Debra Prinzing

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Episode 719: Weddings from the Garden, with urban farmer-florist Eleanor Blackford of Bloomwood Floral

Wednesday, June 4th, 2025

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
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)
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)
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
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
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


Slow Flowers on the Road!

The Flower Farmers Summer Book Tour
The Flower Farmers Summer Book Tour

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.

Royal Anthos Lily Bulbs

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.


Slow Flowers Podcast Logo with flowers, recorder and mic

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.


Debra in the Slow Flowers Cutting Garden
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!


Music credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Contrarian
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

Green and Local as a Flourishing Business Model with Bash & Bloom of Seattle (Episode 195)

Wednesday, May 27th, 2015

Meet Eleanor Blackford, owner and creative director of Bash & Bloom (c) Barbie Hull Photography

Meet Eleanor Blackford, owner and creative director of Bash & Bloom (c) Barbie Hull Photography

bashandbloomlogoThis week’s guest is Eleanor Blackford Davis, owner of Seattle-based Bash & Bloom.

Eleanor and I frequent the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market where she is a regular customer and I’m on the board.

A Bash & Bloom emerald green and white bouquet displayed in an ornate chair with photography (c) Courtney Bowlden Photography

A Bash & Bloom emerald green and white bouquet displayed in an ornate chair with photography (c) Courtney Bowlden Photography

It’s always fun and tempting to see what she has loaded in her arms on those early-morning excursions – and there’s often a fabulous related story she shares about a wedding or event in the works.

Eleanor and I got to talking last year about her decision – and her public announcement – to go foam free as a designer.

A Bash & Bloom Table Garland adorns a wedding reception (c) photography by Mark Malijan Photography

A Bash & Bloom Table Garland adorns a wedding reception (c) photography by Mark Malijan Photography

She also believes in sourcing from local farms and through the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, whose staff members procure only local, seasonal and sustainably-grown flowers from Washington, Oregon, Alaska and California.

My photograph of Eleanor Blackford, with her sample arrangement using local spring flowers and Floral Soil.

My photograph of Eleanor Blackford, with her sample arrangement using local spring flowers and Floral Soil.

Eleanor's finished design, a prototype for her wedding reception.

Eleanor’s finished design, a prototype for her wedding reception.

We continued the dialogue recently while both participating in a workshop to use Floral Soil, a 100-percent plant-based alternative to the conventional foam, invented by Mickey Blake, a past guest of this podcast.

Alicia Schwede of Flirty Fleurs, another past podcast guest, led the workshop on designing elevated centerpieces, and I have to tell you that Eleanor’s piece was stunning! It was also the prototype for her own wedding florals, which took place on May 8th. 

Check out the no-foam elevated centerpiece she created at the workshop with Alicia and Mickey.

But about five weeks ago, Eleanor and I agreed to meet over tea to record our conversation, and I know you’ll enjoy it.

Eleanor's art deco bouquet in white and dark reddish purples was photographed by (c) My Beloved Photography

Eleanor’s art deco bouquet in white and dark reddish purples was photographed by (c) My Beloved Photography

I’m happy that Eleanor has shared so many photos of her floral design work and a few bonus photos from her recent wedding to Matthew Davis (see below).

Eleanor on her wedding day with flowers by Kelly Sullivan of Botanique (Instagram photo from wedding photographer Shane Macomber)

Eleanor on her wedding day with flowers by Kelly Sullivan of Botanique (Instagram photo from wedding photographer Shane Macomber)

Those fantastic elevated centerpieces designed with Floral Soil - adorning Eleanor and Matt's wedding reception. (c) Shane Macomber Photography

Those fantastic elevated centerpieces designed with Floral Soil – adorning Eleanor and Matt’s wedding reception. (c) Shane Macomber Photography

You can find Eleanor at these Social Sites:

Bash & Bloom on Facebook

Bash & Bloom on Instagram

Bash & Bloom on Pinterest

The Greater Seattle Floral Association, the local organization for wedding, event, studio and retail designers in which she is actively involved.

Bouquets for a pink-and-mauve floral palette (c) Alante Photography

Bouquets for a pink-and-mauve floral palette (c) Alante Photography

Here’s how my guest introduces herself on the Bash & Bloom web site:

I’m Eleanor Blackford – a craftster, dog lover, fun haver, and Owner of bash & bloom. My style has been described as having a lush, organic, and creative look and feel. I love to make an event unique, personal, and fun and can’t wait to sit down with you to talk about your vision. I work closely with my couples or party hosts to bring their unique personality and style to their event, primarily using seasonal and local products.

Vivid palette (c) Dana Pleasant Photography

Vivid palette (c) Dana Pleasant Photography

Thanks again for joining me today for another wonderful conversation about American flowers and the designers and farmers who are changing this entire industry for the better.

More flowers from the brighter end of the spectrum, (c) Barrie Anne Photography

More flowers from the brighter end of the spectrum, (c) Barrie Anne Photography

PodcastLogoListeners like you have downloaded the podcast 50,000 times.

I want to stop for just one moment and savor that news. Yes, we just produced our 96th episode and we are very, very close to airing the big one-hundredth episode, just one month from now.

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.