The Slow Flowers Podcast is the award-winning show known as the “Voice of the Slow Flowers Movement.” Launched in 2013 as the original flower podcast, we’ve devoted more than 10 years to covering the business of flower farming, floral design, and the Slow Flowers sustainability ethos. Listen to a new episode each Wednesday, available for free download here at slowflowerspodcast.com or on iTunes, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.
A few weeks ago, I journeyed to Bellingham, a beautiful college town located close to the Washington-British Columbia border, where Annika McIntosh of Hazel Designs grows botanicals, designs gardens, and arranges flowers for everyday customers, weddings, and events. During what was a lovely morning in the garden and studio, I spent time with Annika to learn about how she has expanded beyond designing landscapes to fashion a floral-centric career. As she explained, rather than calling herself a “farmer-florist,” she likes to say she’s a “Designer / Grower.” Not a farmer, per se, but a grower of uncommon and unique cut florals — annuals, bulbs, perennials, shrubs, vines, trees, grasses, and other surprises that are displayed in custom hand-tied bouquets and event installations. We filmed a brief garden tour and then went right in to the backyard studio space where Annika, her husband, and their daughter are living temporarily, while renovating their home that’s located at the front of the generously-sized city property. I know you’ll enjoy our conversation while watching Annika design with early-summer botanicals.
Floral arrangement by Annika McIntosh, which she designed during our interview (see above), (c) Annika McIntosh
Annika grew up in the gentle, old hills south of the Adirondacks and east of the Hudson River in upstate New York with two artisan parents who built an off-grid home and raised cows and a highly productive vegetable garden. Annika’s father is a fine cabinetmaker turned bass luthier (that means “maker of stringed instruments”; he is also a musician and local politician) and her mother is a basket maker and gardener (as well as a musician, educator and organizer), and they are very much rooted there in the small community where Annika was exposed to a lot of amazing gardens, music, art and progressive thinking.
Annika studied dance, environmental studies and studio art at Oberlin College and Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington. She lived in Montreal for a few years before moving to Seattle and has been in Bellingham for the past 6 years. National and global events have definitely shaped her career path, as the 2008 depression dashed hopes that she might join a design firm. Instead, she started Hazel Landscapes, a design/build company. The family’s move to Bellingham coincided with the pandemic. At first, that felt like starting over, but it also allowed her to stay small and scrappy and build her business again from the ground up, with word-of-mouth, in a way that she feels good about.
Front cutting garden at Hazel Designs, Bellingham, Washington (c) Annika McIntosh
Annika’s garden at home is a demonstration of what can be grown — for ornamental and pollinator/bird foraging purposes, as well as for cutting — with very little tending or water and no protection from deer grazing. She says: “I love to remind people that they can cut widely from their home landscape without making a designated ‘cutting garden,’ using foliage from shrubs and other plants they might not think of as ‘flowers.’ Foraging from pruning piles and then testing vase life and aesthetic utility of landscape ornamentals was what got me into cut flowers in the first place, and I still find it more engaging than growing typical field flowers. (I’m also not set up as a farm, so my home landscape is my focus and it’s all ‘fair game.’) It is definitely more of a long game, with slower-growing plants, but that’s also where I can find branches or stems with real personality that build a gestural narrative in an arrangement. I find that local, seasonal foliage is a more appealing complement aesthetically than the ubiquitous ruscus, smilax, leatherleaf fern, eucalyptus and other florist’s greens, making an arrangement or bouquet really special in a beautiful, of-the-moment uniqueness.”
A garden corner at Hazel Designs (c) Annika McIntosh
“Floral designers create smaller encounters with nature for people to interact with — so for me it’s an easy leap to apply the same thinking to working with seasonal flowers and foliage. Florists working with a local supply chain of seasonal products (especially foliage!) will create floral experiences that are truly unique to that particular time and place. Whether the audience includes wedding guests, memorial attendees or conference participants, that brush with seasonal blooms will give them a sense of place and ground them in the season. And I believe it is vitally important to strengthen our connection to nature, especially in recurring, non-verbal, gentle and celebratory ways.”
