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Today’s conversation is both timely and inspiring; compelling and important. I want to welcome Jennifer Jewell back to the Slow Flowers Show. You are in for a very special hour with this gifted human.

Jennifer Jewell is a gardener, garden writer, and gardening educator and advocate. Since 2016, she has written and hosted the national award-winning, weekly public radio program and podcast, Cultivating Place. She is particularly interested in the intersections between gardens, the native plant environments around them, and human culture.

Jennifer is also a gifted author and her third book was released yesterday on September 19^th. I titled this episode “Jennifer Jewell’s love letter to seeds,” and I’m delighted to share the story of her magnificent opus: WHAT WE SOW: On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds.

A deeply insightful and thoroughly engaging storyteller, Jennifer explores the natural history of seeds, the loopholes in the seed supply chain for growing “organic” plants, how agribusiness has patented genomes of staple foods like corn and soy, and the efforts of activists working to regain legal access to heirloom seeds that were stolen from Indigenous peoples and people of color.

As Jennifer marvels at the beautiful, wild seeds she encounters on her daily walks, she shares with the reader how, “to know and care for seeds ourselves [is] one of the most proactive steps we can take to rebuilding our human food systems, our social systems, and the global ecosystems of biodiversity on which we all depend.”

Order your own copy of What We Sow here

See below: Calendar of Jennifer’s upcoming author appearances, lectures, and book-signings – perhaps there’s an event close to you! Be sure to tell Jennifer you heard her here on the Slow Flowers Show!

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Thank you to our Sponsors!

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

Thank you to Seattle Wholesale 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 seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com.

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 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.

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Next week, we’ll resume our 10-year anniversary celebration of the award-winning Slow Flowers Podcast, featuring an inspiring past guest who originally appeared in year seven. I can’t wait to share that episode with you! I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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; Lady Marie; Gaena
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 | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

We’re continuing the 10-week celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Slow Flowers Podcast! I launched the first-ever podcast about flowers on July 23, 2013! This audio storytelling project resonates with so many listeners — people like you who love local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers and who are joining in the Slow Flowers Movement as members, supporters, and allies!

We invite you to help us celebrate by sharing your stories of how the Slow Flowers Podcast has been an inspiring companion to you over the years! Post or send us a video tagged #slowflowerspodcast and we may feature you in our Slow Flowers social media feed! Check out our IG stories on @SlowFlowersSociety, which we will run for the next 10 weeks — you could win one of two priceless prizes! We’ll select two winners among eligible entrants:
1 – win a featured guest spot on a future episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast; and
2 – win a chance to co-host an upcoming monthly Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up. We’ll post the details on social media for you to follow along and participate.

Today is the 3rd Encore Episode as our decade-long retrospective to highlight one episode from each year of the past decade and bring the best of the Slow Flowers Podcast to you. If you’re a longtime listener, you might recognize these flower folks; if you’re new to the Slow Flowers Podcast, I’m excited to introduce you to them for the first time.

Today, I’m happy to introduce you to Mandy and Steve O’Shea, of 3 Porch Farm in Comer, Georgia, outside Athens. They are longtime Slow Flowers Memberswho first appeared in July 2016 in Episode 254; and later, Mandy was a guest in April 2020, early during the Pandemic when we featured a series called “stories of resilience.”

3 Porch Farm is a small, sustainable flower farm dedicated to being the most sustainable flower shipping option in the U.S. Situated on 9 acres, Steven and Mandy work with their crew to grow beautiful blooms in a way that respects the land, their employees, and their community.

Their mission is “Principles before Profit.” They believe that businesses have farm greater impact on the world than individuals and their goal has always been to use their business to effect as much good as possible. That’s it. Be Happy By Doing Good. is a great mission.

Thanks so much for joining me today! You’ll want to check out all of the fun resources for flower farmers and gardeners at the beautiful 3 Porch Farm website, from shopping their inspiring seed collection to joining the waiting list for hellebore plugs and mum cuttings. I’m so inspired by all that 3 Porch Farm is doing as a diversified, sustainable flower farm.

