Episode 453: Returning to St. Louis, Missouri, (Virtually) with Jessica Douglass of Flowers & Weeds

Jessica at The Planting Bar at Flowers and Weeds (c) Jordan Bauer If you're listening on Wednesday, May 13th, the date this Episode 453 was released, picture me in St. Louis, where I was scheduled to be the luncheon speaker at the annual "Flower Power at Tower Grove Park" event. One of seven National Historic Landmark Parks, Tower Grove is a 289-acre Victorian park that serves as the backyard of St. Louis’ most diverse and densely populated urban neighborhoods and draws 2.5 million annual visitors. The annual luncheon is a rite of spring. I'm pretty impressed that Tower Grove asked me to share the Slow Flowers story with its patrons and members, considering that last year's luncheon speakers were NYC's Putnam & Putnam rock stars. I was especially excited about the organizers' plan to invite four St. Louis area Slow Flowers members to provide the luncheon centerpieces, including Mimo Davis and Miranda Duschack of Urban Buds, Kate Estwing of City House Country Mouse, Rebecca Bodicky of Alice Blue Collective and today's guest, Jessica Douglass of Flowers & Weeds. The good news is that Tower Grove has rescheduled the Flower Power event for September 30th and I very much look forward to my future visit to St. Louis and this botanical celebration. The vintage sign at Flowers & Weeds is mounted on the original pole that once stood in front the building when it was a St. Louis ice cream shop (c) Virginia Harold In the meantime, I wanted to bring you this conversation with Jessica. I interviewed her in 2016 when I traveled to St. Louis for the first time to lecture at St. Louis Art Museum's Art in Bloom - which was an unforgettable experience. You can listen to that interview, which I paired with a lovely conversation with Vicki Lander of Flower Hill Farm, a Slow Flowers member and talented cut flower grower in the area - one who supplied me with her flowers for that Art in Bloom demonstration and who continually supplies florists like Jessica. Jessica Douglass (c) Virginia Harold "Guess this is QUARANSPRING" -- local photographer Nate Burrell documented Flowers and Weeds' curbside plant pickup in his St. Louis COVID Days series For now, I'll jump right in and introduce Jessica Douglass. I've been reporting almost exclusively on "Stories of Resilience" as our floral community adapts and adjusts creatively to the COVID-19 pandemic. And you'll hear that theme continue in my interview with Jessica. The Garden Center at Flowers and Weeds (c) Virginia Harold A screen shot of the online store at flowersandweeds.com Find and follow Flowers and Weeds at these social places: Flowers and Weeds on Facebook Flowers and Weeds on Instagram Flowers (left) and Plants (right) at Flowers and Weeds, the cool flower & plant shop in downtown St. Louis, founded by today's guest Jessica Douglass Thanks so much for listening in on my virtual visit to St. Louis and Flowers and Weeds. The local connections being made are so important and are deepening ties between where flowers are grown and the ways floral consumers can enjoy them while supporting floral agriculture. These indeed are Stories of Resilience. I mentioned that there are three other florists or farmer-florists whose designs are part of the now-rescheduled Tower Grove "Flower Power" event. I'm hopeful that I can record an update with each of them in the coming months, as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyuFegvUeT4&t=298s Replay of our May 8th Meet-Up Our Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Ups continue to provide value and support as a member benefit. Last Friday on May 8th, we welcomed Rita Jo Shoultz of Alaska Perfect Peony and the Certified American Grown Council as our Zoom "virtual"meet-up guest. Please join me at the next Slow Flowers Virtual Meet-Up, this Friday, May 15th -- 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern. Can't wait to see you there! Yoni Levenbach (left) and Bethany Little (right) Our special guests include Yoni Levenbach of Flowers Without Borders, and Bethany Little of Charles Little & Co. They both work in the wholesale arena, although with very different models. I am excited for you to hear from Yoni about what he calls being a "Flower Hunter," who works from his base in Los Angeles to custom source from farms across the U.S. for a diverse customer base. And I'm thrilled that Bethany will have news to share from Eugene Oregon, where she and her husband Charles Little are veteran cut flower farmers who have seen it all. Everything old might be new again for Bethany and Charles, but they are elevating and expanding their flower business in exciting new ways, which will inspire you. Follow this link to join us on May 15th. We will also share the link on our Slow Flowers FB Page and in the Slow Flowers Community on FB. Thank You to our Sponsors Florists' Review magazine. I'm delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists' Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com. The Gardener's Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you'll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we're thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com. Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It 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. (c) Missy Palacol Photography The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 604,000 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 the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right. I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto iTunes and posting a listener review. 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. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com. Music Credits: Turning On The Lights; Heartland Flyer; Gaena; Glass Beadsby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blueLovely by Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ In The Fieldaudionautix.com