Flower Duet Presented at the 2nd Annual Slow Flowers Summit

Sisters Offered a Detailed Look Into Their Diversified Floral Design Studio

By Kit Wertz

Kit and Casey posed in front of the fin­ished inter­ac­tive flo­ral “Moon Arch” at the 2018 Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit in Wash­ing­ton, D.C.

Casey and I had a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence pre­sent­ing and attend­ing the sec­ond annu­al SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. on June 29, 2018.  This year’s sum­mit was co-locat­ed with the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Flo­ral Design­ers’ annu­al sym­po­sium at the beau­ti­ful and vast Mar­riott Ward­man Park.

Atten­dees made posies using Amer­i­can Grown Flow­ers from Ore­gon, Rhode Island, Flori­da, Cal­i­for­nia, Virig­inia and Mary­land and placed them on the Moon Arch dur­ing the day’s event.

I was for­tu­nate to have attend­ed as a guest to the inau­gur­al sum­mit in 2017 in Seat­tle and was delight­ed to be asked along with my sis­ter to be a pre­sen­ter this year.

Fab­u­lous vibur­num, gar­den ros­es and yarrow were in abun­dance at the Summit!

The day start­ed with an inter­ac­tive Moon Arch of flow­ers and green­ery pre­sent­ed by Dana O’Sul­li­van of DellaBlooms and Ellen Sea­graves of Flo­ral Chic Designs. Atten­dees of the sum­mit were encour­aged to work with the fab­u­lous donat­ed Amer­i­can grown flow­ers to cre­ate posies treat­ed with EcoFresh Bou­quet wraps and placed into the arch.

Hebe was a favorite at the Summit!

Devel­oped and pro­duced by Debra Prinz­ing and Slow Flow­ers LLC, the one-day event coin­cid­ed with the fourth annu­al AMERICAN FLOWERS WEEK (June 28-July 4, 2018), which accord­ing to Debra suc­ceeds in “bring­ing togeth­er cre­atives, thought lead­ers and change agents with a lec­ture series fea­tur­ing lead­ing voic­es in the pro­gres­sive Amer­i­can-grown flo­ral community.”

Debra Prinz­ing wel­comes guests at the Summit!

The 2018 SUMMIT turned its atten­tion toward the future, inno­va­tion and rein­ven­tion. Atten­dees includ­ed Florists, Flo­ral Design­ers, Farmer-Florists, Retail­ers, Whole­salers, Grow­ers, Media, Edu­ca­tors, Stu­dents and Pro­gres­sive Thinkers.

Great day at the 2nd Annu­al Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit in D.C. on June 29, 2018 where Casey and Kit gave a pre­sen­ta­tion and flo­ral design demo to flo­ral design­ers, flower farm­ers and a pletho­ra of indus­try vet­er­ans who want­ed to learn more about and sup­port local­ly grown flow­ers. Here we are with all the won­der­ful flower speak­ers of the day!

The keynote speak­er was the tal­ent­ed and fab­u­lous CHRISTINA STEMBEL, founder and CEO of San Fran­cis­co-based FARMGIRL FLOWERS.  Christina’s top­ic, “Scal­ing Your Flo­ral Busi­ness to the Next Lev­el,” shared insights and lessons from her high­ly suc­cess­ful e‑commerce flo­ral busi­ness. Her talk was very inspir­ing and she is so love­ly in per­son, too!

Christi­na Stem­bel of Far­m­girl Flowers

After Christina’s eye-open­ing talk, we were treat­ed with the found­ing sto­ries of KELLY SHORE of Petals by the Shore (Mary­land) and MARY KATE KINNANE of The Local Bou­quet (Rhode Island). These Slow Flow­ers mem­bers are design­ers who spe­cial­ize in wed­dings and events. They shared how they build rela­tion­ships with flower farm­ers in their areas and did two design demos.

Kel­ly Shore of Petals by the Shore

Mary Kate Kin­nane of The Local Bou­quet (Rhode Island).

Then it was a lunch break while Casey and I set up for our pre­sen­ta­tion and demon­stra­tion. We had stun­ning Amer­i­can grown flow­ers and green­ery from around the coun­try! The flow­ers we used includ­ed: David Austin ros­es from Cal­i­for­nia, sea­son­al won­ders from Vir­ginia and Mary­land farms, green­ery from Flori­da and a few more greens from a local nurs­ery and our own par­ents’ back­yard. Oh…I for­got to men­tion, Casey and I grew up just out­side of Wash­ing­ton and our par­ents still live there. So, we were able to vis­it our old home­town with our kids and attend the Sum­mit as guest speakers.

Casey and Kit dur­ing our demon­stra­tion at the 2nd Annu­al Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit in Wash­ing­ton, D.C.

We pre­sent­ed our top­ic on how we con­cen­trate our busi­ness on all types of cus­tom event flo­rals from wed­dings to cor­po­rate par­ties and every­thing in between as well as our pas­sion for teach­ing flo­ral design. After our for­mal pre­sen­ta­tion, we offered three ways to teach a flo­ral design class for the florists and farm­ers who want to expand their offerings.

Sis­ters Kit (left) and Casey (right) of Flower Duet after our demon­stra­tions and pre­sen­ta­tion at the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit 2018.

Kit offers a close up view of the tech­nique she demon­strat­ed at the Sum­mit to attendees.