Nationwide Shipping

Wholesale Flowers and Bulk Greenery

Rooted Chrysanthemum Cuttings and Hellebore Plugs

I’ll be hosting an IG Live conversation today, August 9th with Mandy and Steve, so check it out @slowflowerssociety — and you’ll find all of my Slow Flowers Podcast 10th anniversary Live Chats in the archives there.

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.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.

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 johnnysseeds.com.

Thank you to Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.

---

I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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:

Chymique; Turning On the Lights; Gaena
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 | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

Today is red letter day — the 10th anniversary of the Slow Flowers Podcast! I launched the first-ever podcast about flowers on July 23, 2013 with Episode 100! Little did I know that this audio storytelling project — it was called internet radio back then — would take off and resonate with so many listeners!

The Slow Flowers Podcast is the longest, continually-running podcast
in the floral design and flower farming space

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Commemorating our 10-year-mark is so significant. It recognizes that the Slow Flowers Podcast is the longest, continually-running podcast in the floral design and flower farming space. We invite you to help us celebrate by sharing your stories of how the Slow Flowers Podcast has been an inspiring companion to you over the years! Post or send us a video tagged #slowflowerspodcast and we may feature you in our Slow Flowers social media feed!

And, we’re having a contest! Check out our IG stories on @SlowFlowersSociety, which we will run for the next 10 weeks — you could win one of two priceless prizes! We’ll select two winners among eligible entrants:
1 – win a featured guest spot on a future episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast; and
2 – win a chance to co-host an upcoming monthly Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up. We’ll post the details on social media for you to follow along and participate.

I have spent several weeks looking back over the 520 episodes we’ve produced in the past decade, trying to find a good way to honor our expert guests and their stories. So, starting today, for the next 10 weeks, we will highlight one episode from each year of the past decade and bring the best of the Slow Flowers Podcast to you. If you’re a longtime listener, you might recognize these flower folks; if you’re new to the Slow Flowers Podcast, I’m excited to introduce you to them for the first time.

Today, we’re starting with Episode 100 — our very first episode. It’s a fitting place to begin our retrospective.

First, in PART ONE of this podcast you’ll hear from Kierstin De West, CEO and founder of Ci (Conscientious innovation), a market research and consulting firm known for its early embrace of the sustainable marketplace, which Kierstin led 2004 to 2018. As I mentioned in the original episode, I met Kierstin in 2011 when we were seated at adjacent tables in a restaurant at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. We struck up a conversation and the beginnings of a friendship over the course of one hour . . . before we both had to race to our respective flights. Later, I invited Kierstin to talk about her research into consumer attitudes regarding sustainability as the keynote speaker for the Garden Writers Association annual symposium in 2011, now known as GardenComm International. 

Kristin and I discussed the research she conducted for her former company called The Shift Report, an omnibus study of 5,000 consumers in North America. What jumped out at me in this report was the idea of LOCAL values surpassing other topics that you might consider ranking higher on consumers’ sustainability checklist….such as Organic or Global Warming. Listen as Kierstin and I discuss this fascinating research and hear how insightful and prescient it was 10 years ago — it is equally important today!

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In PART TWO of this podcast, join my conversation with veteran organic flower farmer Joan Thorndike, owner of Le Mera Gardens in Talent, Oregon, which is near Ashland. We talked about what LOCAL means to Joan’s floral customers while taking a walk from Joan and Dan’s home to the vibrant farmer’s market in downtown Ashland. Many of you were introduced to Joan in the “Grower’s Wisdom” section of The 50 Mile Bouquet.  In that short section, Joan’s articulate, insightful perspective resonated with me. She is a grower-ecologist. Joan operates on a world view that is highly inclusive and optimistic. My favorite quote from our original interview goes this way: “When I sell my flowers, I believe I am appealing to my customer’s deeply visceral desire to observe the cadence of Nature.” 

A post script about my guests!

Kierstin De West is still leading marketing for mission-driven organizations. In 2018 she joined lululemon as VP Global Brand Management and Strategy. Three years later, she joined Alpha Foods as Chief Marketing Officer. Most recently, I heard from Kierstin that she’s off to a new adventure in Paris, so best wishes to her!