A Hazel Designs wedding (c) Rove Coast Photography
“I got stalled in college environmental studies classes by desperately wanting to communicate the urgency of the climate crisis and be a part of some kind of solution to the waste and destruction I was so aware of, but feeling completely overwhelmed and unsure how I could ever effect change. Over the years I’ve pieced together a working answer to that angst and need for action that is so scaled back that I sometimes have to squint to see it… but it works for me, and feels subtle yet positive and supportive: growing with kids in school gardens; designing outdoor spaces where people can connect with nature at home, and bringing flowers to celebrations and everyday occasions that speak to the season and place.”
Flowers for a May wedding (c) Bearbeau Co.
There is so much packed into one episode — an inspiring moment together in the studio, in the garden. I know you’ll enjoy it immensely. Annika is part of the brand new Field to Floral Market, a Bellingham area collective with local growers and floral designers — and new members of the Slow Flowers Society. You’ll watch a short tour of Field to Floral at the end of my conversation with Annika.
Installation detail (c) Nicole Michael
Other Slow Flowers members who are part of the Field to Floral marketplace include:
Annika’s flowers can be found at Lakeline Cafe and Roam Cafe in Bellingham, as well as in her driveway on the weekends. You can message Annika through her Instagram account, or sign up for her newsletter – I’ll share the link in our show notes.
Links to order Annika’s mother’s garden books, which Annika designed:
Another Time Around the Sun, by Bliss White McIntosh Battenkill Books
Thank you to our Sponsors!
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. The ASCFG is a gathering place for specialty cut flower growers of all levels of experience. It is a hub of knowledge, where seasoned experts and budding enthusiasts come together to learn, share, and support one another. The ASCFG is dedicated to empowering its members with the knowledge and resources needed to thrive in the world of cut flower farming. From educational workshops and conferences to online resources and publications, they provide a wealth of information and support for all things related to growing exceptional cut flowers. Learn more about the ASCFG and how to be a part of it at www.ascfg.org!
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 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.
Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography
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!
Growing specialty cut flowers for retail floral shops is a very specific niche and today’s guest, Jamie Rogers of Killing Frost Farm in Helena, Montana, has a lot to share on this topic! Jamie co-founded the business with Carly Jenkins in 2014, the “killing frost” name a tongue-in-cheek reference to extreme drops to freezing temperatures that are brutal for flowers. Today, Jamie farms solo and supplies retailers between Bozeman to the east and Missoula to the west and he has maximized efficiencies to supply quantities of unique perennials and annuals to a core base of floral customers week in and week out throughout the season. We’ll wrap up this conversation with a peek into Jamie’s other passion – music – as he shares a new song from the upcoming album he recorded with Les Duck, the local band he performs with as drummer. It’s a great reminder for all of us to find work-life balance in this demanding world of flower growing and design.
Jamie Rogers of Killing Frost Farm (c) Chasing Light Photography
As we continue to share the inspiring content from the pages of The Flower Farmers, our new book featuring the stories of 29 expert growers across North America, we’re taking a stop today in western Montana, to meet Jamie Rogers of Killing Frost Farm.
Delphiniums at Killing Frost Farm
Jamie is a past guest of this podcast, and I’m so happy that he had a chance to record a new conversation with him last week. After farming in Western Montana for more than a decade, on several locations both urban and rural, Jamie and his former partner Carly Jenkins moved Killing Frost Farm to Helena in 2021. Their two-acre parcel of land in the fertile Prickly Pear Valley is surrounded by rolling hills and views of Mount Helena.
There are so many benefits of this new location, including access to well water, distance from fire threats, and proximity to city amenities. The farm pumps out an impressive crop list – including sunflower, strawflower, stock, snapdragon, foxglove, scabiosa, zinnia, gomphrena, amaranth, marigold, cosmos, larkspur, Queen Anne’s lace, sea holly, and delphinium – the specialty crop we featured in a bonus spread in The Flower Farmers.
