Presenting American Flowers Week & Introducing Minnesota’s Len Busch Roses (Episode 199)

June 24th, 2015

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Today, we’re celebrating the 100th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast, a weekly program that’s all about American Flowers and the people who grow and design with them.

Reaching ONE HUNDRED EPISODES represents a significant milestone, as we have brought you hours and hours of programming on the vital topics ranging from saving our domestic flower farms to supporting a floral industry that relies on a safe, seasonal and local supply of flowers and foliage.

To me, it’s all about making a conscious choice and I invite you to join the conversation and the creative community. This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms.  It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.

To commemorate the 100th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast, we’re launching a very cool and I believe significant week-long education and outreach campaign that will kick off next Monday, June 29th and run through Saturday, July 4th.

Inspired by British Flowers Week, which has been the subject of two recent podcast episodes, the Slow Flowers Podcast and the Slowflowers.com online directory present: AMERICAN FLOWERS WEEK.

We’re kicking off American Flowers Week with a fabulous logo identifying the campaign, designed by Iowa-based illustrator and artist Jean Zaputil of Studio Z Design & Photography.

You are welcome to visit our new American Flowers Week web site where you can download and use the logo and other resources for your own promotional efforts efforts. Click here to find our Press Kit and links to a Flickr gallery featuring local flowers and floral arrangements representing all 50 states.

READ MORE…

Posted in American Flowers Week, American Grown, Blog Posts, floral design, Flower Farming, General, Podcast Episodes, SLOW FLOWERS Podcast, Slowflowers.com the Directory of American Flowers | 1 Comment »

Week 24 // Slow Flowers Challenge

June 21st, 2015

A garden-sourced Father’s Day bouquet for my husband, Bruce

A bucket filled with lovelies from my garden.

Greetings and here’s to SUMMER’S arrival today, June 21st! I couldn’t be more inspired to celebrate the Solstice than to take a walk in the garden. I clipped each stem for today’s Slow Flowers Challenge from my Seattle yard this morning and spent a glorious (and blissfully meditative) hour or so arranging.

And since it’s Father’s Day, I’m using the arrangement for tonight’s dinner we’re preparing for Bruce, my husband and the father of our two boys.

I’ve always loved pairing lime and wine colors together, in garden borders and beds, as well as in container gardens. No surprise that the deep burgundy Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’) looks terrific with the acid green Lady’s Mantle ( Alchemilla mollis). Stems from those two create the textural and high-contrast foundation for this design.

Steps one and two: Insert foliage to create the foundation.

By the way, this is a vintage Haeger American-made vessel, a creamy ivory piece that I brought home with me from a trip to Iowa a few years ago. I love the proportions – perfect for a centerpiece. (Here’s a similar one on Etsy  – they’re not too difficult to find.)

To create this design, I placed a large cage-style metal flower frog (also vintage) in the bottom of the bowl. The grid has 5/8-inch openings, ideal for a combination of woody and herbaceous stems as I’m using here.

Steps three and four: Adding garden roses, a sweet pairing of a peachy-pink rose with a bicolored white-ruby rose. I inherited these two unknown roses when we moved to this garden four years ago.

After I added the roses, I wanted to take advantage of some wispy pieces to bring a playful dimension to the design. I incorporated a beautiful, mauve-colored Astrantia and several stems of a burgundy-petaled tickseed with great yellow centers ( Coreopsis sp.).

Steps five and six: Astrantia and Coreopsis for their wispy textures.

Two final and rather unexpected touches utilize other garden stalwarts: Crocosmia in bud – love the strong lines of it at this stage; and bronze fennel. Now some may argue that bronze fennel is a garden thug, and it is. But the flouncy, lacy texture is pretty fantastic in an arrangement, so I always allow a few stems of it to remain after weeding out the volunteers.

Steps seven and eight: Crocosmia buds and bronze fennel stems.

Posted in American Grown, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Plants, Playfulness, Slow Flowers Challenge | No Comments »

British Flowers Week – Days 3 & 4

June 18th, 2015

A Trunkful of Alliums by Bloomsbury Flowers (c) Julian Winslow

It’s a busy week and I wanted to devote yesterday’s blog post to our podcast interview with Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement.

So here, for Thursday, June 18th, are beautiful British-grown flowers in the hands of top floral designers! The New Covent Garden Flower Market commissioned these stars of British floral design to interpret and create designs using the best domestic crops available.

