Slow Flowers Podcast Debra Prinzing

https://youtu.be/i9EsxmOp5Zc?si=mrruo1qHJGCKtyEh









Today, we’re continuing our conversations with multi-talented Slow Flowers members who grow flowers, design for weddings and events, and operate a retail flower shop. I call them the triple threat talents, and we have lots to learn from Sydney Garvey of Flowers by Garvey’s Gardens in Grand Junction Colorado.







Garvey's Gardens in downtown Grand Junction, Colorado







I am so pleased to have recorded a podcast interview with Sydney Garvey of Garvey’s Gardens, a flower farm based in Palisade, Colorado, and its sister business, Flowers by Garvey’s Gardens, a retail flower shop and wedding design studio in Grand Junction, Colorado.







Floral design by Sydney Garvey (left); Sydney Garvey (right)







Garvey’s Gardens joined Slow Flowers as a member several years ago, prior to Sydney Garvey deciding to add retail floristry to her original focus as a farmer-florist. We met last June at the Slow Flowers Summit and we joke that we’ve been trying to schedule the podcast interview ever since.







The beautiful landscape in Palisade, Colorado, home to Garvey's Gardens







I will make note that you may have seen us highlight Flowers by Garvey’s Gardens in the 2024 Slow Flowers Floral Insights & Industry Forecast, in the Floral Literacy insight that featured a number of parallel trends, including Retail Expansion. In that insight, we noted: Contradicting the story that floral retail is declining, several Slow Flowers members are opening retail destinations to attract “floral literate” shoppers. “Our storefront allows us to support additional local growers and to get more local flowers into the community,” said Sydney Garvey of Flowers by Garvey’s Gardens.







Wedding Florals, Flowers by Garvey's Gardens







For today’s interview, Sydney joined me from her flower shop in downtown Grand Junction and later shared a video tour of the retail space interiors as well as a visit to the flower farm.







Find and follow Garvey's Gardens on Instagram and Facebook







Subscribe to Garvey's Gardens Podcast here.















Take 50% Off Your Slow Flowers Society Membership!









https://www.youtube.com/live/OlHwLBVQrnI









Remember, we’re in the midst of a month-long celebration to recognize the 10-year anniversary of slowflowers.com -- our online directory to local flowers. This is an amazing milestone and as a thank you for our community, we’ve created a special gift to share with new and renewing members. If you’ve always wanted to join Slow Flowers, we are extending a 50%-off discount for you to make it so! Use the discount code HAPPY10 to join or renew for one year’s membership at half the regular price – this offer is good at all levels, from Standard and Premium to our special 3-year perennial membership. Check it out! This offer expires on June 7, 2024.









Click Here to Sign Up -- and Use HAPPY10 Promo Code for 50% Off

















Thank You to Our Sponsors







This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 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.







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...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zemwACzDWBo









Flowers are fleetingly beautiful, but dried floral arrangements are both lovely and lasting. In her new book, Designing with Dried Flowers, Slow Flowers member, Hannah Muller of The Wreath Room and Full Belly Farm shares her unique methods to naturally dry flowers that hold their color and delicacy – and how to design small arrangements for every day, wreaths for all seasons, and celebration showstoppers that will look gorgeous in the moment and for months to come.







Designing with Dried Flowers by Hannah Rose Rivers Muller (c) Molly Decoudreaux







Last week, the Slow Flowers community gathered online for a virtual meet-up with our featured expert, Hannah Rose Rivers Muller, of Full Belly Farm and Wreath Room. With her family, especially her lifelong mentor and mother Dru Rivers, Hannah grows 15 acres of cut flowers in Guinda, California, located about 45 minutes west of Sacramento.







Hannah Muller in the pages of Designing with Dried Flowers (c) Molly Decoudreaux







We’ve had Dru and Hannah as past guests of the Slow Flowers Podcast, Episode 498 (2021). Click to listen to the replay of that conversation.