Killing Frost Farm
You’ll want to wait until the very end of our interview for a delightful bonus track of a song titled “Head Fell Off” from the upcoming album Jamie and his fellow band members produced – no surprise, inside the Killing Frost barn, which they converted to a recording studio! I loved this conversation and I love the energy and joy Jamie shares about flower farming. It can be brutal and demanding, but his story is a reminder to find balance and quality of life in the journey.
Sunflowers and Nori
Follow Jamie at his new IG account @montanaflowerfarmer, and @les_duck, where details on the album release of “Love is the Dirt,” will be announced later this summer.
Thank you to our Sponsors
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to the Association of Specialty Cut Flowers. The ASCFG is a gathering place for specialty cut flower growers of all levels of experience. It is a hub of knowledge, where seasoned experts and budding enthusiasts come together to learn, share, and support one another. The ASCFG is dedicated to empowering its members with the knowledge and resources needed to thrive in the world of cut flower farming. From educational workshops and conferences to online resources and publications, they provide a wealth of information and support for all things related to growing exceptional cut flowers. Learn more about the ASCFG and how to be a part of it at www.ascfg.org!
Thank you to Red Twig Farms. Based in New Albany, 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 www.redtwigfarms.com.
Thank you 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.
Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography
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!
Visit an urban cutting garden with me today – and meet long-time Slow Flowers member Eleanor Blackford, a wedding florist whose studio produces designs using only what she grows on her 6,000-square-foot city lot in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. You’ll learn more about what Eleanor grows, inspired by her English grandmothers and their prolific cottage gardens. After years running Bash & Bloom as a Seattle wedding and event business, Eleanor rebranded as Bloomwood Floral to reflect her shift from producing big “bashes” toward creating personalized, garden-inspired floral commissions for couples. With a desire to be entirely “slow” in her practices, this new model fits Eleanor and her husband Matt’s lifestyle as entrepreneurs and parents of two young children.
Garden-sourced wedding florals by Eleanor Blackford of Bloomwood Floral. All photography by Anna Peters
Ten years ago last month – in May 2015 – I recorded our 96th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast with Eleanor Blackford of Bash & Bloom, a Seattle-based wedding and event designer and Slow Flowers member who I frequently ran into at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. I invited Eleanor to sit down in my living room and chat with me about her decision to go foam-free as part of her design philosophy.
A hand-tied bouquet (left) and Eleanor in her Seattle cutting garden (right)
It’s high time to revisit Eleanor’s story and last week I visited her home-based micro-farm in South Seattle, where I filmed our video interview as Eleanor led me through her production and display gardens – all of which provide 100% of her design ingredients these days. We discussed how Bash & Bloom has evolved into Bloomwood Floral, and how Eleanor’s focus has shifted in part because she and her husband are now parents to two young children.
“I feel like ‘urban farming’ is my calling. Growing food, growing flowers — It’s something we assume can’t be done in a city, but it can, and it can be worth it. And there can still be space for a life outside farming, too.”
Eleanor Blackford, Bloomwood Floral
Eleanor Blackford (left) and wedding florals (right)
Here’s a bit more about Eleanor: Eleanor grew up in gardens and around gardeners. Her vivid memories include exploring her nana’s garden at her North Yorkshire Moors cottage in England where she was born and helping her my mum as a kid in their family vegetable garden in Minnesota, where she earned 5¢ for each potato beetle she squished. The first flowers Eleanor ever grew were zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers in a tiny patch of dirt that her dad dug for her behind their house next to the big garden. In each apartment she lived in as an adult, Eleanor managed to find a way to grow something—even if it was just herbs in the kitchen window.
After spending her 20s trying to make the 9-to-5 thing work, Eleanor missed being creative and started playing with flowers. In 2010, she launched bash & bloom, now Bloomwood Floral, as a way to scratch that creative itch. After flowering for a dear friend’s wedding, knowing there was no turning back, she left a non-profit career and threw herself into making this life in flowers work.