Thanks to the team behind British Flowers Week for sharing these gorgeous (and inspiring) creations:

DAY THREE June 17th

Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks of Bloomsbury Flowers (c) Julian Winslow

Welcome to Day Three of British Flowers Week 2015, the third year of the industry-wide, nationwide campaign in support of British cut flowers, founded and organised by New Covent Garden Flower Market.

Please enjoy the work of Stephen Wicks and Mark Welford of Bloomsbury Flowers, using British alliums.

Clouds of Alliums by Bloomsbury Flowers (c) Julian Winslow

There is a distinct sense of the theatrical in the work of Stephen Wicks and Mark Welford of Bloomsbury Flowers. They celebrate the natural, organic beauty of flowers with their unpretentious design style with masculine twist. (c) Julian Winslow

DAY FOUR June 18th

Portrait of Jay Archer (c) Julian Winslow

Jay Archer of Jay Archer Floral Design and the British Lupin are the fourth sweethearts of British Flowers Week. Jay has created three wonderful designs exclusively for this pro-British Flowers campaign:

Rockin’ the Lupin (c) Julian Winslow

The Wedding Bouquet by Jay Archer (c) Julian Winslow

Ceremonial Arch (c) Julian Winslow

Posted in Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General | 1 Comment »

A Perfect Recipe: Floral Design Workshops and Delicious Local Food, with Sarah Statham of UK’s Simply by Arrangement (Episode 198)

June 16th, 2015

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Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement, based in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, U.K.

Welcome to our second episode celebrating British Grown Flowers. It’s timely because this is British Flowers Week in the UK, where flower farmers, florists, retailers and wholesalers across the country join forces to raise awareness among consumers and the media about the renaissance of their domestic floral industry. Take note, because we’ve got big plans here at Slow Flowers to launch American Flowers Week very soon.

My guest today is more than just a professional contact. I’ve gotten to know her and spend time in her home and community and I’m so happy to call Sarah Statham a personal friend.

Here’s the web site for “Simply by Arrangement,” the flowers-and-food workshop business that Sarah and Christie launched after careers as criminal prosecutors.

Hoo Hole House in Hebden Bridge, a centuries-old restored stone manor and HQ for Sarah’s flower-filled world.

It was lovely to meet Gill Hodgson face-to-face after our long-distance friendship! She is as committed to putting British flowers on the map as I am about doing the same with American grown flowers.

Sarah and I were introduced virtually by British flower farmer Gill Hodgson of Flowers from the Farm, a UK-based organization of flower farmers and florists promoting British flowers. You may have listened to my podcast interview with Gill last year.

When I knew I would be traveling to England last month, I reached out to Gill and suggested that I schedule a visit to Yorkshire, where her farm is based.

As it turned out, Gill and Sarah teamed up to create an entire itinerary for me and my mother Anita, my traveling companion.

Sarah and her husband James Reader opened the doors to their home to invite us to stay for three amazing, flower-filled days.

Their generosity blew us away, and beyond that, Sarah made sure that we met many others in the local floral community.

Tea at Harlow Carr, hosted by the flower famers and florists of Yorkshire.

Unforgettable – the best English afternoon tea I’ve ever enjoyed!

A highlight was a gathering and full-on British afternoon tea at the RHS Harlow-Carr Botanical Garden in Harrowgate. Forty kindred spirits gathered to listen to my short presentation about Slow Flowers and the American Grown flower movement, but I have to say that what I learned from them in return was so valuable.

That afternoon we tagged along for one of the photo shoots of the Yorkshire community of growers and designers, all part of the PR campaign to coincide with British Flowers Week.

The Yorkshire flower farmers commissioned the very talented Sarah Mason whose images of Yorkshire-grown flowers, flower farmers and florists have been showcased on this blog all week.

On our last morning together, I turned on the recorder to interview Sarah about her own business, as well as about her British Flowers Week activities.

Sarah, the flower maven.

You’ll hear me refer to the fact that we are seated in a cottage in the Cotswolds and just to explain, Sarah and James brought my mom and me with them for the first day of their week-long vacation in a charming village called Snowshill. Yet another amazing bonus of this visit and of their hospitality.

The co-creator of Simply by Arrangement, which she started two years ago with Christie Buchanan, Sarah Statham is a floral designer and educator based in Hebden Bridge, in Yorkshire.

