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 seattlegrowersmarket.com.

---

The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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; Heartland Flyer
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

Labellum Flowers is a contemporary flower boutique in Bozeman, Montana, by the way of New York, Paris and Los Angeles. Founder Remy Greco-Brault describes Labellum’s style as hip, modern and organic. She writes: “We love mixing natural elements and incorporating rich textures into our work. With artistry and imagination, each arrangement tells a story and is as unique as our clients. We are inspired by the ever-changing seasons with all of their natural textures.” Celebrating its 15^th birthday this year, Labellum Flowers works with gardeners and farmers in the region – especially during the warmer months in Montana — to combine as many vibrant local flowers as possible into their designs. In her own urban micro farm, Remy grows many flowers, foliages and textural elements to supply her shop and studio. Whenever possible, she loves to forage respectfully and ethically. Today’s episode features a floral design demonstration by Remy, using 85% Montana-grown botanicals. If you want to learn about Remy’s design, sourcing and pricing philosophy, check out the video interview where she challenges me to guess the retail price of a long, low centerpiece for a summer dinner party!

Recently, I had a fun conversation with today’s guest, Remy Brault of Labellum Flowers in Bozeman, Montana. We reminisced about the beautiful Yellowstone Club wedding she designed that we published in Slow Flowers Journal’s wedding issue a few years ago, a ceremony for a couple who wanted the majority of their flowers to be as local as possible. It was a stunning event, and spontaneously, I asked Remy if she would be up for designing on camera for the Slow Flowers Show.

Since she was creating long, low table arrangements for an upcoming dinner party for 40, Remy offered to show how one of the pieces comes together while we chatted. That’s what you’ll be treated to today. We start out with a re-introduction to Remy and Labellum Flowers. She is a return guest to the Slow Flowers Podcast, where she joined me in 2020, before we added the video component.

The design demonstration features ingredients from Jamie Rogers, a longtime Slow Flowers member and past guest of this podcast. Jamie is also featured, along with his former partner at Killing Frost Farm, Carly Jenkins, in The Flower Farmers book – out last year. In her table arrangement, Remy includes some of Jamie’s gorgeous dahlias and other stems, along with goodies from her own garden.

Join me in guessing the budget for this arrangement and you’ll be as surprised as I was. I know you’ll love this mid-summer treat, an inspiring and visually beautiful conversation!

FOLLOW: Find Labellum Flowers on Instagram and Facebook

LISTEN: Past Slow Flowers Podcast Episodes featuring Remy Greco-Brault, Labellum Flowers

June 24, 2020, Episode 459 Modern Montana with Remy Brault of Labellum, a retail flower shop in Bozeman, Montana

December 23, 2020, Episode 485: Slow Flowers’ Holiday Music Special with floral designer-musician Remy Brault of Labellum Flowers and Nest of Seven

READ: PDF of the story that features Labellum Flowers’ Yellowstone Club wedding.

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Thank you to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com

And thank you to Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com.

---

Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 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:
Drone Pine; Gaena; Dream Caper
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

I recorded today’s conversation on the final day of our recent flower and garden-inspired river cruise in Holland and Belgium. It was a spontaneous decision to sit down with Eileen Tongson, a longtime Slow Flowers member, owner of FarmGal Flowers, and one of 29 North American growers featured in the pages of The Flower Farmers book, who had joined the tour along with her cousin, Sarah Ponce. Based in Winter Park, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, Eileen’s success at growing flowers nearly year-round was once a curiosity; now it’s part of her reputation. Her students want to learn how to grow a flower garden like she has; they take Eileen’s workshops at a local botanical garden or at East End Market, an artisanal food and restaurant hub; and in small-group events at the FarmGal Flowers’ cottage garden where Eileen lives with her family. I’m so thankful that Eileen agreed to record this conversation with me as she shared her story with fellow tour-goers and with our viewers and listeners. It also gave me a chance to tell the story of the origins of the Slow Flowers Movement with our fellow travelers.

In the pages of The Flower Farmers book, the opening lines of our chapter about FarmGal Flowers begins: “The botanical lifestyle that Eileen Tongson leads today began with a simple packet of zinnia seeds from her mother. “In retrospect, I was very fortunate, because I didn’t think much about it when I threw those seeds into some of my vegetable beds,” she says. “But they grew like crazy!”

