Slow Flowers Podcast

https://youtu.be/a14eAaKuufw?si=l-DMCSjyfhpK1DBK

Julian Langelaan is a pioneer in the emerging organic farming movement in the Netherlands. As the founder of Op Beemster Klei, which translated means, “a farm with clay soil, in the Beemster region,” Julian began growing cut flowers 10 years ago. The healthy, high quality, annuals, perennials, and ornamental woody shrubs from Op Beemster Klei demonstrate the success of having an organic approach, rare in a nation filled with greenhouse cut flower operations and a mega flower auction that serves the globe. As part of our recent Slow Flowers tour to Holland and Belgium, we visited Op Beemster Klei for a personal tour with Julian. Prior to traveling to Holland in April, I also pre-recorded an interview with him. Together, the interview and the tour of Op Beemster Klei will introduce you to what promises to be the future of flower farming in Holland.

Julian Langelaan of Op Beemster Klei

Op Beemster Klei was founded in 2016 by Julian Langelaan. He grows a wide array of organic summer flowers, supplied to the floral marketplace from mid-May through the end of October. Principle crops include peonies, sunflowers and dahlias, supplemented with a selection of other species such as alchemilla, saponaria, flowering dill, and nearly 30 other crops -- a beautiful mix of perennials and annuals, making it possible to compile a complete organic bouquet. Op Beemster Klei supplies to (international) wholesalers and to local stores and florists, which are supplied via the FloraHolland locations, as well as directly from our nursery.

Julian, leading a guided tour of Op Beemster Klei for our Slow Flowers group on an April 2026 visit to Holland

Julian assumed management of the flower farming operations from Jan Knook, who grew organic flowers in the same fields for nearly 15 years. Jan’s organic arable farm is still located at the same address as Op Beemster Klei, while today he focuses on crops like potatoes and onions. 

One of the high tunnels at Op Beemster Klei

The objective of Op Beemster Klei is to increase the organic cut flower sector and make the floriculture sector greener. Other floriculture growers also want to commit to this, together with them, Op Beemster Klei co-founded the association Pure Organic in 2017. Pure Organic aims to raise awareness of the organic floriculture sector among buyers and end users.  The flowers of Op Beemster Klei are certified by SKAL Biocontrole, an independent organization that supervises the organic chain in the Netherlands. Skal certifies companies with organic activities. An independent administrative body, SKAL ensures that the organic production, processing, and trading of products comply with EU organic regulations, the Dutch Agricultural Quality Act, and the regulations and principles of Skal Biocontrole.

The promise of a beautiful flower season across the fields at Op Beemster Klei

Op Beemster Klei is located in The Beemster Polder, an important UNESCO World Heritage site, reclaimed from a lake via the water extracted by windmills between 1609 and 1612. The region’s original historic landscape of fields, roads, canals, and dykes has been preserved intact. It is a stunning landscape and we LOVED visiting Julian’s farm.  

The Slow Flowers Tulip Tour to Holland and Belgium 2026

Today’s episode is in two parts – first, I filmed an in-person tour led by Julian when our small tour group visited Op Beemster Klei on April 29th. That is followed by a virtual interview I conducted with Julian in early April, prior to my visit. I can’t wait to share this impressive flower farmer and his operation with you.

Thanks to Lois Moss of Tour 2 Explore More, our fantastic tour producer, who arranged for our visit to Op Beemster Klei and introduced us to Julian Langelaan.

Hot Off the Press!

Slow Flowers Journal Spring 2026 "The Slow Weddings Issue"

In News of the Week, we have just published the Spring 2026 edition of Slow Flowers Journal – our third annual Slow Weddings issue!

Slow Flowers Journal Spring 2026 - Table of Contents

Floristry’s conventional wisdom says the largest expenditure any client will make at any time in their lives is when and how they choose to flower their marriage ceremony. That may be true, but we’re not interested in price tags. Instead, we’re intrigued by the size of the emotional investment in flowers that any couple might make. Again, it’s not about the dollar amount (while that is certainly important), but it’s about the value placed on having flowers – seasonal and local flowers – at the center of a ceremony. We love floral-forward weddings, and this issue delivers just that. Creatives are inspired to do their best work when a couple lets the flowers express their sentiments, be it a backyard family wedding, an elopement for two, nuptials in the dahlia fields, or a classic church ceremony. We hope you are equally inspired by the narratives and the thoughtful artistry collected in these pages.The Spring 2026 issue of Slow Flowers Journal is all about flowers for weddings, but we also have great contributions from several members whose essays, columns, and a book review round things out in this issue. The issue also profiles artist Elizabeth Barlow, whose hyperreal oil paintings magnify flowers to monumental scale.