Creating Everlasting Arrangements with Hannah Rose Rivers Muller of The Wreath Room at Full Belly Farm 







Today, we’re welcoming Hannah back to the Slow Flowers community as she shares her passion for dried botanicals. She spent two years working with photographer Molly Decoudreaux to capture all the seasons of growing, harvesting, processing, drying and designing with flowers, herbs, floliages, grains, and grasses.







From the pages of Designing with Dried Flowers: Wreaths







Their new book, Designing with Dried Flowers, will be published on June 4th. Follow along with Hannah as she inspires people to embrace and celebrate the joy and beauty of drying flowers for long-term enjoyment.







Step-by-step instructions for creating a centerpiece with dried flowers







Find and follow Hannah Muller at these social places:Full Belly Farm on Instagram and FacebookFarmer Hands on InstagramWreath Room on Instagram







DIY dried marigold garland from Designing with Dried Flowers







Scenes from Full Belly Farm







The video that accompanies this episode includes Hannah’s centerpiece design demo, and a discussion of some of the varieties she prefers for wreathmaking, bouquet making and creating arrangements.















It's the 10th Anniversary of Slowflowers.com!







Happy 10th Anniversary Slowflowers.com







Remember last week’s announcement. To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of slowflowers.com -- our online directory to local flowers –we created a gift for our community. If you’ve always wanted to join Slow Flowers, we have a special 50%-off discount for you. Use the discount code HAPPY10 to join or renew for one year’s membership at half the regular price – this offer is good at all levels, from Standard and Premium to our special 3-year perennial membership. Check it out! This offer expires on June 7, 2024.















Thank you to our Sponsors







This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 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 The Gardener's Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists.

https://youtu.be/lup-FAhWj4s?si=BAyBvf0Cfe8iEp_M









Going from flower farmer to full-service retail florist and juggling both – is it possible? Hear from Tammy Osselaer, who started Little Petal Farm in 2019 and then in 2022, opened a retail full-service flower shop as an extension of her farm. Learn how she grows all of her flowers during the farming season AND produces floral designs for her community and beyond.







Tammy Osselaer, Little Petal Farm







On this podcast, I love it when a listener contacts me with a suggestion for an episode that underscores something I've mentioned, such as an interesting observation or shift in the Slow Flowers Movement.







Today’s guest did just that. Tammy Osselaer is a loyal Slow Flowers Podcast listener and member who owns Little Petal Farm in Noblesville, Indiana. After an earlier episode when I commented about flower farmers opening companion retail stores, both on farm and as separate businesses, Tammy reached out to introduce herself.







You Pick Flower Experience at Little Petal Farm







Little Petal Farm was established in 2019 as a specialty cut flower farm producing high-quality blooms & branches for floral designers, event planners, subscription holders, weddings, and all-around flower lovers.







Wedding flowers by Little Petal Farm







Its origins are rooted in Tammy’s personal interest in flower gardening and landscaping, a passion she's had for more than 25 years. After designing, planting and nurturing her own gardens with perennials, flowering woodies and graceful ornamental grasses, she turned that passion into Little Petal Farm, first as a farm; then as a farm plus retail shop.







A bridal shower centerpiece with flowers grown and designed by Little Petal Farm







Let’s jump right in and learn about her path to flowers – and how she manages to run two sister businesses that are infusing Noblesville and the surrounding area with locally-grown botanicals.







Find and follow Little Petal Farm on Facebook and Instagram.







As mentioned, the Indiana Peony Festival is coming up this weekend, May 18th, so if you’re in the area, find Tammy and say hello!















This Week's Good News









https://www.youtube.com/live/OlHwLBVQrnI?si=reIDrZSvvYk8aSUq









I want to share an important piece of news, a major milestone for the Slow Flowers Movement. Last week, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the launch of slowflowers.com!







One decade ago, on May 8th 2014, we launched slowflowers.com just before Mother’s Day, as a free, nationwide online directory with more than 200 listings of florists, shops, studios, and farms with local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers.







