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Bloomz Flower Farm is a 25-acre farm and design studio in Zillah, Washington, with gorgeous views of Mt. Adams, surrounded by beautiful farmland in all directions, including wheat and alfalfa production. Here, owner Sara Groeneweg has infused flower farming into all aspects of her life and business. After earning an agriculture education degree at Washington State University in 2000, Sara taught high school agriculture for eight years before starting her family. Now, in addition to raising two teenage sons, she teaches middle school science – one full-time job – while also growing more than 50 varieties of flowers at Bloomz Flower Farm for weddings, events, flower subscriptions, and market bouquets – her other full-time job. A natural teacher, Sara acknowledges that she is a crazy for flowers and loves sharing their beauty with others.

Sara Groeneweg grew up in a family of gardeners and growers in western Washington. When she was young, showing livestock at the local fair, Sara noticed the 4H and Future Farmers of America kids with their teachers. They looked like they were having so much fun that she decided: “That’s what I want to do when I grow up!”

The experience led her into agricultural education where she studied at Washington State University and me her future husband, Leroy, a horticulture major. They married and settled in the Yakima Valley in eastern Washington, close to where Leroy grew up. Now with two teenage sons, life is very full. And like most competent women, Sara is a doer. She currently teaches science full-time at the local middle school in Wapato, while also operating Bloomz Flower Farm. As a farmer-florist, Sara loves designing weddings and of course, she grows everything for her events. The crops at Bloomz are arranged in beds and borders that beautify the landscape, which also has integrated structures like arbors and trellises – and an attractive and productive wood-framed greenhouse. In recent years, more of a farm vibe has crept onto the family property, with rows of dahlias and annuals occupying one huge zone.

I first met Sara when she attended the 2023 Slow Flowers Summit in Bellevue, Washington, arriving with buckets of her own stems to share for our floral design takeover there. When I scheduled a trip to the Yakima Valley a few weeks ago, I invited myself for a visit and tour. Plus, we recorded a wonderful conversation about Sara’s floral journey. I know you’ll enjoy seeing what she grows in her gorgeous garden, including the dahlias at their peak. Let’s jump right in and get started!

Find and follow Bloomz Flower Farm on Instagram and Facebook.

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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.

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.

And thank you to Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high-quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.

---

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 credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Telnik Sparkle
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

Spokane, Washington-based floral personality Katie Lila is on a mission to make fresh flowers a cultural expectation. Not just a novelty, but a norm. She has navigated many facets of the flower-verse – from running a floral event business, to crafting large-scale art installations, and producing her floral-centric TV series. We first featured Katie as producer and host of “Follow the Blooms” in 2024 when it debuted on a live-streaming platform. Now the series has moved to PBS with a nationwide distribution that reaches 70% of public TV viewers across the country. I reunited with Katie last week at Bellevue Botanical Garden, where she previously filmed our Slow Flowers Summit in 2023. The “Flower Summit” episode is part of Season One. Bellevue Botanical Garden hosted a Follow the Blooms screening for members and volunteers. You’ll hear an update from Katie as we discuss manifesting one’s floral dreams, and a conversation with James Gagliardi, the BBG director, who discusses the importance of public gardens in the life of communities everywhere. Katie also generously shared a preview of her “Flower Summit” Episode. If you attended that fabulous event, you might just see yourself on the screen!

Katie Lila has spent more than two decades working in every nook and cranny of the flower industry—running a wedding and event business, holding workshops, creating massive floral installations, and producing “Follow the Blooms.” She has partnered with local growers, visited farms across the country, and inspired hands-on flower experiences in ways people never imagined.
These days, Katie is a flower-reporter who documents the world of blooms and shares their narratives through media that tells a darn good story.

This all comes together in 10 episodes of “Follow the Blooms” Season One, just picked up nationally by PBS stations in 70 percent of the viewing market. As Katie integrates fresh flowers into the mainstream fabric of society through innovative floral experiences that spark joy, cultivate community, and invite curiosity, she is living out her own dream of floral storytelling – something we here at Slow Flowers have been doing for 15 years. We’re thrilled that Katie is a Slow Flowers member and encourage you to join her as she’s following the blooms. As Katie likes to say: “If my creativity had a theme song, it would be a quirky tune on a ukulele titled, ‘What Else Can We Do With Flowers?’”