I hope you enjoy this flower-packed issue. You can find the link in today’s show notes or in our Instagram bio – please check it out and let us know what stories you love most!

Click here to read the full issue of Slow Flowers Journal - Spring 2026

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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 our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.

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.

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.

Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.

Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography

I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I'll see you next week!

Music credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Softly Villainousby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blue

Lovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Fieldaudionautix.com

https://youtu.be/NkUs5zQIaCQ?si=r8yE4x6setQ4Zpud

In anticipation of my visit to FAM Flower Farm during last month’s Slow Flowers Tulip Tour in Holland and Belgium, I invited floral entrepreneurs Linda van der Slot and Marlies Weijers to join me on the Podcast. Friends since age 12, who married into Dutch tulip bulb and dahlia tuber-producing families, respectively, Linda and Marlies left careers of their own to form FAM Flower Farm nearly a decade ago. Their goal was to bring a feminine touch to a global floral industry – producing and selling bulbs, not for brokers and distributors or via the famous Dutch flower auctions, but for home gardeners, flower enthusiasts and tulip and dahlia lovers across Europe. By sharing their floral lifestyles and encouraging people to “Grow Your Own Happiness,” the partners quickly became Instagram darlings, with nearly 200k followers. Our tour group, which I co-led with Lorene Edwards Forkner, was fortunate to schedule a private tour of FAM Flower Farm, located in Holland’s flower bulb region, next to Keukenhof Gardens. Join our visit, followed by my pre-recorded conversation with Linda and Marlies – and catch a glimpse into their beautiful, bloom-filled lives, that they share with the world.

Marlies Weijers and Linda van der Slot of FAM Flower Farm

For years, Marlies Weijers and Linda van der Slot watched their husbands grow bulbs and tubers, which were then shipped in bulk to wholesalers and exporters all over the world. But they had no idea who would actually end up enjoying those flowers in their garden. That felt like a missed opportunity. So, the women decided to team up and start FAM Flower Farm. They chose “FAM” because it stands for both family and feminine --  with the goal of bringing a fresh, female perspective and connecting directly with fellow flower lovers.

Endless rows of tulips at FAM Flower Farm

With a mutual love for flowers, shared on Instagram, through FAM Flower Farm’s inspiration-packed website and an online shop for tubers, bulbs, and seeds, the small enterprise has exploded. Their goal was to showcase the stunning variety of the flowers they grow, the vibrant colors, the blooming fields, and the heart of family businesses. All with our own feminine touch, in the photography, the stories, and the packaging. And guess what? It took off! Thousands of flower lovers found their way to us. Our colorful updates were welcomed with open arms, and people began ordering bulbs and tubers to bring that same joy to their own gardens.

They visited our fields, shared their photos, and helped spread the word. Suddenly, we were connecting with flower fans all over the world. People we had never met became real faces and voices to us. We could ask them questions, learn what they love, and share tips and ideas.

That direct contact with our customers is what we love most. Many are amazed by how easy it is to plant bulbs and tubers—and how long the flowers bring joy, both in the garden and in the home.

The Slow Flowers Tulip Tour gathers at FAM Flower Farm on April 22, 2026

Today’s episode is in two parts – first, I filmed an in-person tour and Linda’s presentation when I visited FAM Flower Farm on 22nd, with 37 others as part of our Slow Flowers Tulip Tour to Holland and Belgium. That is followed by a virtual interview I conducted with Marlies and Linda in early April, prior to my visit.

Thanks so much for joining me today. You’ll want to watch the replay video of Episode 767 at slowflowerspodcast.com or on our YouTube channel. Thanks to Lois Moss of Tour 2 Explore More, our fantastic tour producer, who initially discovered FAM Flower Farm and arranged for our visit to spend a beautiful afternoon with Linda and Marlies.

If you’re planning to visit the region, be sure to check out FAM Flower Farm’s tour calendar – tickets go quickly for April’s tulip tour and September’s dahlia tour!

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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 our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.

Thank you to the Seattle 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 seattlegrowersmarket.com.

And thank you to our own bulb and tuber sponsor for US gardeners -- 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 for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.

Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography

I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I'll see you next week!

Music credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Crown of Septemberby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blue

Lovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Fieldaudionautix.com

https://youtu.be/ng5wllVlQyU

Back in 2018, we included Retail Garden Centers Adding Floral Design Services as one of our trends to watch in the annual Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast. I noted the early wave of retail nurseries and garden centers opening or reviving in-house floral shops with a distinctly local emphasis.As it turns out, that’s the year that Delisa Hiel joined Gardenwerks, an established retail nursery and landscape design business in Helena, Montana, founded by her father-in-law Michael Hiel. Gardenwerks is truly a family affair, with Delisa’s husband Peter Hiel serving as designer and foreman on the landscape side of the business. Delisa dreamed up, installed and now manages Gardenwerks flower farm, essentially creating a sister business that extends the nursery brand and provides a new suite of plants and design services to the community. I recently connected with Delisa to discuss her approach to flower farming and floral design, as she shares a fantastic model that brings together horticulture and floriculture with intentionality.