It all began with the book – Slow Flowers – which was published in the spring of 2013, quickly followed by the debut of the Slow Flowers Podcast. The Slow Flowers Movement was born with the book, the podcast, and slowflowers.com, and what an amazing decade we’ve experienced ever since! As part of my announcement last week, I shared these observations:







We have achieved so much in the Slow Flowers Community during the past decade – and we have YOU to thank. Your shared passion for promoting local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers has propelled Slow Flowers to become an international phrase, used in millions of hashtags around the world.  #slowflowers has generated more than 200 million social media impressions in the past four years alone.







The term is much more recognizable and powerful that merely using “local flowers,

https://youtu.be/NruZ1TOx0fo?si=NybN1qvv9X1LEC6x









You love floral design, but running a business is so not your thing! Longtime Slow Flowers member Althea Wiles has been there, too. She knows how many of us started out because we love flowers, but then realized there's so much more to the business than just making pretty things! Althea joined us recently at the Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up to share her Spring Tune-Up tips for your floral business and we’re bringing the conversation with you today.







Rose of Sharon Floral Design Studio and founder Althea Wiles







Today’s guest, Althea Wiles, is the creative force behind Rose of Sharon Floral Design Studio and J. Althea Creative, based in Springdale, Arkansas. With a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hendrix College, an Arkansas Master Florist Certification and 30 years of experience, she orchestrates 75-100 weddings and events annually, receiving industry accolades and shaping a lasting legacy. As the education director of J Althea Creative, she imparts her expertise to mentor budding florists, cementing her reputation as a visionary and influencer in the field. She annually contributes striking installations to the Art in Bloom exhibit at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, further solidifying her impact on the industry.







Wedding flowers (left) and centerpiece (right)







When Althea and I were brainstorming about her presentation for the April Slow Flowers Member (virtual) Meet-Up, we decided to take some of the content of her coaching sessions and distill it down to one hour. She has discovered that many floral pro’s have an abundance of creative design skills, but are juggling time is spent on paperwork, office work, accounting, management, writing proposals and interacting with clients—pretty much everything except design.







More floral design by Althea Wiles, Rose of Sharon Floral Design















Thank you to our Sponsors







This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 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 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 redtwigfarms.com.







Our next thank you goes 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.















Join Us!















Today, you heard from one of our members who shared her expertise at the April Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up. And now, I want to give you a head’s up about the next member meet-up, comping right up on Friday, May 17th – postponed by one week to accommodate for Mother’s Day.

https://youtu.be/VzIieyJw-bU?si=B48N4DXiiHZkyx15









Meet three of the flower farmers behind the bountiful LA Flower Farm Tour, as eight woman-owned urban flower farms come together to open their gates to the public on May 4th. These growers, including three Slow Flowers member-owned farms, will welcome Los Angeles flower lovers and gardeners to wander through their fields and get to know the farmers behind the blooms.















We’re previewing the upcoming Los Angeles Flower Farm Tour – a journey through the lesser-known world of local blooms being cultivated throughout the City of Angels.















The May 4th, self-guided tour reveals the magic of locally grown flowers and the importance of supporting community agriculture. Their blossoms aren't just beautiful; they represent a commitment to sustainability and a connection to the land.







Tour-goers will meet the farmers, making important connections and learning about the dedicated female farmers behind the blooms, including their craft, their passion, and the stories that make each petal special.







Kathleen Ferguson at Frogtown Flora LA







Hannah Melde-Webster of Golden Heron







Today’s guests include Kathleen Ferguson of Frogtown Flora; Hannah Melde-Webster of Golden Heron; and Jen Britton of Bloomtown Flower Co. The three women gathered in Jen’s studio to record our conversation, which you’ll see in the accompanying video version of this episode.







