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Welcome to December! I hope the information shared in this month's newsletter is useful and thought-provoking, Warmly, Debra
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Last Call for Images: Slow Flowers PR // Valentine's Day
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Terra Bella Flowers in Seattle created this 2016 Valentine's Day bouquet and it was picked up by AdWeek!
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Last CALL for your Valentine's Day Submissions!
The Slow Flowers PR Campaign continues with an eye to February 14th -- with our goal of filling the news stream with local and seasonal floral design ideas for Valentine's Day!
You're invited to submit images of your flowers or your design work for possible inclusion. This opportunity is available free to PREMIUM Members. If you have a Standard Membership and you would like to participate, there is a $35 fee.
The "Slow Valentine's Day" editorial package will be distributed nationally to lifestyle editors and bloggers during the first week of January.
Don't miss out on this excellent opportunity to get published!
We've extended the DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: December 15th
What: Please submit up to 3 horizontal images (1024 x 768 dpi or larger is recommended)
The images should illustrate local, domestic and seasonal botanicals suitable for Valentine's Day editorial. We're looking for ALTERNATIVES to traditional rose arrangements or FRESH ways to design with American-grown roses.
For each submission, please provide:
1. Description of design
2. Source of flowers/foliage/botanical product
3. 1 design / decorating tip
Be sure to share your Social Places for tagging (web site, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter)
Submit to debra@slowflowers.com. You are encouraged to use Dropbox or other FTP sites.
Questions? Please ask, email address above or call 206-769-8211
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"DECORATE YOUR HOME - AFTER PRUNING YOUR BACKYARD," by Debbie Arrington for the Sacramento Bee, came out just in time for readers in need of holiday decor inspiration.
This popular gardening columnist tapped Slow Flowers founder Debra Prinzing for tips on gleaning seasonal gifts from nature and the landscape. Debbie wrote:
Debra Prinzing likes to combine two November tasks that on the surface seem polar opposites: pruning and holiday decorating.
A leader of the “Slow Flowers” movement, she thinks of it as “garden gleaning.”
“I love the term ‘garden gleanings’ because that sounds more pleasant than ‘garden chores!’ ” said Prinzing, author and creator of SlowFlowers.com. “However, gleanings for decorating indoors can easily come from your fall/winter garden cleanup, such as cutting back perennials and pruning branches. These gifts from nature are ideal for filling large urns or small vases, or for making garlands, wreaths or front-door sprays.”
Just as “Slow Food” emphasizes locally grown food, the Slow Flowers concept urges people to think local farm to vase – or backyard to front-door wreath.
With the holidays upon us, bringing some of that greenery indoors helps set the mood and makes the whole house feel more festive. Start by surveying what’s available in your own landscape.
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"How Fresh are Those Flowers?" Writer, editor and gardening blogger Jean Starr interviewed Debra about the Slow Flowers' take on weddings in a column appearing in the online magazine Planters Place. She also interviewed Slow Flowers member Emily Watson, owner of Wood Violet Floral Design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for her tips and advice for keeping wedding flowers as local and seasonal as possible. Other Slow Flowers members mentioned in the piece include Sunny Meadows Flower Farm and Buckeye Blooms, both Ohio-based, and Bliss Haven Farms, from Indiana.
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HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Heather Saunders, exclusive Flower House photographer, has just released her beautiful art book, "Flower House Detroit."
The 300-page, 9-by-12-inch book contains Heather's impressions and thoughts as seen through her lens before, during and after the amazing foral art experience called The Flower House.
Heather has collected essays and hundreds of her images between the pages of the book's elegant cover.
Flower House creator Lisa Waud wrote the book's highly personal foreword and Heather asked Slowflowers.com founder Debra Prinzing to take part in a Q&A about Locally Sourced Flowers that follows.
It's super impressive and thoroughly inspiring to know Heather self-published this stunning volume. The book was printed by the French Paper Co., a Niles, Michigan-based printer operating with 100% green hydropower.
In our Q&A, Heather asked what I first thought when Lisa told me she wanted to fill a house with American grown flowers. Here is an excerpt of my answer:
"The inventiveness of Flower House will have a lasting impact on the floral community. We are at a crossroads in time, when the only relationship many Americans have with flowers is as a "commodity" wrapped in plastic at the checkout counter. We don't know where those flowers come from; we don't know who grew them or what practices or methods were employed.
"Flower House tells a completely different story: Flowers are most ephemeral and beautiful when they become a work of art in the hands of a maker, when they are grown on our own land, when we celebrate the entire lifespan of that flower - from seed to installation - and when we honor every human who had a role in bringing that flower to life."
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ON THE ROAD with Slow Flowers
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From left: Katie Davis of Ponderosa & Thyme and I co-presented designs highlighting locally-grown flowers; Ali Dahlson of Mayesh models Katie's gorgeous bouquet; and I pose with my PNW-inspired arrangement
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SLOW FLOWERS helps Mayesh Wholesale introduce its new Portland, Oregon Branch
In early November, Mayesh invited customers to join them in celebrating the opening of their brand new space in the Portland Flower Market! It was a great success thanks to manager Amy Gebhardt and the support of her team, not to mention the awesome new space! Large, open and fresh, the Mayesh space has been transformed into a welcoming place for customers and the ideal spot to host a party.
The event garnered about 200 guests plus a number of Mayesh employees and members of the family, including floral designer Ali Dahlson, whose blog posts appear regularly on Mayesh's web site. We kicked things off with a collaborative, hands-on demonstration. I was lucky to be partnered with Katie Davis of Ponderosa & Thyme. I created two arrangements, focusing on all-local flowers, while Katie made a textural hand-tied bouquet using a mixture of local and imported blooms. We had a blast and I loved meeting so many in the Portland floral community, including several Slowflowers.com members who attended!
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Hilary Holmes of Emerald Petals designed beautiful centerpieces and a tulip installation suspended from the Holland America greenhouse rafters
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Sharing the SLOW FLOWERS story with 125 Field to Vase Dinner guests gathered at Holland America Flower Farm in Woodland, Washington
The seventh Field to Vase Dinner took place in early November, and I was thrilled to participate as a speaker.
Hilary's inspiration began with the hundreds of thousands of tulips growing inside Holland America's greenhouses.
Check out some of the photos here! If you look closely, you'll see charming tendrils of pale apricot nasturtium, plucked from Hilary's own garden.
Guests dined on local fare, sipped local wine and beer, listened to bluegrass music from a local band and toured the operations with flower farmer and CEO Benno Dobbe. Holland America's in-house florist Stacey Lane, also a Slowflowers.com member, adorned the greenhouse entrance and dining area with a bounty of just-harvested blooms.
Guests left the evening with gorgeous pink and yellow tulips, courtesy of Holland America Flowers, and the popular Field to Vase swag bag was full of goodies every floral enthusiast could appreciate.
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SLOW FLOWERS sponsors Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers annual conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan
We headed to the 2016 conference that drew hundreds of veteran flower farmers and newbies eager to soak up the knowledge of this wonderful community. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. Its mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
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LISTEN: Slow Flowers Podcasts for November
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Voices of the Slow Flowers Movement
Each week the Slow Flowers Podcast releases a new episode featuring timely interviews with flower farmers and floral designers whose wisdom and insights will inspire you!
Check out the wide range of guests we've heard from this month.
And please celebrate with me! During November, episodes of the Slow Flowers Podcast were downloaded more than 6,500 times!
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THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS
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