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American Flowers Week is almost here!
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Download and COLOR our USA Floral Map
Inspired by the Coloring-as-Creative-Therapy craze, we commissioned artist Jenny Diaz to illustrate a USA Floral Map in honor of American Flowers Week! Please download and print extra copies for your marketing and promotion. Or, just get out your art supplies and color this adorable map yourself.
When you do so, please scan the image as I've done here and post it to Social Media with the hashtag #americanflowersweek.
The potential color combos are endless and I sure had fun working with Jenny to come up with the best illustration to capture our nation's floral diversity, along with a few friendly pollinators.
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Coming Soon . . . to your mailbox
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Slow Flowers Resources for You
Look for a packet of goodies that will arrive in your mailbox in the next week or so. Our first mailing of collateral marketing material will include:
Fliers: "Are you a Slow Fowers Florist?" "Flower Farmers" and "Where Do Your Flowers Come From?"
Post Cards: Two-sided 4x6 post cards promoting Slowflowers.com and American Flowers Week.
If you don't receive a packet by mid-June, shoot us an email todebra@slowflowers.com. It's entirely possible we can't find your physical mailing address and we'd love to have it!
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Slow Flowers in the News: Associated Press
Katherine Ross, an Associated Press Features Writer, turned to Slow Flowers as an expert resource for her May 2016 article, "Wild, natural and local: Trends in floral centerpieces," which ran in dozens of major newspapers across the U.S.
She highlighted the work of Slow Flowers member Ariella Chezar, whose new book, "The Flower Workshop," exemplifies the focus on local and natural-looking floral design. Thanks to Ariella for referring Katherine to Slow Flowers!!!
Here's what Katherine wrote:
Debra Prinzing of Seattle, who launched [slowflowers.com] two years ago, said: "Farmers who sell to the public are an incredibly useful resource for brides, a real repository of knowledge. And the ethos of local, or at least U.S. sourcing is something brides really want these days."
Farmers know what's in season, and having a story behind the flowers at your wedding — a sort of provenance — adds to the event, said Prinzing, who adds stationery tags to centerpieces for local weddings telling where the flowers were grown and what variety they are.
"It's a cultural pivot toward local sourcing for all things. And in terms of the aesthetic, it's a mindset of looking for all things seasonal and natural," she said.
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Slow Flowers in the News:
Leotie Lovely Blog
In her post "Slow Flowers for a Sustainable Wedding," popular environmental writer Holly Rose of the Leotie Lovely blog asks:
So how does one celebrate their wedding day ethically and sustainably?
1. Ask your florist/grocery/wholesaler for locally grown flowers, if they don't have them, tell them you would love to see them supply some local options (and don't support them if they don't).
2. If you're buying in a grocery store, look for origin-specific labels and shop fairtrade (you guessed it, we've got slave labor problems in the flower industry!)
3. Try a dried flower bouquet created with flowers who started their life in season and were sequestered organically and ethically.
4. If neither your local florist nor your grocery store can provide you with sustainably sourced local flowers, try visiting:
[USA & CANADA] SlowFlowers.com for some terrific sources for organic and locally grown bouquets.
[CANADA] Design Sponge has a great list of local florists in the U.S.A and Canada.
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Slow Flowers in the News: Missouri Life
Thanks to the amazing legwork from Slow Flowers member Andrea K. Grist of Andrea K. Grist Floral Designs based outside Kansas City, Missouri, people in the "Show Me State" now have new awareness of local flowers and floral designers who source from Missouri flower farms. Here's an excerpt:
Although she has no brick-and-mortar store, Andrea gets a majority of her business catering to weddings and corporate events. Increasingly, she’s becoming involved in the slow flowers movement.
“This is a movement where floral designers and event planners are thinking about where they source their flowers from and how that can impact local farms,” she says.
The article by Jonas Weir featured Andrea's photography and highlighted numerous Slow Flowers members who are based in Missouri. Kudos to you, Andrea!
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Slow Flowers in the News: Whidbey Life Magazine
The story by Dianna MacLeod was inspired by our Slow Flowers Podcast featuring all these members who are responsible for Whidbey Island's burgeoning local flower scene -- which aired in December 2015.
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Slow Flowers Members Targeted
A few of our members have reported receiving strange phone or email requests for outlandish flower orders -- remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Please notify us if you think you've been on the receiving end of an unethical "order." We can't stop these scammers from contacting you, but we want to keep abreast of their tactics.
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Podcast Episodes:
Have you been listening? Here are links to episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast for May 2016:
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Referrals, Please
The Slow Flowers Community has grown to more than 700 member florists and flower farmers who have created a business listing on Slowflowers.com.
Help us meet the challenge to grow Slowflowers.com to 1,000 members in 2016! Our voices will have more impact with media, policymakers and consumers!
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