Joan Thorndike is still pumping out uncommonly beautiful organic flowers at LeMera Gardens. Last year, we featured Joan as a Slow Flowers Hero in the fall 2023 issue of Slow Flowers Journal. Click below for the free PDF that you can download and read.

Don’t forget to check out our IG stories for invitation to enter our giveaway promotions to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

Thank you, Details Flowers Software, a platform specifically designed to help florists and designers do more and earn more. With an elegant and easy-to-use system–Details is here to improve profitability, productivity, and organization for floral businesses of all shapes and sizes. Grow your bottom line through professional proposals and confident pricing with Details’ all-in-one platform. All friends of the Slow Flowers Podcast will receive a 7-day free trial of Details Flowers Software. Learn more at detailsflowers.com.

Thank you, CalFlowers, the leading floral trade association in California, providing valuable transportation and other benefits to flower growers and the entire floral supply chain in California and 48 other states. The Association is a leader in bringing fresh cut flowers to the U.S. market and in promoting the benefits of flowers to new generations of American consumers. Learn more at cafgs.org.

Thank you, Store It Cold, creators of the revolutionary CoolBot, a popular solution for flower farmers, studio florists and farmer-florists.  Save $1000s when you build your own walk-in cooler with the CoolBot and an air conditioner.  Don’t have time to build your own?  They also have turnkey units available. Learn more at storeitcold.com.   

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I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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:

Color Country; Heartland Flyer; Gaena
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 | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

I’m so happy to share today’s episode with you because it came together through total serendipity, thanks to arrangements made by my friend Jenny Ulum, Senior Director of Communications at King Estate Winery in Eugene, Oregon.

We were in Eugene last weekend to attend the USA Track & Field National Championships, and when in Eugene, Jenny and her husband Tim Gleason always host us at their home. Jenny and I go way back — we were editors together in the 1980s at the long-ago shuttered Seattle Woman magazine, and have remained close friends ever since.

I had reached out to two Eugene area Slow Flowers members, trying to line up an interview for this week while also having some time away with friends. Sadly, due to travel and other conflicts, both of the farmer-florists I approached weren’t available.

Jenny over heard me discussing my dilemma and she said, “You should come out to the winery and meet our culinary garden manager, Erin Greene. She has been growing lots of flowers and designing bouquets for the restaurant and tasting room.” (photo credit: Erin Greene, King Estates Winery (c) Andy Nelson).

So we arranged a last-minute outing on Sunday morning, and I am so grateful for the experience. It was employee blueberry-picking day, so while my husband Bruce joined Jenny and Tim to pick something like 8 pounds of blueberries, I joined Erin to tour King Estate’s cutting garden, apple orchard, and greenhouse production areas. I learned so much and you’ll enjoy the conversation, too.

Here’s a little bit more about Erin Green:

Erin Greene, Culinary Gardens Manager, joined King Estate in 2018. Working closely with the culinary team, Erin is responsible for all annual vegetable, herb and edible flower production for use in the Restaurant. After earning a degree in Biodynamic Agriculture from Emerson College in the U.K., Erin operated her own farm, Nourish Gardens, in eastern Washington for four years and spent two years working for a 500-acre organic farm in California that served the finest farm-to-table restaurants in the Bay Area.

A native of Washington State, Erin is thrilled to be back in the Pacific Northwest. “I love everything food-related, from seed to plate,” she says. When she’s not at work she can be found cooking in her kitchen, working in her home garden or out in the wilderness: camping, fishing, hiking and exploring Oregon with her husband and pup (farm dog Bertie).

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Thank you so much for joining me today! We fact-checked the scale of King Estates on-site compost program — 800 tons of organic compost is produced at the winery each year.

Here are more details about the August 19th Bee Friendly Wine Tour taking place as part of The Oregon Bee Project. August 19th is actually National Honey Bee Day and the $35 ticketed event buys you two taste pours of wine, a taste of ale song beer, a box lunch and desert bite. Not to mention bee-themed events and a garden tour! (noon to 3 pm) and you’ll learn about the native bees of Oregon and how they support biodiversity on farms, vineyards, orchards, and residential backyards.