Scenes from gardenwerks flower farm with Delisa Hiel (c) Kelly Van Dye Photography

The flower farm at Gardenwerks grows more than 100 fresh cut flower varieties one important facet of the long-established full-service nursery, landscape design-build business. From the months of March through September, under the management of head flower farmer Delisa Hiel, Gardenwerks offers unique, seasonal fresh flowers and produces artisanal, natural designs for weddings and special events in Helena and the surrounding area. In the off season, customers can find beautiful dried flowers and increasingly, season-extention offerings like winter-forced tulips.

The dahlia field at sunriset at Helena, Montana-based gardenwerks

I recently spoke with Delisa about her family’s nursery business, as we touch on the “symbiosis” that brings together flowers and plants in harmony. The economics of growing cut flower crops and raising cutting garden plants under the same roof as a landscape nursery seems obvious to me, but I always question why more garden centers are missing out on the market potential of flowers. I think it boils down to personnel. You can’t just throw a talented landscaper onto the flower farm setting and expect them to magically grow and design blooms that resonate with the floral marketplace. Luckily for Gardenwerks, which has served Helena for decades, Delisa Hiel joined the family and brought her horticulture, design, and floriculture expertise to the company. I’m excited to share her story with you today.

More dahlias! For floral designs and market bouquets (c) Kelly Van Dye Photography

It’s so inspiring to see how a nursery and garden center like Gardenwerks has included flower farming and floral design services in the mix – I wish more independent garden centers would recognize the potential of this model. Thanks to Delisa for sharing her story and perhaps stimulating more conversation around flower-growing as a revenue center in the green industry.

Find and follow Gardenwerks Nursery and Gardenwerks Flower Farm on Instagram and Gardenwerks on Facebook.

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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 our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.

Thank you to Charles Little & Company for supplying our industry with some of the most beautiful and sustainably-grown design ingredients, available nationwide through their website at charleslittleandcompany.com. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the farmers at Charles Little & Company have been growing and drying flowers since 1986. New products and dried flower collections are added to their website at the first of each month. Check it out at charleslittleandcompany.com.

Thank you to My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. This second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.

Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.

Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography

I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I'll see you next week!

Music credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Golden Grassby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blue

Lovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Fieldaudionautix.com

https://youtu.be/PDyvSAAA7FI

We’ve recently highlighted Slow Flowers members who serve not only the professional floral market, but the home gardener in search of cut flowers, flower seedlings, education, and inspiration. Capturing the attention of this often-overlooked population is not hard these days. Home gardeners and flower lovers are avid followers of social media’s influential growers and designers.They are the principal buyers of books about cut flower gardening and about growing specific types of flowers, as well as the shoppers who eagerly line up to buy cutting garden plants not always seen at garden centers. After hosting several recent episodes on this theme, I continue the conversation in today’s episode with Xenia D'Ambrosi of Sweet Earth Co. Xenia shares how she developed an online course, The Eco-Friendly Cutting Garden, to teach students how to plant a backyard flower garden that benefits the environment. The course evolved from a series of in-person, on-farm workshops, adapted for an online format to serve a wider population of cutting garden students. Xenia discusses how she developed the course, the demographic of her students, and the ways this course reinforces her brand as a sustainable cut flower grower and designer.

Xenia D'Ambrosi of Sweet Earth Co.

Sweet Earth Co. in the pages of The Flower Farmers book

Here’s an excerpt from The Flower Farmers, the 2025 book I co-authored with Robin Avni. One of the 29 flower farmers featured in its pages is today’s guest, Xenia D’Ambrosi of Sweet Earth Co.

Xenia D'Ambrosi of Sweet Earth Co.

We wrote:. . . in 2010, a cancer diagnosis altered everything for Xenia D’Ambrosi. “It was a life-changing event,” recalls the woman who at the time worked on Wall Street in finance. While going through her cancer treatments, Xenia began her own version of horticultural therapy. “I started to reconsider what I wanted to do and how I wanted to take care of myself and my family.”