When Eleanor met her husband in early 2013, he came with a house on a 6,000+ sq ft lot. Which, by Seattle standards, is a giant parcel. There was a big concrete raised bed and within a few months of them dating, Eleanor had commandeered the garden to plant vegetables and start cosmo seeds. Today, the property is devoid of grass, and just about every square foot of space is taken up by Bloomwood Florals’ urban farmlet. As she says, “The growing bug is a real thing, and I have it.”
A Bloomwood Floral centerpiece
Most days, you can find Eleanor out in the garden or up the street at her Pea Patch spot, often with two lively children in tow. As I mentioned, it was a joy to film a video tour of Bloomwood Floral and the nearby Pea Patch. You will hear some background noise, thanks to the proximity of Interstate 5 and to Boeing Field, where small but noisy private planes seem to take off and land with as much frequency as those at SeaTac Airport near me.
100 percent local and seasonal – Bloomwood Floral’s aesthetic
If you’re in Seattle, check out Bloomwood Florals’ IG feed — @bloomwoodfloral — to see if there’s a popup sale of hand-tied garden bouquets! I’m hoping to grab one this week.
READ MORE – from our August 2019 profile of Eleanor in Florists Review
Coming up — you can find the full calendar for dates from June 8-13 when I’ll be joined by my co-author Robin Avni for an June East Coast book tour to promote The Flower Farmers. All of the events are free, so please come and say hello! We’d love to see you, especially if you’re a Slow Flowers member!
Thank you to our Sponsors!
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to A-ROO Company, your one-stop shop for in-stock floral packaging. From sleeves and wraps to labels and tags, A-Roo Company has a full selection of eco-friendly items or to start the process of developing a look that is uniquely yours. Visit www.a-roo.com to see it all.
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 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.
Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography
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!
The Flower Farmers has been in the works for two years, as my co-author and the book’s creative director Robin Avni and I have poured our storytelling passion into the narratives and imagery that portray 29 North American growers. The book was released on May 6th by Abrams, and we’ve been in major celebration mode ever since. Today’s episode brings you to the lecture that Robin and I recently presented for the Northwest Horticultural Society, as we introduced the flower farming lifestyle and encouraged the audience to “garden like a flower farmer.” In the second part of this episode, you’ll hear a fabulous conversation I recorded with Daniel Sparler, Seattle-based horticulturalist and expert on botanical Latin, who served as The Flower Farmers’ horticulture consultant.
Debra Prinzing (left) and Robin Avni (right), co-authors of THE FLOWER FARMERS (c) Mary Grace Long
Here’s the pitch for The Flower Farmers book: “Twenty–nine of today’s most inspiring flower farmers present stories, how–to–cultivate expertise, and favorite new varieties in a lushly photographed guide to feed your every floral fantasy.
“Flower farmers are the garden world’s lifestyle influencers these days, with dedicated social media channels and hundreds of thousands of avid fans who dream about having a lush and vibrant cutting garden of their own. Today’s gardeners follow celebrity growers to gather ideas and expert advice regarding planting techniques and the best varieties and seasonal plants to choose. The Flower Farmers book presents a curated group of favorite growers, from industry leaders to pioneering newcomers. Each grower shares their specialty knowledge and seasonal practices, so that readers will be able to create a similar relationship with flowers and discover sustainable techniques for their own gardens. Dedicated sidebars dig deeper, with information on everything from raising a unique cultivar to the best floral varieties for long-lasting arrangements. Gorgeous photography illustrates each farmer’s profile, highlighting the beauty of their farms, floral passions, and the flowers themselves.”
