Debra Prinzing

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Episode 545: Valentine’s Day with all-local flowers — live from the top of the Empire State Building with Jaclyn Rutigliano of Hometown Flower Co.

Wednesday, February 16th, 2022

First of all, I hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day! Today, we are in for a real treat. So many of our members – flower farmers and floral designers alike – are devoted to changing the dialogue around flower sourcing. During what is one of the biggest floral holidays of the year, it has not been unusual to read media reports about flower shortages or all the negatives around flowers in general. The chocolate and jewelry folks wouldn’t have it any other way — just discourage people to buy flowers, right? 

Hometown Flower Co.’s all-local flower cart, designed for the Empire State Building’s Valentine’s Day celebration

Well there is another message and you’ll hear it today. It’s good news – and you already know it! Local Flowers Come to the Rescue for Valentine’s Day, with a new approach to help Cupid get flowers to gals and pals. 

Jaclyn Rutigliano and Marc Iervolino

One of our members is doing something incredible and I can’t wait to introduce you to Jaclyn Rutigliano of Hometown Flower Co. Based on Long Island, Hometown Flower Co. partnered with the Empire State Building to present “Local is Beautiful” – a Valentine’s Day Floral Installation and Pop-Up Shop celebrating New York and New Jersey-grown flowers. 

Visitors to the Empire State Building’s 86th floor Observatory Deck from last Thursday, February 10th through Monday, February 14th were greeted with an eye-catching floral installation designed 100-percent foam free and exclusively with fresh flowers sourced directly from New York and New Jersey growers.

We joined Jaclyn last week while she was putting the finishing details on her pop-up to record a visit and learn more about how this promotion came together. By way of quick background, Jaclyn and her husband and partner Marc Iervolino founded Hometown Flower Co. in 2019 as a Long Island-based sustainable floral design studio and pop-up flower truck. A third-generation floral design, Jaclyn is a past guest of the Slow Flowers Podcast and she and Marc are featured in Where We Bloom, a book I wrote in 2021.

Thanks so much for joining us today to get in the Local is Beautiful Valentine’s Day spirit with Jaclyn. I will share the Floral Facts and talking points that Jaclyn developed for the media, lifestyle influencers, visitors to the Empire State Building and flower customers – Slow Flowers provided support for the collateral material that Hometown Flower Co. shared and we’re so excited to help them get the word out.


Hometown Flower Co. flowers in a bag
Hometown Flower Co.’s signature “Flowers in a Bag” at the Empire State Building’s 86th Floor Observatory.

WHY LOCAL FLOWERS?

The majority of the floral industry’s flowers are harvested by workers marginally compensated, around 60% of whom are women. They are then bred for long distance air travel (hence, no more natural floral fragrances) which comes with a massive carbon footprint from long distance air travel. Most stems are already covered in chemical pesticides but then get topped off with a warm welcome at the border with a spraying of Roundup upon entry into the U.S. Nothing says “stop and smell the roses” like a good whiff of Roundup at your nostrils! Flowers then get trucked to various wholesalers who have purchased from a global marketplace, where they then remain until a florist purchases. Once at a florist, they remain again until use for a special event or for a customer order- who then desires a product that will last at least one week. Hometown Flower Co. believes there is a better alternative: source directly from local growers, providing the freshest possible flowers within just a couple of days from when they were cut.

Some Takeaway Floral Facts:

  • Did you know, every year Colombia exports ~30 million roses to the U.S. for Valentine’s Day? That’s a long way to travel! Between the carbon footprint & the pesticides sprayed at the border, we think there’s a better alternative: local flowers.
  • 74% of consumers don’t know where their flowers come from. Currently the U.S. imports ~80% of flowers sold and 200,132 TONS of flowers land in Miami each year. During the weeks of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, 80,000-130,000 boxes of flowers arrive daily, equaling seven daily flights, six days per week. 
  • What can you do if you live in a region that does not have easily accessible locally-grown flowers? Look for florists and farmers who ship nationwide at SlowFlowers.com, TheFlowry.com, or check for Certified American Grown labeling for your grocery store blooms.
  • Floral Foam = Plastic. Did you know, the “green stuff” used by many florists to keep designs hydrated is actually a single-use plastic? This outdated and unnecessary design hack ends up in our landfills and is filling up our waterways with microplastics. Help the floral industry ditch the foam: order your flowers sans floral foam.
  • There are flower farmers currently located in all 50 states. 58% of respondents to a recent survey said they want to support locally-grown flowers. Here’s what consumers can do:
  • Request locally-grown flowers from your florist
  • Find sustainable farmers & florists at SlowFlowers.com
  • Look for the Certified American Grown sticker on packaging

Find and follow Hometown Flower Collective at these social places:

Find HFC on Facebook

Discover HFC on Instagram

See more pretty from HFC on Pinterest


Join our February Member Meet-Up

February 2022 Meet-Up graphic
Jim Martin (left), owner of Compost in my Shoe (Charleston, S.C.) and Rita Anders (right),
owner of Cuts of Color (Weimar, Texas)

This Friday is our February Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up and you’ll want to sign up to join us at 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern on February 18th. The link to preregister can be found below or in our Instagram Linktree profile for @slowflowerssociety.

I’m so excited about this month’s topic — our focus is on winter flower crops and designing from the garden in winter. This session is inspired by the fantastic conference I attended and spoke at in Southern Flower Symposium in Charleston, S.C., produced by Jim Martin of Compost in my Shoe and fellow members of Low Country Flower Growers in August 2018. Cuts of Color’s Rita Anders was a keynote presenter, speaking on the topic: “Optimizing Cut Flower Production in our Southern Climate” — and it was an incredible session that enhanced people’s understanding of how they could extend the seasons and grow during the winter months!

We’ve invited Rita to give us a peek into her winter growing practices in Weimar, Texas, and asked Jim to share a floral design demo and talk about winter growing in Charleston. His winter floral designs from South Carolina have been blowing my mind, especially because so much of what he designs with is cut from his own garden. You will love this session! We’ll see you there!


Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 880 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.

Farmgirl Flowers 2022

Thank you to our lead sponsor, returning for 2022, 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.

More thanks goes 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.

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.

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.


Slow Flowers Podcast Logo with flowers, recorder and mic

Thanks so much for joining us today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 815,000 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 Slow Flowers Society.com and consider making a donation to sustain Slow Flowers’ ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right here at slowflowerspodcast.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. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. 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 Brenlan. You can learn more about Andrew’s work at soundbodymovement.com

Music Credits:

Caprese; 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

Episode 423: Taylor Patterson of New York-based Fox Fodder Farm, plus, our state focus: Rhode Island

Wednesday, October 16th, 2019
Taylor Patterson of New York’s Fox Fodder Farm, shopping for local flowers at the West 28th Street Flower Market (c) Ingalls Photo

I met up with New York City-based floral entrepreneur Taylor Patterson while spending a few days in New York and Brooklyn while en route to join the festivities at Holly Chapple’s Flowerstock in Virginia. And I’m so incredibly glad for the time I spent with Taylor, today’s featured guest.

I adore Taylor and am enthralled with what she has accomplished through Fox Fodder Farm, her urban floral design business with multiple services and an elegant, high-style, yet farm- and seasonally-inspired aesthetic.

Flowers, farming, design and beauty — it’s all reflected Taylor Patterson’s floral enterprise, Fox Fodder Farm (c) Ingalls Photo

To learn about the origin of her business name Fox Fodder Farm, you’ll have to listen in to hear from Taylor herself. She has developed the business over the past eight years, evolving it into a studio that serves weekly business accounts, local floral deliveries, weddings and special events and a small retail kiosk at Canal Street Market.