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.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 johnnysseeds.com.

Thank you to Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.

Thank you to The Gardener’s Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you’ll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com.

---

I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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:

Toothless Slope; Gaena
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 | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

In 2015, Slow Flowers introduced American Flowers Week, inviting flower lovers, gardeners, growers, and designers across the country to share their red-white-and-bluish blooms during June 28- July 4th.

The promotion celebrates domestic flower farming and engages people everywhere with local botanicals.

We use the hashtag #americanflowersweek to encourage flower fans to follow and enjoy the campaign’s beauty and floral diversity.

Since 2016 when American Flowers Week debuted its annual botanical couture collection with Susan McLeary’s red-white-and-blue floral Afro, we have  commissioned more than 50 wearable looks, created by our member designers and flower farmers.

So today, we’re unveiling our 2023 Botanical Couture Collection — it’s a Haute Couture Harvest!

You’ll find social media assets featuring the Flower Farmers coast-to-coast artwork by April Lemly, as well as badges of each individual botanical couture look, and fun resources that you can download and print to share, like our 50 States of Slow Flowers coloring sheets that feature each official state flower and a map of the U.S. I’ll be posting individual stories of our designers, flower farmers and creative teams during each day of American Flowers Week — and you can read those at the website or on @slowflowerssociety on social media.

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

Thank you to Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.

Thank you to The Gardener’s Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you’ll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com.

Thank you to Details Flowers Software, a platform specifically designed to help florists and designers do more and earn more. With an elegant and easy-to-use system–Details is here to improve profitability, productivity, and organization for floral businesses of all shapes and sizes. Grow your bottom line through professional proposals and confident pricing with Details’ all-in-one platform. All friends of the Slow Flowers Podcast will receive a 7-day free trial of Details Flowers Software. Learn more at detailsflowers.com.

This Week’s News

A program note: I recorded this episode just prior to the kickoff of the Slow Flowers Summit, our 6th conference and an event I love to describe as a TED Talk for Flower Lovers. If you’ve followed along  on social media at @slowflowerssociety and @slowflowerssummit on IG, you will have see all sorts of fun posted by Niesha Blancas, our social media manger, over the past three days — from dinner on the farm to floral design demonstrations and the immersive floral takeover of our venue, the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

It was an enriching and essential moment for the Slow Flowers Movement, for 150 of our members, supporters, partners, and friends, to come together to celebrate domestic flowers, floral agriculture, sustainable design, and the important connective tissue — a sense that we are a community and we are all working together to elevate local and seasonal flowers as a viable and vital facet of the floral marketplace. I’m sure I’ll be on an endorphin high that will continue for many months to come – hopefully until I see everyone again in 2024. I’ll have many more details, interviews, videos, and photography to share. Keep an eye out on social media or sign up for our newsletter to receive a sneak peek of the first content, which will be sent out on July 1st.

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I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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:

Gaena
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; Clap Along; Falling Sky
audionautix.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

We have an info- and inspo-packed show today in which you will meet six floral experts who will present at next week’s Slow Flowers Summit. I’m thrilled that all of these gifted and talented flower friends were able to join me in the virtual studio this past week for a quick introduction and lively conversation.

The Slow Flowers Summit takes place on June 26-27, 2023, at the Bellevue Botanical Garden in the Seattle area. It’s our sixth annual gathering and we wanted to showcase as many speakers as possible, bringing a diverse range of ideas and creativity to our attendees. When Karen Thornton, our event manager, and I discovered that the meeting spaces at BBG could be divided to accommodate simultaneous breakout sessions, it seemed ideal to offer three subject tracks — we’ve never done this before, so it’s going to be fun to see how to move all the many people and places around in a short period of time. On Tuesday, there will be three options at both 11 am and 1 pm – before and after lunch and organized by floral design, flower farming and sustainability.