WATCH Follow the Blooms on PBS

Join me to learn more about this project and also learn how you might be able to get involved in a future episode. Let’s jump right in and get started. Enjoy a sneak peek of the “Flower Summit” episode that features Tracy Yang of Jarn Co. Flower Farm, the Seattle Growers Market, and the Slow Flowers Summit from 2023. 

Season Two of Follow the Blooms is currently filming, but Katie is collecting ideas for Season Three.

---

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 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.

---

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 credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Rose Ornamental
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 her new book, Floramama, flower farmer Chloé Roy combines ecological growing practices, proven business strategies, and the artistry of floral design into a visually rich guide to small-scale floriculture. This Quebec-based farmer-florist originally published Floramama in her native French language in 2023, and now, New Society Publishers has translated it into English for the rest of us to savor and absorb. Chloé is a biointensive ecological flower grower and flower farming educator. She learned market gardening from expert vegetable growers and then leveraged her skills and knowledge to turn Floramama Farm’s 1.5 acres into a thriving, six-figure flower business. We’re thrilled that the Slow Flowers Movement is featured in the book’s opening pages, where Chloé writes: “I discovered the Slow Flowers movement, inspired by the Slow Food Movement. American author Debra Prinzing published her 2014 book Slow Flowers (and) her work helped create a wonderful flower-growing community in the United States and eventually around the world.” It’s the Slow Flowers journey that connected me with Chloé and her work, and you’ll love our conversation today, which includes a deep dive into Floramama, the book.

In the lead up to Canadian Flowers Week, taking place August 17-23, we scheduled today’s episode to shine a light on one of Canada’s inspiring floral stories. Chloé Roy is a successful ecological flower grower, flower farming instructor, and founder of the ground-breaking start-up Floramama. After working with Jean-Martin Fortier at Les Jardins de la Grelinette for two years, she was inspired to apply her skills in human-scale agriculture to floriculture. Chloé launched Floramama, Quebec’s first biointensive flower farm, in 2014.

Since then, Floramama has grown to provide full-time employment for several women while delivering bouquets to over 550 annual subscribers and selling to the public through farmers’ markets, to florists and designers, to small local shops and a large organic grocery store chain, as well as arranging flowers for weddings and events, turning Floramama’s 1.5 acres of flowers into a $380,000 annual business. Chloé lives and farms in Frelighsburg, Quebec.

Also, check out Canadian Flowers Week’s website and Instagram to learn how you can support and celebrate this wonderful floral holiday, which Slow Flowers inspired and helped to launch. The campaign acknowledges that many of the flowers that are sold in Canada are imported and aspires to increase the percentage of local flowers used by floral designers and purchased by Canadian consumers. By raising awareness of flower seasonality in Canada and connecting with growers, both the industry and consumers can start to make locally conscious purchase decisions without having to sacrifice quality and uniqueness. 
Learn more at canadianflowersweek.ca.

---

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 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 1.6 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; Stencils
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 2019, Corinne Bryson founded Flora Good Times, a retail plant and flower shop and design studio in Beacon, New York. Located on Beacon’s beautiful Main Street, in a lush, plant-filled jewel box of a space, Flora Good Times specializes in unusual houseplants and unconventional flower arrangements. Corinne has cared for and loved thousands of houseplants throughout her life, and has no plans to stop loving more. Proudly woman-owned, with a team of women creatives, Flora Good Times contributes a portion of its sales to fighting for justice in food and farming systems, human rights initiatives, and local community building. As Corinne says, “We believe in science and equity. We believe that plants aren’t decor, they’re a relationship. Education is the most important thing, and online advice is endless. We want to help customers weed through it all to know what really matters, so that they and their plant friends can take a deep breath and enjoy each other.”
Recently featured in the Summer 2026 issue of Slow Flowers Journal, Corinne enthusiastically said “yes,” when I told her I would be in the NYC area in late July and hoped to visit Flora Good Times in person. Located about 75 minutes by train north of Grand Central Station, Beacon is a charming town, with a vibrant downtown area. Join me on a tour of the flower and plant shop there, followed by a sit-down conversation with Corinne, filmed in the production studio located nearby.