I met Taylor this past March at the beautiful and inspiring Gathering Rose Workshop, hosted by Danielle Hahn of Rose Story Farm and Felicia Alvarez of Menagerie Farm and Flower, and held at Rose Story Farm in Carpinteria, outside Santa Barbara. It was a one-of-a-kind creative event focused entirely on the rose, growing, cultivation, selection and design. As I mention during my conversation with Taylor, my story about the workshop appears in a recent issue of Florists’ Review, which you can find here.

Seasonal dogwood branches, a monobotanical arrangement by Taylor Patterson of Fox Fodder Farm (c) Ingalls Photo

And I was touched and very much encouraged that after we met, oh so briefly, there, Fox Fodder Farm joined Slow Flowers as a member. Her support only served to increase my interest in learning more about her and her floral enterprise. So you’re the lucky recipient of my curiosity.

Taylor Patterson of Fox Fodder Farm (c) Ingalls Photo

As with most of my interview subjects, I’m not always sure what direction the topics and themes we’ll take. The wonderful dialogue with Taylor left me thinking about the power of female leadership in our floral marketplace. The power to use beauty to influence sustainable choices, ethical flower farming, and a bold independence in such a crowded and cluttered marketplace. I hope you draw at least one idea from my interview with Taylor to employ or consider for your flower farm or studio. It’s a privilege to continue bringing fresh voices and new perspectives to this forum.

Find and follow Taylor and Fox Fodder Farm on Instagram and on Facebook

Marty Wingate, on location, at a favorite garden spot in the U.K.

And a program note. You may remember this past May when I featured my mystery-writer friend Marty Wingate in the Slow Flowers Podcast, Episode 402.

In it we discussed her forthcoming new series – and the first book in her First Editions series was released this past week: You can order The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate from all online booksellers, or find a copy in your local independent book store or library.

Marty has two other British garden and nature-themed mystery series, which you’ll also want to check out. So proud of my friend and you met her first, here at the Slow Flowers Podcast.

Now, let’s visit Rhode Island and meet Julie Christina of Christina Flower Co. as we continue the Fifty States of Slow Flowers Series.

Julie is a floral designer with an emphasis on local and seasonal plant materials. The end result is a unique, earthy, and refined aesthetic. Hailing from Ohio, Julie first fell in love with nature, plants, and all things garden-related when exploring her family’s 10-acre property as a child. This love of the outdoors stuck with her as she went on to pursue a Bachelor of Science in landscape horticulture from Ohio State University, where she was able to study horticulture and garden design, as well as explore some of the finest English style gardens abroad at Myerscough College in England.  

Julie has an impressive career in horticulture and public gardens, including, since 2008, serving as Education Program Manager at Blithewold Mansions, Garden & Arboretum, where she is continually inspired by the history, the people who lived here, and of course, the abundant gardens.

Julie has expanded Blithewold’s educational offerings, which is how I first met her five years ago as a speaker and workshop leader there. Blithewold has played a huge role in her own family, and she is now able to experience the full circle of sharing her and her husband Dan’s love of nature with their adorable, clever, curious, and fun-loving sons, Jack and Owen.

Find and follow Christina Flower Co. on Instagram and Facebook.

(c) Mary Grace Long photography

Thank you so much for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 528,000 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 the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. It’s the leading trade magazine in the floral industry and the only independent periodical for the retail, wholesale and supplier market. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community

Arctic Alaska Peonies, a cooperative of family farms in the heart of Alaska working together to grow and distribute fresh, stunning, high-quality peony varieties during the months of July and August – and even September. Arctic Alaska Peonies operates three pack houses supplying peonies throughout the United States and Canada. Visit them today at arcticalaskapeonies.com.

Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist. Look for the American Flag Icon to find Syndicate’s USA-made products and join the Syndicate Stars loyalty program at syndicatesales.com.

FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to 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 Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com

Music Credits:
Cymbal Patter; Betty Dear; Gaena
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.bluehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Lovely 
by Tryad 
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Field
audionautix.com