With the ultimate goal of simply celebrating the beauty of spring, their hope is to raise awareness of locally grown blooms and inspire others to start their own gardens too. With land access being so limited in Los Angeles, these farmers each beautifully display ways in which micro farms can thrive within an urban landscape.







I want to mention a special thank you to Shannon Tymkiw of FlowerBox Studios and Farm. She is a longtime, Pasadena-based farmer-florist and Slow Flowers member who first suggested that I feature the tour today. Thank you, Shannon; we appreciate your support!































After the tour was announced, the RSVP’s came flooding in and, as you’ll hear in our conversation, it is now over-subscribed at 800. There is a waiting list and I’ll share that link in today’s show notes.







As guests chart their own course through LA’s floral wonderland, they will also have a chance to take a little piece of each farm home with them. Each farm will have a variety of goods available for purchase, from fresh cut bouquets, u-pick flowers, and potted plants, to handmade goods, treats and beverages.







Follow the Farms







Participating Farms and their additional offerings:







✨Frogtown Flora (frogtownflora.com) Sweet treats, Frogtown Flora merchandise, ceramics, flowers, seeds, and more!







✨Golden Heron (goldenheron.co) U-pick flowers (by appointment), ambient set by S.E. Webster, baked goods by Mimsy’s Munchies, food by Amenohi, ceramics by Gilded Poppy







✨Drive By Flora (@drive_by_flora) Flower bunches, ceramics, baby tees, seedlings, snack & treats ✨Bloomtown Flower Co (bloomtownflowerco.com) Plants for sale, flower bunches for sale







✨Mamabotanica Blooms (mamabotanica.com) mini garage sale of plants, books, and garden items







✨Pia Floral (@piafloraldesign) plants for sale, bouquets, some food and drinks, handmade grocery bags







✨Flowerbox Studios + Farms (flowerboxstudios.net) Bouquets for sale, refreshments, a cupcake pop-up

https://youtu.be/WBxatSDZgjE?si=DELFNNCQoG5l4a34









Leslie Bennett believes that gardens are for all. In Garden Wonderland, this celebrated landscape designer treats us to an accessible garden-making approach to create our own plant-based spaces, spaces that provide sustenance, beauty, and wonder. Her new book will inspire your own garden journey as you gain more than a pretty landscape and redefine your relationship with nature.







Leslie Bennett of Pine House Edible Gardens (c) Rachel Weill







It is with much personal joy that I welcome back Leslie Bennett to the Slow Flowers Podcast today. As a past guest of the podcast and a speaker at the first Slow Flowers Summit in 2017, many of you already know about this gifted human.







Inside the pages of Garden Wonderland, by Leslie Bennett & Julie Chai (c) Rachel Weill







You probably have read about Pine House Edible Gardens and Leslie’s soulful and soul-fulfilling gardens in top design publications, but now, with her brand new book, Garden Wonderland we can read about Leslie’s garden-making philosophy and principles in her own words. Garden Wonderland is co-authored with Julie Chai and features photography by Rachel Weill.







More inside pages from Garden Wonderland (c) Rachel Weill







Leslie joined me last week to talk about her approach to garden design as we paged through the book together. Leslie most recently appeared on this podcast in 2020 to talk about her very personal initiative Black Sanctuary Gardens. And what a treat to have her share Rachel’s photography and the stories Leslie and Julie wrote about two of those garden projects during today’s conversation.







Lush and verdant Garden Wonderland projects by Pine House Edible Gardens (c) Rachel Weill







Please join me as we dive into the wonderland of gardens, formed through the vision, heart, and soul of Leslie Bennett. Along the way, you’ll learn how Leslie integrates her personal leadership style into running a dynamic design/build/maintain landscape design business, a decidedly female-centric approach that I find truly inspiring.







Order Garden Wonderland here







Find out more from Pine House Edible Gardens







Listen to our 2017 Slow Flowers Podcast interview with Leslie Bennett















Thank you to our Sponsors







This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 750 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 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 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.







And 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.