So today, you’ll meet all six of the experts who will present in these tracks. All are past guests of the Slow Flowers Podcast, so you may recognize their names and voices. For scheduling reasons, we recorded on two different days. First, you’ll meet Sarah Reyes of Wildflower & Fern, who is one of our sustainability speakers; and you’ll also hear from both of our flower farming speakers, Tracy Yang of Jahn Co. Flowers and Dee Hall of Mermaid City Flowers; then, in part two, you’ll meet Becky Feasby of Prairie Girl Flowers, the second sustainability speaker; and both of our floral design presenters, Gina Lett-Shrewsberry of Inspirations by Gina and Valerie Crisostomo of Black Girl Florists.

View the entire Slow Flowers Summit Schedule and Program here.

Thank you so much for joining me today! If you’re still thinking about attending the Slow Flowers Summit, there is still time to register, so please reach out with any questions — we may be able to connect you with an attendee who has an extra ticket to sell. Contact us here: info@slowflowers.com.

---

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

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 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.

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 johnnysseeds.com.

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I love all this floral goodness and I am so happy you joined me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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:

He Has a Way; Gaena
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 | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

I’m thrilled today to bring you an informative conversation about Island Flower Growers, an emerging flower hub based outside of Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island in Canada.

If you caught Episode 611 a few weeks ago, you met Julie Remy of Fleuris Studio and Blooms, a farmer-florist on Vancouver Island; we briefly discussed the Island Flower Growers Cooperative as her primary outlet for selling flowers wholesale. I visited the Island in early May when I interviewed Julie, and before I returned home, I stopped by the Metchosin Farmers Institute, a multiuse venue where I met the cooperative member farmers.

I was lucky to meet most of the growers on an early Wednesday morning, the regular day when flower farmers bring their harvest to this central hub where flowers are sorted and organized for client deliveries or pickup.

That’s where I met Lorna Jackson, co-founder and president of Island Flower Growers, and Cara Scott, the market manager, among many other talented and passionate island flower growers. I was thrilled to watch the buzzing of energy and the synergy as flower farmers compared their seasonal crops, discussed plans, and admired the collection of blooms ordered by area florists.

Here’s a bit more about Island Flower Growers:

Island Flower Growers is a producer-owned co-operative of cut-flower growers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada. The co-op helps build the strength and vitality of Vancouver Island’s local flower community by:​

• Operating a weekly, online wholesale market, which makes high quality, specialty blooms and foliage more accessible to our discerning clients
• ​Helping local growers build successful and rewarding businesses around their exceptional product
• ​Advocating for flower farming’s significant role in stewarding our region’s environmental and community wellbeing

It is so inspiring to learn how this regional flower hub is changing the way florists and their consumers engage with sustainably-grown, seasonal flowers! See below for Island Flower Growers resources that Lorna and Cara have shared:

Guide to Island-Grown Roses The “Rose Guide” provides education for members and potential Guest Growers. “We’re trying to do everything we can to provide excellent garden roses to our clients for weddings,” Lorna explained.

Island Flower Growers produced a “Better Photos” guide helps make their shopfront on the Open Food Network more attractive, more informative visually, more standardized, and connects with clients through beautiful images. “We aim to have each photo provide as much information as possible: what a bunch looks like, stage of openness clients can expect, accurate colours and textures,” Lorna says. “But we still want growers to be able to be artful with images, to have a personality, as in the photo of yellow baptisia.” 

Find and follow Island Flower Growers on Instagram

Watch: Growing Slow, a feature from CBC Vancouver

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News of this Week

Details Flowers Software, a Slow Flowers Podcast sponsor, is also a return sponsor of the Slow Flowers Summit and have been running a giveaway promotion for a full registration to the Summit. The drawing just took place and we learned that Polly Hutchison of Robin Hollow Farm, Slow Flowers member and past guest of this podcast, was drawn as the winner! Thank you, Details, and congratulations to Polly — so excited to welcome you to your first Summit!

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And if you’ve been thinking of joining us in Seattle at the Slow Flowers Summit on June 26-27, coming right up, I encourage you to jump on our very last ticket promotion. Starting this week through Sunday, June 11th, take 10% off any ticket level with the code LETSDOTHIS. Remember, Slow Flowers Members, you already enjoy $100 off as a member benefit, so there’s a little more to save with this promotion.

