Mornings with Mayesh: Debra Prinzing of Slow Flowers
In the latest episode of Mornings with Mayesh, Yvonne and her special guest, Debra Prinzing get together to chat about slow flowers. They discuss Slow Flowers Society, American Flowers Week, the Slow Flowers Summit, Debra's go to flower books, customer awareness, favorite flowers to grow & design with, and so much more. The live show may be over, but you can always join the conversation!
Mark your calendars for June 25 for our next show. I hope you can join us and keep on sending in your floral questions!
Here are the podcast replay, video, and show notes:
SHOW NOTES
- Hi Debra - I know there will be specific topics/questions that you want me to ask … can you list them here?
- To recap for everyone - what is Slow Flowers and how do I get involved?
- American Flowers Week coming (June 28-July4) - what are some of the cool ways people are getting involved and celebrating?
- Do you want to talk about the Slow Flowers’ Botanical Couture collection for American Flowers Week?
- Sneak peek at 9 floral and foliage garments highlighting iconic US-grown blooms
- Slow Flowers Summit on July 1st & 2nd in St. Paul, MN. Who are some of the speakers? Topics? Flowery elements? Dinner on the Farm? Botanical Cocktails? Swag and more?
- Why are you so excited about Mayesh’s involvement in the Slow Flowers Movement
- Kirsten: Is there a good book or online resource for foraging and pulling from the garden, to ID things and also about vase life?
- Debra: I love my garden book library. Here's a PDF list of my favorite books.
- Celia: What are your go to long lasting (non rose) flower for installations?
- Debra: Long-lasting non-roses for summer installations include lisianthus and also some of the novelty sunflowers in bronze, copper, chocolate; dried flowers like alliums and hydrangeas look bountiful but can last for a good time out of water. All of the proteas and leucadendrons.
- Yvonne: We recently published a great resource that Susan Mcleary sent over to us on our blog that answers this exact question.
- Alamo: What should we know about JUNE flowers???
- Debra:- June is when roses explode - you should see my garden! Also, all of the perennials are coming into their own. The ladies mantle, astilbe, baptisia, salvia, geum.
- Melissa: What benefits are there when using locally grown flowers verses flowers grown globally? Does your average customer care where flowers are grown?
- Debra: I love this question. Clearly a good percentage of the florist community relies on imports - certainly you see it at the grocery level and mass market. But we lose so much when we forget to support local flower farms with our dollars. I heard a food system expert at a lecture last night say we need to “vote with our forks” about sustainable choices. In the Slow Flowers world, we vote with our vases, clippers and floral choices. The fabric of our culture and society’s agricultural roots are dependent on having choices. To me, using locally grown flowers broadens our choice in diversity. We are all so much richer - people, planet, even sustainable profits - when we can have local flowers. And the average consumer won’t know if we don’t tell them. Increasingly, there are studies that indicate when educated, consumers do want to support their local farms and be sustainable in their purchasing choices.
- Debra: I love this question. Clearly a good percentage of the florist community relies on imports - certainly you see it at the grocery level and mass market. But we lose so much when we forget to support local flower farms with our dollars. I heard a food system expert at a lecture last night say we need to “vote with our forks” about sustainable choices. In the Slow Flowers world, we vote with our vases, clippers and floral choices. The fabric of our culture and society’s agricultural roots are dependent on having choices. To me, using locally grown flowers broadens our choice in diversity. We are all so much richer - people, planet, even sustainable profits - when we can have local flowers. And the average consumer won’t know if we don’t tell them. Increasingly, there are studies that indicate when educated, consumers do want to support their local farms and be sustainable in their purchasing choices.
- Kwronnie: When is national flower week?
- Debra: American Flowers Week is a nationwide celebration of domestic flowers in all 50 states, and it was inspired by our friends at British Flowers Week. There are tons of free resources for you at americanflowersweek.com including logos, images, fun coloring sheets, and posts about other Slow Flowers members who have thrown flower crown parties, farm-to-table dinners, pop-up events and more. Get involved - there is still time to plan a floral celebration, June 28-July 4.
- Debra: American Flowers Week is a nationwide celebration of domestic flowers in all 50 states, and it was inspired by our friends at British Flowers Week. There are tons of free resources for you at americanflowersweek.com including logos, images, fun coloring sheets, and posts about other Slow Flowers members who have thrown flower crown parties, farm-to-table dinners, pop-up events and more. Get involved - there is still time to plan a floral celebration, June 28-July 4.
- Kim: I am starting a large cutting garden in Virginia (no greenhouse yet). What are her favorite flowers to grow and why? What are some of the hardest? What cutting flowers are her favorite to use in arrangements?
- Debra: great question and it’s all about seasonality for me. I plant enough so that I can cut for arrangements for the home - and to send guests visitors with a bouquet. Right now, I have amazing David Austin roses, my alliums are exploding, I have a few peonies left, sweet peas are getting ready to burst,. I plant a lot of foliage choices, such as smoke bush (cotinus) and ninebark, baptisia, golden privet, ladies mantle; I also cut foliage from peonies after they bloom and even lilac if need be. I have some durable evergreen shrubs like teucrium (Germander) and eleagnus that are great for last-minute texture. Perennials, annuals and dahlias have their show later in the summer.
- Debra's Cutting Garden handout
- Lisa: I was wondering if you every use Hydrangea in floral foam. I find that it does not last at all. Do you have an alternative?
- Debra: I am foam free in my design practices.
Published by
Yvonne Ashton
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