Flora Good Times was built with a focus on supporting local in every way possible. The shop and studio source flowers locally from farms in all directions – including the Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey, and members of the nearby Connecticut Flower Collective. The products on Flora Good Times shelves come from local and national makers for everything from pottery offerings to home goods, paper, gifts, and accessories. This is a small business that walks the talk, believing that a rising tide lifts all ships. And by looking to individual small farms and makers, all rise.

As I mentioned in the intro, I spend a delightful day visiting Beacon. Ostensibly, we were in NYC to attend the USA Track and Field Championships in Manhattan, my husband Bruce’s passion, and of course, to see our two sons who live and work there. But I snuck away one morning, taking the Metro North train on a beautiful route along the Hudson River. I wish I had more time to visit other Slow Flowers members in the area, but that will have to take place on my next trip. Focusing on the story of Corinne and Flora Good Times allowed me to film a video tour of her plant and flower shop, and to sit down for an informative conversation about what gives her joy – and her inspiring story.

As a post-script to today’s episode, I dug into “The Flora Dispatch,” the blog on Flora Good Times’ website, where I learned this:

• In 2025, the shop and studio purchased Over 82,270 stems of flowers from local farmers across the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
• The off season was supplemented with over 54,470 stems from select importers, always chosen with care, to support
• 30 full-Service, A-La-Carte and Pickup weddings for couples who came from near and far to celebrate in the beautiful Hudson Valley.
• In addition to serving wedding ceremonies, Flora Good Times made 1,532 bouquets, 1,231 arrangements, tended to 3,475 specialty plants, and completed 613 deliveries.
• They did it all: From everyday gestures to corporate retreats to once-in-a-lifetime moments, it meant filling the Lower Hudson Valley with natural beauty through flowers and plants.
• Behind all the pretty stuff, the team at FGT we spent approximately 1 million hours (Rounding Down) cleaning buckets, candles, and processing stems.
• They lost 40 pairs of clippers — but Corinne admits, those might be in her car.
• The post concludes with this summary: “What we learned was immeasurable.

“None of this happens alone. We are endlessly grateful to the farmers who grow with integrity and care, the vendors and collaborators who show up ready to make something beautiful, and our customers who trust us with meaningful moments in their lives. To our floral artists and shop team: your talent, patience, creativity, and calm under pressure are the backbone of this business. We see you, and we’re so thankful for you.”

“Most of all, thank you to our community. To our local customers, our fellow small businesses, and the couples and planners who choose to work with us for their wedding day. Six years in, we still feel surprised by our good fortune. We’re crazy proud of the work we do, ridiculously grateful for the support we receive, and so excited to keep growing, one season at a time.”

I’m so grateful for Corinne’s leadership in the Slow Flowers community and I hope you draw ideas and inspiration from her story!

Find and follow Flora Good Times on Instagram and Facebook

---

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 Charles Little and Company for supplying our industry with some of the most beautiful and sustainably-grown design ingredients, available nationwide through their website at charleslittleandcompany.com. On August 25th, spend the day touring Charles Little & Company in Eugene, Oregon, as part of the ASCFG regional gathering. Learn how the farm operates seasonally with an emphasis on field grown crops for national sales and visit the farm stand and U-Pick fields that connect the farm to its community. Interact with Charles Little and Bethany Little to learn and be inspired. Lunch is included. Ticket details are at ascfg.org.

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.

---

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 credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Light on the Jetty
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

Belle Pétale is a boutique floral design studio located in Lakewood, outside Tacoma, Washington. For owner Teresa Rao, each of her made-to-order floral arrangements is created with a custom palette of seasonal flowers sourced in the Pacific Northwest from local flower farmers. Teresa credits three influences for her aesthetic: “My spirit is American; my heart is Mexican; and my soul is French.” Her childhood summers consisted of trips to Guadalajara, Mexico, where her family is originally from, and where the Spanish and French influences are profoundly evident in the Mexican cuisine, architecture and traditions – it’s where she fell in love with an old-world sensibility. Now, as an ardent gardener, homemaker and creative, Teresa continues to draw inspiration from her Mexican heritage, romantic gardens, European art and home interiors to create classic, seasonal, French-inspired floral designs. Belle Pétale incorporates all of this into design elements that accentuate the French floral style: poetry, structure, and nature – with a polished presentation. Join me on a visit to Teresa’s new studio in Lakewood, where we discuss her focus on blooms and events. We wrap up the interview with a Bastille Day floral design demonstration!

