One question I hear a lot is, “Is it ok for me to be a florist? When can I call myself a florist?”
Before you can call yourself a florist, you need at least these 3 things:
1. Give yourself permission to explore this career! I notice a lot of people just want permission. It’s ok to call yourself a floral designer if you have the interest and the passion for it!
2. You need to know Flower ID. A working knowledge of at least 75 flower varieties is imperative. That said, we are always learning as florists. You’ll never know every flower species, but you should have a good handle on the most common cut flowers.
3. Be comfortable with floral mechanics. You should be able to make a flower arrangement with ease.
For more about this topic, join us for Kickstart your Floristry Career. The conference begins tomorrow! We delve into these issues, and more to help you identify the next steps you need to take to get your floristry career launched.
UPDATE: Thank you for another successful session, everyone! It was amazing to hear about the next steps you’ll be taking in your floral career! We will be closing the classroom doors tomorrow, October 4th. This workshop will be exclusively available to our career students until our fresh session, next spring! Thank you for joining us!
Thank you to everyone who attended our Arranging with Plant Cuttings workshop last Saturday! We arranged with plant cuttings, talked about how to plant them after the flower arrangement has faded, and compared notes on our climates and different cuttings that work for us. Students received a list of the most successful plant cuttings to work with as well as instructions on planting and designing with the cuttings.
I am inspired to continue working with plant cuttings in flower arrangements!
September Flower School wraps up this week! We will be holding our 3 day, Kickstart your Floristry Career conference! Book your spot in class here if you haven’t already!
This Saturday, September Flower School continues. I am excited to share how I use plant cuttings in floral designs live, online on Zoom at 11 AMPST.
If you haven’t signed up for the Arranging with Plant Cuttings workshop yet, you can book here. A replay of the class will be available to those who sign up but cannot make the time.
I’ll do a demo for arranging cuttings and also planting them. If you are booked in for this class and you would like to make along, see the supply list below. The link for class will go out on Friday.
If you would like to make along, please bring the following:
-flower clippers
-2-3 small vases or drinking glasses in different heights
-a selection of cut flowers or plant cuttings with or without roots. I recommend: cinnamon basil, marigold, tomato, or pothos. But if you have a plant cutting you like to root, please bring it along.
-For your stem and cutting selection 5-20 stems will work. It depends on your vase. If your vases are smaller at the tope (i.e. bud vases), you will need fewer stems.
P.S. If you prefer in-person learning, consider joining us next May 2023 for our Flower and Garden Retreat in Portugal! We only have a few spots left! Check out the details here.
We had a great workshop on Saturday! Thank you to everyone who attended! Ferriss Donham brought it back to basics for us with ideas about how to integrate your flower growing seamlessly into your business with fewer resources, less labor, and an approach that takes its cues from nature. There is not one way to grow flowers and I love Ferriss’s approach that is right in line with the ethos at the flower school, to approach art and business with ease, in a way that benefits yourself and the earth. Thank you, Ferriss!
This Saturday, Master Gardener and Flower Farmer, Ferriss Donham, will be showing us how she grows beautiful cut flowers sustainably. As a professional gardener who has been working with clients for over 20 years, Ferriss Donham is currently growing cut flowers for her CSA and assisting clients with growing plants sustainably. Ferriss studied at the Harvard Landscape Institute, developed a Master Gardener program and taught horticulture to inmates, and grew her own garden this year without using any water other than rainwater.
I look to Ferriss as a mentor when it comes to flower growing. Traditional cut flowers have a huge carbon footprint and even though growing and buying locally is a great first step towards sustainable flower growing, Ferriss will show us how to dig deeper into low resource flower farming.
Many flower farmers are investing huge sums of money in hoop houses, and draining their own financial and physical resources to grow cut flowers. Traditional flower farms drain our water supplies and take huge amounts of physical labor. Often these farms, are not making a profit at the end of the day.
Ferriss is taking a different approach. She’s growing cut flowers on her new plot in Maine, using rainwater and compost. She operates her gardens with minimal physical labor, and minimal financial resources, using what she already owns, and nurturing it along to multiply and expand naturally. She sells flowers through her CSA and designs florals for events in addition to teaching horticulture and advising her own garden clients.
This Saturday, she’ll be advising our career students and guests students on Zoom about sustainable flower growing. We’ll be talking about:
*Growing with minimal water
*Minimizing your farm’s overall footprint
*Growing climate specific varieties
*Growing perennials as cut flowers
*Growing without hoophouses
*Minimizing the physical labor involved in your flower growing
Join us on Saturday to get your own flower growing questions answered by Ferriss!
