This past Fall I traveled to Warren, Vermont to gather with a group of professional floral designers to dive deeper into the topic of sourcing domestically and seasonally. With Mountain Flower Farm as our home base and Walt Krukowski as our expert flower farmer, we discussed, inquired and educated ourselves on how we all could expand our sourcing resources.
Using 100% American grown flowers has always been at the core of The Local Bouquet’s sourcing mission, but having the confidence to source throughout the entire year has been a process and something that took me years to master. To all of my fellow florists out there- my advice to you is start knocking on doors. Knock on doors, shake hands (maybe not right now) and ask all your questions. Begin a relationship with a farmer who you have always admired and ask them to work with you. Even if you can’t see their farm in person, having a personal relationship with them will make all the difference when it comes time to begin buying. It may seem scary in the beginning but believe me, it will all pay off.
To my bridal clients- you can rest assure that because of my relationships around the country with some of the best flower growers, I am able to bring you the most beautiful and fresh flowers for your wedding day. The icing on the cake is that they are seasonal, require less of a carbon footprint to get into your hands and support our local economy.
It is always a dream come true to see a flower farm in person, in full bloom! As a floral designer its imperative to see the product we are working with grown in its natural habitat and meet the person behind these beautiful blooms. I can say confidently that after seeing Walt’s beautiful hill-side farm and getting to spend a few days with him, I am so excited to add him to our list of growers and start buying his product immediately!
For 2.5 days, I joined some of my flower peers and industry leaders in the beautiful autumnal backdrop of Vermont’s Green Mountain range. There we took time to learn, create and best of all ask questions! For over 20 years, Walt has specialized in growing peonies, lilacs, viburnum, flowering branches and hydrangea for floral designers nationwide. Walt was such a great host and shared with us so much information, showing us just how accessible his flowers are even from Vermont!
Take a look at Walt’s farm and what learning on a flower farm looks like…
When we weren’t at Mountain Flower Farm, we spent our time at the beautiful Knoll Farm, which was just minutes down the road. Knoll was the perfect retreat-style accommodations for our group to gather and nourish our bodies and our minds together. Tucked into the woods, atop a steep hillside overlooking several mountains, we slept in a super cool yurt village! Each morning we would hike down the steep hillside to gather in Knoll’s beautiful barn for a farm-to-table breakfast and gather our materials for the day ahead. Each night we would come back together after a long day to enjoy each other’s company and enjoy another farm-to-table meal, prepared by Knoll’s culinary team. This was such an awesome time to talk “shop” with my peers, relax and get the opportunity to foster some new and old friendships. Floral designers, farmers, wholesalers, and media pros all gathered at one table talking all things American Grown= pure magic!
To top it all off, we even got some time to design our own hand held bouquets and a ceremony arch overlooking the most beautiful mountain range. Using the beautiful flowers and foliages we had experienced on Mountain Flower Farm as well as flowers from nearby farms, Understory Farm, Longfield Gardens and the Floral Reserve in Rhode Island- we were left to create a design that spoke to the season of Fall and all things locally grown and gathered. It was so fun to design for myself, however I was inspired by the materials. Opportunities like this are rare for me so when given the chance- its like being a kid in a candy shop!