Teresa Rao is a Tacoma-based Slow Flowers member who we first introduced you to in the pages of our 2021 book, Where We Bloom. The feature documents her transition as an avid gardener with a 16-year corporate training career to a studio floral designer. In the story, she discusses having a love for “all things French,” which explains her choice of Belle Pétale as a studio name.

It has been a joy to watch this floral entrepreneur’s business evolve in the subsequent five years. Through her studio Teresa continues to support local floral sourcing, as she continues to weave the language of flowers into her designs, delighting customers with the meaning and messages of the arrangements they order. There is always a French flair, and now, Belle Pétale has a new studio in the community of Lakewood, outside Tacoma. I visited a few weeks ago and this really feels like Teresa’s “forever studio,” designed for both efficiency and to welcome larger workshops of up to 15 students.

We’ll catch up on the news of Belle Pétale’s branding re-fresh, and learn about Teresa’s future plans. And of course, I visited just before Bastille Day, the July 14^th French national holiday marking the beginning of the French Revolution – so Teresa treated us to a blue-white-and red floral design to reflect the colors of the flag of France.

Follow Teresa Rao and Belle Pétale on Instagram

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In Slow Flowers news, today’s episode marks our 13^th anniversary of the Slow Flowers Podcast! The show debuted on July 23, 2013, with Episode number 100 – and little did I know that we’d continue going strong for 13 years, with nearly 700 consecutive weekly episodes ever since. The Slow Flowers Podcast is an award-winning podcast known as the “Voice of the Slow Flowers Movement.” We launched as the original, first-ever flower podcast, and for 13 years we have devoted this show to the business of flower farming, floral design, and the Slow Flowers sustainability ethos.

Join me in the celebration! We have brand new show graphics, designed by Niesha Blancas of Fetching Social, our longtime social media manager and branding maven. Each Wednesday you can enjoy this free Slow Flowers content two ways: Watch a brand new video interview on our YouTube channel (a feature we launched in 2021 for our 8^th anniversary), and as always, listen via free downloads on slowflowerspodcast.com, or on iTunes, Spotify, anywhere you subscribe to podcasts.

---

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 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 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 1.6 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; Via Verre
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

The Snohomish County Flower Collective is a regional wholesale floral hub founded in 2023 to bring together nearly 40 growers under one roof. Frequently called the Sno-Co-Flo-Co, the group is based in the historic town of Snohomish, about 35 miles north of Seattle, and most of their members have farms in Snohomish and nearby counties. Their home base is at Fleurs Creative, a floral design studio owned by Alicia Schwede, a longtime Slow Flowers member, floral educator, and advocate for seasonal design. Having a centralized location is a win-win for both Alicia and the farmers. As a community that serves both florists and the general public with high quality, fresh, and local flowers, SnoCo Flower Collective is changing the face of agriculture in an already vibrant farming region. Most of the flower farms are women-owned and their commitment to elevating local flowers and supporting one another is a valuable model. Join me in a conversation with the leadership team’s Tracy Sundby and Beth Kendall, and a bonus chat with Alicia Schwede.

Community, not Competition is the motivating ethos for the Snohomish County Flower Collective. They say: “We believe that thriving farms start with thriving farmers. Our mission is to provide education, training, and resources that empower growers to build successful, sustainable businesses. By fostering collaboration over competition, we break down barriers, create an inclusive space, and ensure a vibrant future for local agriculture. Since our founding in 2023, our collective has been more than just a network—it’s a community. Together, we share knowledge, support one another, and strengthen the local flower movement. By working side by side, we’re not just growing flowers—we’re growing a stronger, more resilient future for small-scale farming.”