Book-signing with Debra and Robin, following their Northwest Horticultural Society lecture May 21, 2025
Regular listeners know all about me, and so I’ll re-introduce Robin Avni, past guest of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Robin is a creative director and experienced designer in the media + high-tech industries. Her specialties include creative management of award-winning teams and content development for high-profile projects. She has produced 18 floral and lifestyle books, including eight in collaboration with me, and together we love showcasing the floral lifestyle of creatives and entrepreneurs.
Whether you’re a plant geek or a beginning plant parent, you’ll love hearing from Daniel Sparler about botanical Latin and how it has evolved. We are so grateful that Daniel shared his expertise with us to ensure that The Flower Farmers’ plant content is correctly identified, accurate and up to date.
The Flower Farmers JUNE Book Tour — Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut & New York Sun., June 8th (4-6 p.m.), WATERFORD, Virginia Book Launch party and signing with Debra Prinzing and Holly Heider Chapple of Hope Flower Farm. Enjoy the afternoon at Hope Flower Farm, featured in the pages of The Flower Farmers. Books will be available for purchase and signing, and you’ll want to visit the Hope Flower Farm Winery, too! Free; Event Details Here. NOTE: Correct time is 4-6 p.m.
Tues., June 10th (6-7:30 p.m.) KENNETT SQUARE, Pennsylvania Longwood Gardens hosts Robin Avni and Debra Prinzing for a lecture and book-signing about The Flower Farmers. They’ll be joined by Marly Surena-Llorens of Fenimore & Rutland (Allentown, Pennsylvania) will join as their special farmer guest. Free; pre-registration is required; Event Details Here.
Wed., June 11th (4-6 p.m.) MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut The Connecticut Flower Collective is hosting Debra Prinzing from the Slow Flower Society and Robin Avni to share their latest book, “The Flower Farmers.” Enjoy light snacks and refreshments while listening to a reading followed by a Q&A from 4-5PM, and a book signing from 5-6PM. Books will be available for purchase at CTFC, as well as a late flower market where you can shop the floor during the event. Free; Pre-Register Here
Thur., June 12th (6-8 p.m.) BROOKLYN (Williamsburg), New York Join Debra and Robin at Flower Aggregate, the exciting new hub for local flowers. Enjoy networking and refreshments, and meet some of the flower farmers featured in The Flower Farmers! Books will be available for purchase and signing. Free. More Details Here.
Fri., June 13th (4-6 p.m.) MILLBROOK, New York Orangerie Garden + Home is hosting Robin and Debra, along with three flower farmers who are featured in The Flower Farmers. Enjoy design demonstrations of their local flowers along with refreshments. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Free. More Details Here.
Thank you to our Sponsors!
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to 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 johnnyseeds.com.
Thank you 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.
Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography
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!
Join Debra’s fabulous conversation with Daniel Sparler, Seattle-based horticulturalist and expert on botanical Latin, who served as The Flower Farmers’ horticulture consultant. Note: this bonus interview also appears as part two of Slow Flowers Podcast Episode 718.
Debra Prinzing and Daniel Sparler standing in front of a beautiful Azara serrata in his Seattle garden (c) Jeff Schouten
READ MORE about Azara serrata in an article by Daniel Sparler, “Azaras in Abundance”
I have a special interview to share! Whether you’re a self-described plant geek or a beginning plant parent, you’ll love hearing from Daniel Sparler about botanical Latin and how it has evolved. We are so grateful that Daniel shared his expertise with us to ensure that The Flower Farmers’ plant content was correctly identified, accurate and up to date. In celebration of the release of The Flower Farmers, I asked Daniel to chat with me about language, plants, and how they come together in botanical Latin. This interview was recorded on May 10, 2025, in the garden Daniel shares with his husband Jeff Schouten.