She embraced eating locally and gardening. “I volunteered at some local farms and I truly believe that having my hands in the soil healed me.” She also studied at New York Botanical Garden for a certificate in gardening with a focus on sustainable design and began to create edible landscapes for others in her community. She grew vegetables and herbs for both her family and for private chefs and formed Sweet Earth Co. in 2012. A few years later, she added cutting garden design and transformed the kids’ playfield into a “farmstead,” a thriving teaching farm filled with an acre of cut flowers, which grown for commercial use.

The Eco-Friendly Cutting Garden course package

Xenia D’Ambosi used the farm as a backdrop for the mini-sessions she films and posts to Sweet Earth Co.’s YouTube channel. These have led to her signature online course, The Eco-Friendly Cutting Garden, created for avid gardeners and beginning flower growers. The six-module course connects Xenia with people all around the country, as she teaches how to plan, plant, harvest, and maintain a productive cutting garden that supplies a steady supply of bouquets.

The Eco-Friendly Cutting Garden

Students at an in-person cutting garden workshop at Sweet Earth Co.

Xenia recently appeared as our April Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up expert as she shared with others in the Slow Flowers community the background behind creating her online course. With an MBA and a background in business and marketing, it’s fascinating to learn how she evaluated Sweet Earth Co.’s assets and created a digital product to help scale her expertise. I’m sure you’ll find yourself asking, “what expertise do I have that could be packaged into an educational product or experience?” There are so many fantastic takeaways from Xenia’s session, so be sure to take notes!

Find and follow Sweet Earth Co. on Instagram and FacebookRegister for The Eco-Friendly Cutting Garden, Xenia's online course. $100-off course discount: SLOWFLOWERS

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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 our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.

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.

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.

Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.

Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography

I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I'll see you next week!

Music credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Come On Overby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blue

Lovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Fieldaudionautix.com

https://youtu.be/3dhAhas1Awg?si=LJUYkQflSCv8xZDu

Megan Homewood is the owner, lead designer, and grower at House Flowers. She combines a diverse design experience and a passion for sustainable floristry to inform her seasonal, romantic design style. Inspired by the transient beauty of seasonal flowers and the dynamic landscape of the Pacific Northwest, she loves growing and designing with unique elements to create events that embody a particular place and time. Prior to settling in Shelton, a town at the gateway to Washington’s Olympic National Forest and known for its famous oysters and logging industries, Megan worked as the lead florist at a show garden in Alaska and managed floral installation projects for large events at some of Chicago’s most iconic venues. Her background as a studio manager and lead designer have given her the experience needed to produce stunning events in any environment. I recently made the lovely spring drive to visit Shelton and spent time interviewing and filming Megan in her jewel box-sized flower shop at 211 West Cota Street.

Megan Homewood, owner of House Flowers in Shelton, Washington

As I described at the top of this show, I recently took a drive about 65 miles to the south of me, towards Washington’s Highway 101 to the town of Shelton. It was such a delight to step inside House Flowers, a tiny little flower shop owned by Megan Homewood, a Slow Flowers member, farmer-florist, and small business entrepreneur.

Vignettes inside the petite flower shop, House Flowers

Megan and I met in person last fall during an event for The Flower Farmers and there she introduced me to her friend Isa Radojcic, owner of Marmo Cafe, a neighboring Shelton business described as an alternative arts organization with a caffè and shop. Marmo was one of Megan’s CSA floral pickup locations, and it was Isa who urged Megan to “open a flower shop” in the tiny storefront just two doors down from Marmo. I love the passion that these two bring to their little street. They’re the impetus for helping attract other businesses, including a few nearby eateries. They collaborate with others to produce an annual summer Arts Walk and are working to establish Shelton as a Certified Creative District, a program that helps Washington state communities into arts and culture destinations.

A glimpse into the cutting garden at Megan's mini-farm

This is the life of solo creatives, and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting both House Flowers and stopping by Marmo before I left for my drive home. I will be back to spend more time – and If you come to the Seattle-Tacoma area, remember to plan a trip. As Megan points out, Shelton is filled with tourists in the summer months, when people from around the globe to the famed Olympic National Forest pass through the town.

Shelton Resources:The beautiful mural with an elegant, oversized fritillaria that you see behind Megan in the video interview was painted by her friend Molly Wheat Baker, a PNW illustrator and painter. You can follow her at @mollywheatbaker.

When in Shelton, please visit Caffè Marmo, the cafe, gallery, and shop on Cota Street - owned by Megan's friend Isa. Follow Marmo here.

Find and follow House Flowers on Instagram and Facebook.

Thank you to our Sponsors

This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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 our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu.

Thank you to the Seattle 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 seattlegrowersmarket.com.

Our next sponsor thanks goes 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 for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.

Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography

I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I'll see you next week!

Music credits:

Drone Pine; Gaena; Crown of Septemberby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blue

Lovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Fieldaudionautix.com