On the occasion of the collective’s rebranding and relaunch for season four, I visited last month and was treated to a beautiful experience. Today’s episode begins with a brief bonus conversation with Alicia Schwede, who many of you know for her Flirty Fleurs blog, and her studio, Fleurs Creative. Alicia’s own move to Snohomish, known for its amazing antiques, quaint main street with l9th century buildings along a river’s edge, and a thriving artists community, led to the purchase of a 1905 building, which she and her husband renovated and one portion of which is home to Fleurs Creative.

Next, I recorded a conversation with two of the four members of Sno Co. Flower Collective’s leadership team, Tracy Sundby, owner of Freedom Flower Farm; and Beth Kendall, owner of Flower Farmer Girls. Let’s welcome all to the Slow Flowers Podcast.

And on a personal note, did you hear what Alicia said about the experience that lured her to the town of Snohomish? She credits an early outing when I took her to Snohomish after she first moved to Seattle. Secondly, she credits Slow Flowers for bringing together Alicia’s Fleurs Creative with the Sno Co Flower Collective. Isn’t it serendipitous what happens when we build community with authentic relationships – I was really touched by this and I know that you must have similar stories. The connections between floral designers and flower farmers are strong and interdependent!

Find and follow Snohomish County Flower Collective on Instagram and Facebook

---

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 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 and Company. On August 25th, spend the day touring Charles Little and Company in Eugene, Oregon, as part of the ASCFG regional gathering. Learn how the farm operates seasonally with an emphasis on field grown crops for national sales and visit the farm stand and U-Pick fields that connect the farm to its community. Interact with Charles Little and Bethany Little to learn and be inspired. Lunch is included. Ticket details are at ascfg.org.

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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.

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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; Telnik Sparkle
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 runup to our American Flowers Week’s annual Botanical Couture collection, I’m welcoming Caitlin Mathes to the Slow Flowers Podcast. A longtime Slow Flowers Member based in New York’s Finger Lakes Region, Caitlin has been cultivating the Tagetes species, also known as the marigold, since 2019. Her passion led to establishing The Marigold Gardens as a singular flower farm, specializing in more than 40 marigold varieties. When planning this year’s American Flowers Week floral fashions, we asked Caitlin if she would like to create a marigold garment – and she joined in the fun, growing, designing, fabricating, and modeling her playful look. Join me as we learn more about Caitlin’s floral enterprise, her love affair with marigolds, and her charming, Medieval-inspired garment fashioned with a multitude of colorful and uniquely-formed varieties. You, too, will fall in love with marigolds because Caitlin’s passion is contagious!

American Flowers Week was founded by Slow Flowers in 2015 as the original domestic flower promotion campaign. Each year, from June 28-through July 4, Slow Flowers members and flower lovers everywhere are invited to showcase their flowers. Some folks post their blooms across social media as red-white-and-blue creations; others use the American Flowers Week bouquet labels to adorn market wraps or to decorate take-home arrangements from events and workshops. But since 2016, the centerpiece of American Flowers Week has been the botanical couture runway, floral fashions grown, designed, and produced by flower farmers, farmer-florists, and floral designers, as well as creative fashionistas who just love the idea of dressing a model in blooms.

This year, we have four distinct looks to share in our celebration, and today, we kick things off with a magical marigold design from Caitlin Mathes, owner of The Marigold Gardens.

The Marigold Gardens is an emerging flower farm with only one crop . . . MARIGOLDS! As Caitlin puts it: “The marigold has given me so much joy and inspiration that I felt the need to become a grower, steward, advocate, and cheerleader for this wonderful flower. It is high time marigolds had their praises sung and I look forward to growing The Marigold Gardens into a beautiful destination for all things marigold.”
She calls herself a marigold monger, which is just one role this maker, performer, librarian, and agrarian represents. It was so much fun speaking with Caitlin about her marigold passion, one that inspires her to create and share in all types of ways. Let’s welcome Caitlin to the Slow Flowers Podcast and get ready for a deep dive into the world of marigolds.