Christie calls herself a cook, but having eaten her delicious food, I’d say she’s a chef extraordinaire.

Christie, the food goddess.

Their artisan flower and food business. pairs floral workshops with delicious food, which easily turns the educational aspect of a day playing with flowers into an entire luxury experience.

Simply by Arrangement also provide flowers and food for private clients as well as flowers for larger events and weddings.

Sarah grows many of our flowers used in her own beautiful cutting garden (which, by the way, the bedroom in which I slept conveniently overlooked).

Christie sources her menu ingredients locally from farms in Lancashire, where she is based.

I know you’ll enjoy my conversation with Sarah and please follow Simply by Arrangement at these social places.

Simply by Arrangement on Facebook

Simply by Arrangement on Twitter

Simply by Arrangement on Instagram

A Simply by Arrangement floral design workshop in full swing.

Sweet treats from Mrs. B.

And if you find yourself in the UK, a Simply by Arrangement Workshop that feeds your creativity and tempts your palate is certainly in order.

Sarah and Christie would love to include you at the table.

After wrapping up our interview Sarah and I continued to chat about the similarities in our philosophies.

I asked her to write something for me to use at the close of this podcast relating to how she uses British flowers in her work, and here is an excerpt:

We would dearly love to use British flowers for all of our work. Sadly, maybe because British flower growers have yet to be able to match supply with demand there aren’t always the quantities available and also the British climate does mean that in winter months supplies of cut flowers are relatively limited as are the varieties available especially in our more Northern parts. 

Our philosophy is this: locally grown flowers are our first choice always. We grow some unusual varieties ourselves but don’t yet grow as many as we need. We are lucky to have some amazing Yorkshire growers relatively nearby and they are the ones who we go to first. 

Next will be a grower in Cheshire ( but that demands a 3 hour journey which is well worth it as her flowers are of such high quality ).   

We also have a supplier in Cornwall called Flowers by Clowance, who is reliable and sends supplies by Fed Ex. During winter months we do have to obtain more flowers from the flower market although we still have some supplies from Cornwall. We look forward to the day when the British flower growing market is back to full strength and can meet our needs and hope that the ‘quiet revolution’ in British flowers will give the growers confidence to produce more quantities. Our workshops through spring and summer to around October are British flower based. 

What I have tried to do at workshops is to show our attendees the real difference between locally grown flowers which haven’t been ‘traumatised’ by transportation from abroad and haven’t been grown in ‘battery farm like’ conditions and so I will have a small selection of non British flowers available for comparison. I can say without doubt that everyone always goes for the locally grown varieties. I think I mentioned the lady a couple of weeks ago who has vowed never to buy supermarket flowers again and who I have put in touch with a local grower in her area and who is already buying from her. 

I have to be completely honest though, there are times when a bride might have her heart set on roses and they are not available here. Whilst I will always try and steer our brides towards seasonally grown ( and thus British) flowers, sometimes it just isn’t possible. 

A quiet vignetter at Hoo Hole House caught my eye. Even the utilitarian is treated as a thing of beauty through Sarah’s eyes.

This description sounds so familiar to what I hear from florists and designers here in the U.S. I applaud transparency but I also want to respect that people have to make tough choices as small business owners.

At Slow Flowers I want to support anyone who engages with American grown flowers at any level, while also encouraging them to strive toward 100% American grown flowers as the ultimate goal. And I hope to be a resource to help equip those who make such choices.

A jam jar filled with Yorkshire-grown flowers, part of the decor at the Tea.

Thanks again for joining me today for another wonderful conversation.

Yes, I am devoted to celebrating American flowers and the designers and farmers who are changing this entire industry for the better.

But as I said last week, I’m also thrilled to introduce you to ways we can borrow ideas and inspiration from places like the U.K., where many parallels occur between our two marketplaces.

Next week is our 100th podcast and you will hear from an established American flower farmer with a long history and deep Midwest roots, and where one doesn’t always expect to find year-round blooms.

Listeners like you have downloaded this podcast more than 52,000 times. THANK YOU to each and every one of you for downloading, listening, commenting and sharing. It means so much.

Until next week please join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto Itunes and posting a listener review.

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.

The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Wheatley and Hannah Holtgeerts. Learn more about their work at shellandtree.com.

