Slow Flowers: Why Locally Grown Flowers are Better
“A sustainable agriculture is one which depletes neither the people nor the land.”
- Wendell Barry
Our mission is to make sustainably grown flowers easily accessible to local florists, local businesses and our community, while also providing pesticide-free habitat to bees, butterflies, birds and other important pollinators.
The Modern-Day Commercial Cut Flower Industry
Did you know that nearly 80% of cut flowers sold in the United States and Canada are not actually grown in North America? Most imported flowers are grown in South America, Asia, and even Kenya and then flown in to be sold at wholesale houses around the country. This means that the commercial cut flower industry has an enormous carbon footprint, with flowers being flown literally around the world every day!
When flowers are flown, they are packaged into boxes without water, because it’s cheaper and easier to ship them that way. Think about how much more 20 roses in a bucket of water would weigh (and cost to ship) than 20 roses in a small cardboard box. Once the flowers are loaded onto the plane, they’re flown thousands of miles (literally) before they have to go through customs, sit and wait to be picked up by a delivery service, arrive at a wholesale house, and then finally arrive at a florist shop or at a grocery store floral department, where they are finally given water again, sometimes as long as a week later. It’s no wonder these flowers barely last 2-3 days once you purchase them!
This whole process of getting imported flowers from field to florist is stressful on the flowers, creates an incredible amount of waste and is why the majority of these flowers no longer have much fragrance. Producers select for ability to survive without water over beauty and fragrance to ensure the flowers can even withstand the long journey to their final destination. It’s why you see so few specialty varieties amongst imports.
Additionally, many of these countries do not have many, if any, industry regulations regarding chemical/insecticide/pesticide use. Flowers are often sprayed heavily with chemicals before being boxed up to ensure they’ll clear customs when they arrive here in the U.S., exposing the people handling these flowers to chemicals that can cause work-related illnesses including skin conditions, blindness, and infertility. The ethics of these imported flowers questionable, at best.
Florists may be exposed to harmful chemicals when they use imported flowers in their designs.
And it’s not just the people growing and harvesting the flowers who are exposed — florists in the U.S. have been documented to have developed serious skin irritation on their hands and arms from handling imported flowers all day. At the end of the day, those same flowers end up in your home, putting you and your family’s health at risk.
So why are local flowers better?
Locally grown flowers protect both people and the environment. Our farm is also our home, so we do not use pesticides or insecticides on our flowers and when we do amend the soil, we use only organic soil amendments. Even the seed starting mix we use is organic!
As a small, family-owned and operated business, we work hard to grow gorgeous, sustainable blooms that put people and the environment first. Knowing that our flowers will bring beauty and joy to you and your family, while also keeping you safe from chemicals, makes our hearts sing.
Another perk of growing and selling our flowers locally is that we can grow many specialty varieties in a rainbow of colors that you won’t see in grocery stores. The vibrant colors of our flowers are a thing of wonder!
A Blooming Joy Mason Jar Arrangement from our 2022 season.
Our flowers are grown using organic methods in the field, under the California sun. We harvest them directly into clean, reusable buckets with fresh water and then wrap them in recyclable paper or arrange them in mason jars, creating far less waste and being much more environmentally friendly than imported flowers. Bees, butterflies, birds and other pollinators benefit from the wide diversity of blooms on our farm, too!
When you buy flowers from a local farm you are supporting an actual family in your community and your flowers are cut fresh just for you, which means you receive the freshest blooms that last up to 2 weeks in the vase.
We are proud to be a part of the Slow Flowers Movement, a philosophy of growing that is committed to the use of sustainable practices to grow flowers, supporting the local economy and reducing consumer exposure to chemicals through the purchase of domestic and ethically grown flowers. The movement aims to recognize flower farming as a relevant and respected branch of domestic agriculture, putting a human face of the flower farmer and floral designer behind each bouquet or floral arrangement.
Debra Prinzing is a writer, speaker, outdoor living expert and advocate for American flower farming.
Every time you buy a bouquet from us, you can rest easy knowing that they were grown with you, your family and the environment in mind.
Your flowers will have been cut fresh just for you, arranged with love, and will simply look better, last longer and bring you pure joy!