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And this Friday, June 9th, you’re invited to join me in the Zoom Room at our final Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up before our Summer Break. Our very special guest is Julio Freitas of The Flower Hat. He’s one of our keynote speakers at the upcoming Summit and I’ve invited Julio to give us a sneak peek preview to his presentation, as we talk flower farming for luxury weddings, floral design, growing dahlias, and so much more! The Meet-Up takes place at 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern on Friday, June 9th.

Preregistration is required. Hope to see you there!

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

Thank you to The Gardener’s Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you’ll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com.

Thank you to Details Flowers Software, a platform specifically designed to help florists and designers do more and earn more. With an elegant and easy-to-use system–Details is here to improve profitability, productivity, and organization for floral businesses of all shapes and sizes. Grow your bottom line through professional proposals and confident pricing with Details’ all-in-one platform. All friends of the Slow Flowers Podcast will receive a 7-day free trial of Details Flowers Software. Learn more at detailsflowers.com.

Thank you to CalFlowers, the leading floral trade association in California, providing valuable transportation and other benefits to flower growers and the entire floral supply chain in California and 48 other states. The Association is a leader in bringing fresh cut flowers to the U.S. market and in promoting the benefits of flowers to new generations of American consumers. Learn more at cafgs.org.

---

Thanks so much for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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; Flagger; Open Flames; Turning on the Lights; Gaena
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

My conversation with today’s guest, Lorin Harrison, knits together the threads of several past Podcast episodes, so before I bring him on, I’ll try and put things into context for you.

In the past, the Slow Flowers Podcast has featured interviews with longtime expert flower growers Ralph Thurston and Jeriann Sabin of Bindweed Farm. Check out links to those previous episodes below:

Episode 237: Deadhead ~ The Bindweed Way with Idaho’s Jeriann Sabin and Ralph Thurston

Episode 395: Petals and Alpacas at Gholson Gardens in Walla Walla, Washington, plus State Focus: Idaho

It was during that 2nd episode that we learned about Ralph and Jeriann’s plans to sell Bindweed Farm, after starting Bindweed in 1991. That same year in the fall of 2019, I met Lorin Harrison at a Slow Flowers meet-up in Salt Lake City, generously hosted by Laura Pittard of Poppin’ Blossoms. I learned of Florage Fresh Cut Flowers, the business he and his former partner Ali owned, a flower farm based in Paradise Valley, Utah, that had expanded to manage marketing and sales for a number of Utah flower farms — a mini-collective.

Fast-forward just months later, and Florage had purchased Bindweed, taking over the Blackfoot, Idaho, flower farm, the sales channels, and more. It’s an impressive and longish story, so I’ll let Lorin tell the rest of it.

Suffice it to say, most flower farmers are coming out of COVID hoping that 2023 will be a year of stability. After enduring so much change and turmoil, floral agriculture deserves it. But so much is uncertain, and my discussion about these issues began when Lorin and I reconnected at the ASCFG conference last August. I’ve been hoping to get him on the Slow Flowers Show and Podcast as a guest, and well, here we are — nine months later and we’re finally doing it!

Let’s jump right in and meet Lorin Harrison and learn about what I’m calling Florage 2.0. I hope you learn as much as I did!

Follow Florage on Instagram

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Slow Flowers Summit — last chance for LOCAL75 coupon code (expires 5/31/2023)

If you’re hearing this episode on its original air date, Wednesday, May 31st, today is the last day of our Slow Flowers Summit Memorial Day Flash Sale which gets you $75 off of your Summit Ticket. This is the best pricing since we ran our early bird ticket sale last December, so don’t waste a minute. Log onto slowflowerssummit.com to register for this fantastic gathering of Slow Flowers Practitioners — taking place in just four weeks, on June 26-27, 2023 at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. And Slow Flowers Members, don’t forget: you already enjoy a $100-off discount for your registration, so here’s a great way to save $175. We can’t wait to see you in just four weeks at the 6th 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 more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.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.

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 johnnysseeds.com.

Thank you to Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.