Posted in Blog Posts, Creativity, Entertainment, floral design, Flower Farming, General, Podcast Episodes, SLOW FLOWERS Podcast | 3 Comments »

British Flowers Week – Day Two

June 16th, 2015

A classic Land Rover embellished in British-grown flowers in the countryside of Yorkshire! (c) Sarah Mason of Sarah Mason Photography

To help you find the Yorkshire region of the UK, check out this map

Day Two of British Flowers Week begins with photos taken by the very talented Sarah Mason, a photographer I met when visiting the U.K. last month and whose work simply captures the wild and beautiful character of the region I visited: Yorkshire/Northeast U.K.

These are just part of the evocative images created to promote the variety of British-grown flowers cultivated and grown by Flowers from the Farm members in that region. Many of the wonderful Yorkshire/Northeast flower farmers and florists I met and spent time with contributed behind the scenes to bring the Land Rover Defender setting to life.

Fiona (left) and Sarah (right), look pretty happy as they decorated and designed a classic Land Rover Defender. (c) Sarah Mason

They include Sarah Statham of Simply by Arrangement (she’s also tomorrow’s Slow Flowers Podcast guest – stay tuned), and Fiona Pickles of Firenza Floral Design.

The idea of using a Land Rover Defender, says Sarah, “is really just because I have been daydreaming for some time about stuffing a Land Rover full of flowers in a more aesthetic way than I usually do day to day.”

I’m laughing as I transcribe this comment from her last email because, of course, like most florists, the “stuffing” part means loading buckets and buckets of flowers into the back of a car – NOT under the hood, right?!

Sarah drove us around in a Land Rover, which seems to be the official vehicle of UK flower farmers and florists. And she adds: “The Land Rover Defender is quintissentially British. Sadly it has no connections with Yorkshire other than the fact a lot of the growers drive them.We need them here in winter.”

Is this dreamy or what? (c) Sarah Mason

A man, his dogs and his Land Rover (oh, and a field’s-worth of Yorkshire-grown flowers) (c) Sarah Mason

The design process was in itself a beautiful exercise, right? Here’s Holly Marsden, a design intern who volunteered on the project. (c) Sarah Mason

The setting: Hardcastle Crags, a National Trust area located just north of Hebden Bridge, the village where Sarah hosted my mother Anita and me for several delightful days.
The model: James (who I’m told doubles as a web designer)
The whippets: Flo and Ruby
The designers: Sarah, Fiona and design apprentice Holly Marsden
The photographer: Sarah Mason, Sarah Mason Photography

And this is what our friends at British Flowers Week, aka London’s New Covent Garden Flower Market, have created for Day Two of the campaign. Thanks to Liz Anderson and Helen Evans for sharing!

Hattie Fox of That Flower Shop (c) Julian Winslow

A wild bouquet by Hattie Fox of That Flower Shop (c) Julian Winslow

Please enjoy the work of the fabulous young florist Hattie Fox of That Flower Shop in Shoreditch, in which she plays with British foliage, the unsung hero of floristry. Hattie has created three gloriously free and wild floral designs exclusively for British Flowers Week.

Her style lends itself naturally to British flowers and foliages, where no two stems are the same and where seasonality is everything. Hattie has an extraordinary feel for color and texture and passion for British foliage.

Hattie’s design above is wild and loose and overflowing with locally-grown nepeta, delphinium, astrantia, ox-eye daisies, foxgloves, stocks and peonies, offset by the green tones of hornbeam, cotoneaster, a hint of silver eucalyptus, and the yellow pop of euonymous and golden privet.

“Warming up a Riot” a vase of British Blooms (c) Julian Winslow

Above: White leaf (sorbus), eucalyptus, variegated euonymous, cotoneaster and rosemary frame this low retro ceramic vase. The warm tones of deep ruby red peonies, cornflowers, astrantia, sweet William, valerian and allium bulgaricum lift to coral sweet peas and soft lilac allium.

A tall jug of foliage – and more (c) Julian Winslow

Above: A tall blush-pink enamelware jug struggles to contain a profusion of lush foliage and vibrant flower stems. Arching branches of hornbeam, prunus, golden privet, and purple beech share the billing with delphiniums, foxgloves, stocks, alliums, peonies, and nepeta.

Read more about That Flower Shop here.

Read more about British Foliage here.

Posted in Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, Flower Farming, General, Playfulness | No Comments »