Watch the replay of our LIVE show, Mornings with Mayesh, as we answering your flower questions with my flower friends, Dave Tagge, Ryan O'Neil from Curate - formerly Stemcounter, and Jodi Duncan from SocialJodi. We covered some of Dave's favorite flowers that are available now, how to handle accounting for your floral business, easy wrist corsage techniques, paying for ads on social media, and reposting other people's images on your social media pages.
Also, we interviewed our special guests, Greg Campbell and Erick New, co-owners of Garden District, about their brand new book, Florists To The Field.
Here is the podcast replay:
SHOW NOTES
PART I
FLOWER QUESTIONS
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD OF FLOWERS?:
- Latest flower 411
- Dave showing some of his favorite flowers that are available right now
FLOWER DESIGN
- From Claire: I am new at Floral arranging. I started a little more than two years ago. The most difficult for me has been making wrist corsages. It’s agony for me. Yet it looks so easy when I watch others do it. Do you have a simple way to make a wrist corsage? The most difficult of it is attaching the flowers to the wristband.
FLOWER BUSINESS
- From Tarrah: What do successful shops do for accounting? Being an artist, primarily, accounting is not my strong suit; and I'm sure that problem is common among shop owners. Especially for smaller shops where the owner may be designing some or most of the time.
- Ryan O'Neil from Curate gave advice on how to think about and handle accounting for florists.
MARKETING NEWS
- From Jen: I would love to hear what social media platforms florists are paying to be on. Facebook boosting, ads, etc, Instagram, and google. What kind of monthly budget makes sense. What's recommended? Do florists do their own social media or use a company?
- From Jaclyn: What is best practice for reposting someone else’s images from Instagram? I noticed y’all do so on the company IG; do y’all comment and ask permission, etc?
Part II
SPECIAL GUEST – GREG CAMPBELL & ERICK NEW
Garden District co-owners Greg Campbell and Erick New have a partnership of boundless creativity with an anything-can-be-done attitude, and they have navigated the vibrant labyrinth of floriculture together for 25 years.
The florists operate in tandem as architect and engineer, exchanging roles as needed. Greg is the architect—a persistent, alert perfectionist—while Erick is the engineer—a methodical strategist always prepping for the next step.
Be it a skyscraping installation or an unobtrusive centerpiece, they weave flowers and greenery into textural structures that bring people together for every imaginable occasion.
Their most recent project was publishing their new book, Florists to the Field, and I’m very excited to have them on chat all about it.
Welcome, Greg and Erick!
Before we dive into the excitement of the book, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you both ended up in the flower industry?
- We both fell into the industry as young men- I don’t think either of us would say “florist” as our profession if asked in High School. We were lucky enough to have been hired by a gentleman named John Hoover who revolutionized the floral market in our area
How did Garden District come to be? And how did you come up with that name? (I love it, by the way!)
- Our original location was in an area of town called Central Gardens and we were close to another neighborhood named Chickasaw Gardens. Combine this with our affection for New Orleans and we came up with Garden District.
Last question before we get to the book because we can’t interview a florist without asking… favorite flowers?
- Greg-muscari; Erick- lily of the valley
Okay so… why now? What inspired you two to take on creating and publishing Florists to the Fields?
- it all started with us planning a photo shoot at a relatively new flower farmer we know in Mississippi. She was flush with flowers during the hot days of summer when the demand was low. We had a free weekend so we suggested a photo shoot to promote the farm’s bounty. While discussing how we would decorate the barn, our friend, the caterer Elizabeth Heiskell suggested having a dinner in the venue and turning this into an actual event. The ticket sales ended up benefiting the grower and we are proud to report that the farmer is in her third year of production. We were then approached by Southerly Media about the possibility of a book which would chronicle our visits to farms that provide products for our shop and create events at each facility using only their product. The farms determined how to use the party-one a fundraiser, another a surprise birthday party for the matriarch, another a “thank you” for clients. 18 months later, 12 farms in our area, across the country and afar, and we have the book!
Who is your intended audience, and what do you hope they gain from reading your book?
- We are hoping the book appeals to a range of individuals. There is the person that gravitates to books with images of pretty flowers. There is also the customer that is interested in entertaining. Since each chapter tells the story of each farm- the history, their production, the owners- we feel the book would be of interest to others in our industry. Since these operations are a vital part of the 25-year history of Garden District, we hope the book could be helpful to other floral companies.
Tell us about the different people you collaborated with to write this book and your experience with them?
- Our publisher, Southerly Media- we could not have done this without their guidance. Our writer, Christian Owen, whose words brought each chapter together. We can’t say enough about our principal photographer, Sarah Bell. We did not have the luxury of shooting in a controlled environment like a studio. We were in fields, barns, sheds, in the rain, sun, cold and Sarah not only endured sometimes less than ideal situations but produced gorgeous images.
What was your favorite part of the whole process?
- Connecting with the farms. In this day and age of emails, electronic billing, FedEx, et it is nice to interact with these people we have developed relationships with over the years.
I heard you have an exciting event that you are part of happening in September - do you want to tell us a little more about the event and what you guys have planned for it?
Where can everyone find out more about you and your book?
You can grab your own copy of the book by following this link: http://bit.ly/FTTFOrder
If you think of new questions for our next show, you can post them in the comments here or use the contact form to send them to Yvonne.
Be sure to mark your calendar for June 12th at 10 am EST for the next Mornings with Mayesh - see you soon!