Download free social media badges
Flower-farming prints by Amy Rice
Caitlin Mathes’ Marigold Look

And head’s up, today’s episode is the first a three-part series, so join us on June 24th to learn from botanical artist and educator Françoise Weeks; followed by a conversation on July 1^st with Alanna Messner-Scholl of Waverly Flower Co., as both will discuss their American Flowers week floral fashions. I can’t wait to share those wonderful conversations – and you’ll be inspired!

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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.

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.

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.

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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; Talens Bal
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

Niki and William Irving are proud stewards of Flourish Flower Farm, a 9-acre farm in Asheville, North Carolina. Nestled in the heart of old tobacco country, they love nurturing their beautiful slice of paradise in the Blue Ridge Mountains — a dream come true after many years of farming on leased land. They achieve their priority of growing specialty varieties of flowers and producing high quality, organic, fragrant blooms by focusing on intensive planting, soil fertility, plant health and succession planting. As Niki likes to say, ‘Flourish’ as a verb means: “to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment.” Wanting a simple and meaningful business name that fit their values and lives, and thanks to a suggestion from Niki’s mom, they started the farm-based venture during a time of transition and deep personal longing for something more in our lives. “We wanted to be flourishing as people and to be doing something heartfelt and important,” Niki explains. Their goal is not only to provide a favorable environment for plants to flourish, but also for employees, customers, workshop guests, wedding clients and everyone who is a part of Flourish Flower Farm to flourish.

Flourish Flower Farm was established in 2016 is owned and loved by Niki Irving. Niki turned her dream of becoming a farmer-florist into reality and she is the creative force behind Flourish’s designs. As farm manager, she loves growing, nurturing and creating beauty through flowers; her love of plants runs deep, beginning with her family’s landscaping and tree farming businesses. Though he has a full-time job off the farm and is also a small business owner, her husband William enjoys balancing his office job with farm life. Niki and William share a love of nature, hard work, creating beauty and spreading joy at the farm. They believe that flowers make the world a more beautiful, enjoyable place and are inspired by the way a fresh bouquet of flowers lights up someone’s entire face.

Countless varieties of flowers and foliage are grown at Flourish Flower Farm using sustainable, natural practices. Niki and the Flourish team create lush, seasonally-inspired arrangements for weddings and special events, host classes and workshops on the farm and offer seasonal bouquets at the Farmstand. 

Niki is the author of Growing Flowers: Everything You Need to Know About Planting, Tending, Harvesting and Arranging Beautiful Blooms, published in Spring 2021, for which I was honored to write the foreword. We’re delighted that Niki is a longtime Slow Flowers member. She serves as the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers’ Southeastern Regional Director and Flourish is a Certified Local business through the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.

When I ran into Niki this past January at the ASCFG winter conference, I asked if she would return to the Slow Flowers Podcast to share an update. Much of our conversation that you’ll hear today focuses on the full curriculum of flower farming and floral design workshops held on the big, wraparound, covered porch at Flourish Flower Farm – options from just a few hours to two full days of immersion. Niki’s insights about juggling education with flower farming and wedding design are worth your attention – I am so impressed with her approach to this sustainable operation. Let’s jump right in and welcome Niki Irving back to the Slow Flowers Podcast.

More Resources:
Follow Flourish Flower Farm on Instagram and Facebook
Order a signed copy of Growing Flowers
On-Farm Workshop Offerings + Schedule for 2026

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Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up – June 12

You’re invited to our June 12^th Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up – taking place on Zoom this Friday, 9 am PT/12 Noon ET, with special design guest, Gina Thresher of From the Ground Up Floral. Gina recently taught a design workshop at the Seattle Growers Market and it was so popular that we asked her to lead a mini-session for our virtual meetup this month. Her European Sustainable Armature Bouquet elevates floral artistry by moving beyond foam. Gina will demonstrate her European-style natural bouquet armature, a sustainable design philosophy pioneered by legendary German Master Florist Gregor Lersch. A Master Florist, member of AIFD and EMC-trained, as well as a longtime Slow Flowers member, Gina Thresher will demonstrate how to build an intricate structure using only organic and biodegradable materials, allowing your floral compositions to dance within a sculptural framework.

Pre-registration is required – Click below to register and we can’t wait to see you there!

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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.

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 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 My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. This 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 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; Long and Low Cloud
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

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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.

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