---

Thanks so much for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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; Capering; Turning on the Lights; Gaena
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
Songs by:
audionautix.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

Last month, passports in hand, I traveled by car and ferryboat to the Island of Vancouver in British Columbia. The trip was to celebrate my mother’s 88th birthday, enjoy high tea at the famed Empress Hotel, tour the spring borders and displays at the famed Butchart Gardens, and enjoy this beautiful destination for a few days.

Of course, I had to invite myself to meet some of our Slow Flowers members in Victoria while there. As I mentioned, we took a ferry ride — 90 minutes to cross from Twassen to Schwartz Bay, and the views were incredible. On the first morning, we set out to visit Fleuris Studio and Blooms, and to meet Julie Remy in person. Julie greeted us, settled my mom and her book on a cozy chair for a while, and we embarked on a lovely tour of the small island farm where Julie and her partner live and work.

Fleuris Studio’s tagline is: Elegant & Eco-Friendly FLOWERS.

It was fascinating to learn about the journey that led Julie to this special place and to a life focused on growing and sourcing sustainable flowers for her luxurious florals, wedding designs, unique floral subscriptions, and private flower arranging workshops. 

As she explains on her website: “I want to connect others to nature through the beauty of flowers. My business perfectly draws on my greatest passions: gardening, photography, interior design, antiques and a love of all colours, textures and lines.“

I loved learning how Julie has travelled the world as a humanitarian photographer, after which she settled on Vancouver Island and built a small floral design studio surrounded by the flowers that she grows and work with.

We’ll start with an interview, recorded in Julie’s studio. If you’re interested in watching our 20-minute virtual tour of the gardens and flower production areas at Fleuris, check out the video above at the 35:45 time mark.

Julie’s story is a lovely example of how one woman chooses to leave a positive impact on her environment by thinking creatively and sustainably about the ways in which she grows, sources, and arranges flowers. This includes regenerative growing methods, focusing on seasonality, using recyclable packaging, and never using non-biodegradable floral foam in her designs. As she briefly mentioned, Julie sells her flowers through the Island Flower Growers, Slow Flowers members and a producer-owned co-operative of cut-flower growers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada. In a few weeks, you’ll learn more about this vibrant and vital regional flower hub when I host a conversation with Lorna Jackson, one of the founders and board president. I can’t wait to share that episode with you.

Find and follow Fleuris Studio & Blooms:
Instagram and Facebook

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News of the Week

In news of the week, I recently recorded two interviews and I want to share them with you.

First, check out the May issue of Shawn Michael Foley’s Fleurvana magazine, which includes a really fun conversation we recently recorded for video viewing. You can find the free link to read this monthly interactive floral design magazine, including my video clip with Shawn, in our show notes — good through the end of May.

Shawn has shared some Slow Flowers promotional codes for anyone interested in a membership in his Fleurvana+ educational hub and a significant discount to one of the upcoming Fleurvana retreats.

Here is the public link for viewing, free during the month of May:

Fleurvana+ Membership 50% Slow Flowers Discount with Code: SLOWFLOWERS

Fleurvana Retreats: Take a $600 discount with Code: SLOWFLOWERS

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Next, I was delighted to be a return guest of Jennifer Jewell’s award-winning public radio show, Cultivating Place, which aired on May 11th. What a fun experience to catch up Jennifer and her listeners on the Slow Flowers Society, the upcoming Slow Flowers Summit, and Bloom Imprint’s latest release, Furrow & Flour. Click above to listen to Episode.

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Speaking of the Slow Flowers Summit, last Friday’s May Member Meet-Up featured two of our keynote speakers who will take the stage — Amy Balsters and Lennie Larkin. These two floral luminaries shared a preview of what they will teach and demonstrate at the Slow Flowers Summit and you can watch the replay video above.

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 850 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, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $10 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

Thank you to Red Twig Farms. Based in Johnstown, Ohio, Red Twig Farms is a family-owned farm specializing in peonies, daffodils, tulips and branches, a popular peony-bouquet-by-mail program and their Spread the Hope Campaign where customers purchase 10 tulip stems for essential workers and others in their community. Learn more at redtwigfarms.com.

Thank you to the Seattle Wholesale 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 seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com.

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.

---

Thanks so much for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than one 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!