And as is the case with so many of us, those seeds planted a passion for flowers, an overflowing cutting garden, and a new career for the former nursing educator.

Twelve years ago, FarmGal Flowers was born, and through her micro urban flower farm Eileen has made a great impression on her community and beyond.

I’m so happy that she agreed to be part of The Flower Farmers book. Her story illustrates how to shape a flower-filled life and how to share it with others. And in our conversation, Eileen joined me in telling the Slow Flowers story, as well.

We recorded in the lounge of AmaWaterways’ Certo vessel, the home of our seven-day river and canal cruise in April. About 20 of our fellow tourgoers joined us to learn more about Slow Flowers and FarmGal Flowers, and it was a lively and lovely experience – and I’m so happy we can share it with you today.

Find and follow FarmGal Flowers on Instagram and Facebook
Sign up for FarmGal Flowers’ newsletter here

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to 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 Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com.

And thank you to Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com.

---

Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 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; Color Country
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

In anticipation of my visit to FAM Flower Farm during last month’s Slow Flowers Tulip Tour in Holland and Belgium, I invited floral entrepreneurs Linda van der Slot and Marlies Weijers to join me on the Podcast. Friends since age 12, who married into Dutch tulip bulb and dahlia tuber-producing families, respectively, Linda and Marlies left careers of their own to form FAM Flower Farm nearly a decade ago. Their goal was to bring a feminine touch to a global floral industry – producing and selling bulbs, not for brokers and distributors or via the famous Dutch flower auctions, but for home gardeners, flower enthusiasts and tulip and dahlia lovers across Europe. By sharing their floral lifestyles and encouraging people to “Grow Your Own Happiness,” the partners quickly became Instagram darlings, with nearly 200k followers. Our tour group, which I co-led with Lorene Edwards Forkner, was fortunate to schedule a private tour of FAM Flower Farm, located in Holland’s flower bulb region, next to Keukenhof Gardens. Join our visit, followed by my pre-recorded conversation with Linda and Marlies – and catch a glimpse into their beautiful, bloom-filled lives, that they share with the world.

For years, Marlies Weijers and Linda van der Slot watched their husbands grow bulbs and tubers, which were then shipped in bulk to wholesalers and exporters all over the world. But they had no idea who would actually end up enjoying those flowers in their garden. That felt like a missed opportunity. So, the women decided to team up and start FAM Flower Farm. They chose “FAM” because it stands for both family and feminine —  with the goal of bringing a fresh, female perspective and connecting directly with fellow flower lovers.

With a mutual love for flowers, shared on Instagram, through FAM Flower Farm’s inspiration-packed website and an online shop for tubers, bulbs, and seeds, the small enterprise has exploded. Their goal was to showcase the stunning variety of the flowers they grow, the vibrant colors, the blooming fields, and the heart of family businesses. All with our own feminine touch, in the photography, the stories, and the packaging. And guess what? It took off! Thousands of flower lovers found their way to us. Our colorful updates were welcomed with open arms, and people began ordering bulbs and tubers to bring that same joy to their own gardens.

They visited our fields, shared their photos, and helped spread the word. Suddenly, we were connecting with flower fans all over the world. People we had never met became real faces and voices to us. We could ask them questions, learn what they love, and share tips and ideas.

That direct contact with our customers is what we love most. Many are amazed by how easy it is to plant bulbs and tubers—and how long the flowers bring joy, both in the garden and in the home.

Today’s episode is in two parts – first, I filmed an in-person tour and Linda’s presentation when I visited FAM Flower Farm on 22^nd, with 37 others as part of our Slow Flowers Tulip Tour to Holland and Belgium. That is followed by a virtual interview I conducted with Marlies and Linda in early April, prior to my visit.

Thanks so much for joining me today. You’ll want to watch the replay video of Episode 767 at slowflowerspodcast.com or on our YouTube channel. Thanks to Lois Moss of Tour 2 Explore More, our fantastic tour producer, who initially discovered FAM Flower Farm and arranged for our visit to spend a beautiful afternoon with Linda and Marlies.

If you’re planning to visit the region, be sure to check out FAM Flower Farm’s tour calendar – tickets go quickly for April’s tulip tour and September’s dahlia tour!

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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 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 seattlegrowersmarket.com.

And thank you to our own bulb and tuber sponsor for US gardeners — 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.

---

Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 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; Crown of September
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