MORE about Daniel: Daniel Sparler thought he had left gardening behind when he washed up on Seattle’s shores in 1981 after his first two decades of life in agrarian Arkansas. But 11 years later, having acquired a Seward Park house surrounded by a long neglected, sprawling lot, he quickly succumbed to floral and foliar fever, which soon progressed to a full-blown and likely terminal case of CPC – compulsive plant collecting. Within a few years he and his long-suffering husband Jeffrey had cobbled together a notorious but much-photographed garden brimming over with thousands of distinct taxa of plants from all corners of the globe. Daniel has taught botanical Latin classes for the last 15 years in addition to writing the popular “Horticulturally Yours” column for the Northwest Horticultural Society. Otherwise, when not up to his knees in compost, Daniel enjoys reading Spanish literature, preparing vegan cuisine, and visiting the world’s most alluring botanical gardens.
Plant page from The Flower Farmers – Note the Iceland poppy has been reclassified from Papaver to Oreomecon nudicaulis
More from Daniel: Papaver was the Latin word for poppy; in Greek it was Mecon. Hence “Meconopsis” (-opsis being a Greek suffix meaning “looking like”). Oreo is Greek for mountain, thus Oreomecon, the “new” genus for Iceland poppy, means (from the Greek) “mountain poppy”. The genus Papaver is still alive and well, and contains more than 70 species, although the “Iceland poppy” has been moved out of it.
Here are the resources we discussed as “unassailable sources” for botanical Latin:
The Carrier family has been growing cut flowers and plants for more than 40 years, raising their three children with a love for flowers, and keeping the business in the family as it transitions into the hands of the next generation. Plant Masters, the specialty cut flower farm owned by Leon and Carol Carrier, and their son Leon Carrier III, is based in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. The family floral enterprise supplies numerous farmers’ markets in the area, thanks to a year-round selection of floral design elements and more than 100 varieties, beginning with woody ornamental branches and early flowering bulbs in winter; hellebores, peonies, and perennials in spring; hydrangeas, sunflowers, dahlias, and other annuals in summer; and heirloom mums, winter greenery, and their famous winterberry branches by the year’s end. Join me for a fun conversation with all three, followed by a video tour of Plant Masters.
Leon and Carol Carrier (left) and Leon (Lee) Carrier III (right) (c) Beth Caldwell
Three generations of the Carrier family, including Leon and Carol (left); their son and daughter-in-law, Lee and Jenna (right), with their five children in the foreground. (c) Beth Caldwell
Our celebration of The Flower Farmers publication continues today with a visit to Maryland, where you’ll meet Leon and Carol Carrier and their son Lee Carrier, owners of Plant Masters.
Endless Rows at Plant Masters’ expansion farm, with the new barn and two high tunnels (c) Beth Caldwell
With over five acres of cultivated land, four hoop houses, and a greenhouse spread over two home farms, Plant Masters is known for providing sustainable, high-quality flowers to customers and florists in the greater Maryland-District of Columbia market. I first met Leon at a Field to Vase dinner held in Virginia. Around the same time, Slow Flowers member Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore, approached me with an offer I couldn’t refuse. She had collaborated with Leon and Carol to produce a series of styled photo shoots at their farm using the plants, foliage, and flowers they grew from season to season. Her goal was to showcase the many ways florists could incorporate all-local botanicals into wedding and event design, underscoring the Slow Flowers values that Kelly adopted for her business. The series was my first article for Florists Review, which published a beautiful, 11-page feature called “Four Seasons of Floral Design” in the January 2017 issue. The package included a special one-page “Meet the Farmers” interview with Leon and Carol. READ more here:
When it came time to write The Flower Farmers book, I knew I wanted to include the story of Plant Masters. Today, you’re in for a treat. You’ll meet Leon and Carol, and their son Lee, who’s leading the next generation of Plant Masters. Our interview is followed by a video tour of the farm, filmed by Roy Henry.
Join us at Hope Flower Farm on June 8th (4-6 p.m.)
Celebrate The Flower Farmers and meet host Holly Chapple at Hope Flower Farm in Waterford, Virginia!
Plant Masters’ Carol and Leon Carrier will be in attendance and, along with Holly and Debra Prinzing, we’ll all sign your copy of The Flower Farmers book.
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.
Thank you to the Seattle 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 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.
Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography
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!