After our pre­sen­ta­tion, the focus switched to tech­nol­o­gy and how it’s chang­ing our indus­try. CHRISTINA STEMBEL of FARMGIRL FLOWERS, JONATHAN WEBER of greenSIN­NER (Pitts­burgh) and JESSICA HALL of HARMONY HARVEST FARM & FLORAL GENIUS (Vir­ginia) appeared in pan­el forum to dis­cuss “Tech & Flow­ers: Ama­zon, Uber and the Flo­ral Indus­try.” From Prinz­ing, “Increas­ing­ly, the inter­sec­tion of trans­porta­tion and infra­struc­ture are pres­sur­ing every­one along the flo­ral con­tin­u­um to con­sid­er new ways of doing busi­ness.” This pan­el addressed how flo­ral busi­ness­es large and small need to inno­vate deliv­ery meth­ods to consumers.

CHRISTINA STEMBEL of FARMGIRL FLOWERS, JESSICA HALL of HARMONY HARVEST FARM & FLORAL GENIUS (Vir­ginia) and JONATHAN WEBER of greenSIN­NER (Pitts­burgh).

The SUMMIT con­clud­ed with inspir­ing pre­sen­ta­tions about Urban Flower Farm­ing. WALKER MARSH of THA FLOWER FACTORY (Bal­ti­more) and MUD BARON of MUIR RANCH (Pasadena/Los Ange­les) talked about “Plant­i­ng Seeds on Urban Flower Farms.” Both men shared tru­ly inspir­ing sto­ries on how they’ve changed lives and neigh­bor­hoods through farm­ing pro­grams locat­ed in the cities of Bal­ti­more and Los Angeles.

WALKER MARSH of THA FLOWER FACTORY (Bal­ti­more)

MUD BARON of #Flow­er­sOn­Y­our­Head (Pasadena/Los Angeles)

Every­one who attend­ed the Sum­mit received a fan­tas­tic swag bag full of items from a ton of spon­sors includ­ing a sus­tain­able phone stand made of bam­boo from Flower Duet!

Fun and full of vari­ety, the Swag Bag was a delight for all the attendees!

And we end­ed the day with a fun cock­tail recep­tion at a local restau­rant where Mud put flow­ers on every­one’s head. Here we are!

Casey and Kit with #flow­er­son­y­our­head as direct­ed by Mud Baron.

Debra Prinz­ing devel­oped the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit. She is a Seat­tle-based writer, speak­er and lead­ing advo­cate for Amer­i­can Grown Flow­ers. We are so hap­py to have met Debra in 2013 and con­tin­ue to look for­ward to more won­der­ful projects which involve the pro­mo­tion of local­ly grown flow­ers from an eco-con­scious per­spec­tive. Learn more about her at debraprinzing.com.

The Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit for 2019 has been announced! Will you be there? It’s in St. Paul Min­neapo­lis on July 1–2, 2018! Sign up for infor­ma­tion on the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit Website.

Spon­sors for the 2018 Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit were:

Offray

Ularas

EcoFresh Bou­quet

Far­m­girl Flowers

DV Flo­ra

Swag Bag Con­tent Spon­sors were:

Flower Duet

Florists’ Review Magazine

Lola Cre­ative

Johnny’s Select­ed Seeds

Long­field Gardens

Flow­er­han­dlers

Syn­di­cate Sales

Asso­ci­a­tion of Spe­cial­ty Cut Flower Growers

Slow Flow­ers LLC

Mary Denise Smith

Arc­tic Alas­ka Peonies

Har­mo­ny Har­vest Farm

Flower Donors were:

Lyn­nVale Studios

Charles Lit­tle & Company

Resendiz Broth­ers Pro­tea Growers

Lit­tle State Flower Co. 

Green Val­ley Floral

Fer­n­Trust

And it would not have been pos­si­ble without:

Debra Prinz­ing of Slow Flow­ers LLC

Karen Thorn­ton of Avenue 22 Events

Nisha Blan­cas of Fetch­ing Social Media

Flower Farm­ers in Vir­gina and Maryland

A Visit to Local Flower Farms in Virginia and Maryland

A Tour of Wollam Gardens —  Jeffersonton, VA

By Flower Duet

Sign at Wol­lam Gardens

As part of the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit, we ven­tured to a local flower farm in Vir­ginia called Wol­lam Gar­dens. Start­ed in 1987, this farm fea­tures a wide vari­ety of annu­als, peren­ni­als and woody plants which offers the local design­er pre­mi­um choic­es for sea­son­al event work.

House of Wol­lam Gar­dens Owner

We were treat­ed to a fab­u­lous Quiche for break­fast and hearty sand­wich­es for lunch after the exten­sive farm tour by Red Truck Bak­ery.

Arrange­ment by one of the Wol­lam Gar­dens interns

Refreshed by a a farm made lemon balm lemon­ade. We start­ed in the event pavil­ion and toured 10 acres of flower farm. No mat­ter how many years we have been work­ing with flow­ers, tour­ing a work­ing farm was a com­plete delight. There is always some­thing new to learn.

Wol­lam Gardens
5167 Jef­fer­son­ton Rd
Jef­fer­son­ton VA, 22724
540–937-3222

On the tour of the farm at Wol­lam Gardens

VISIT

The farm is open for drop-in vis­i­tors every day from mid-March through ear­ly Decem­ber, 9 am to 5 pm. You’re wel­come to walk around the farm, peep into the hoop hous­es, and gen­er­al­ly enjoy the grounds. This is a work­ing farm, with a focus on pro­duc­tion; so they do not offer guid­ed tours with­out appointments.

BUY FLOWERS

Staff can assist with pur­chas­ing flow­ers if avail­able (best times are Wednes­day, Fri­day, and Sat­ur­day after­noons), or choose from the self-serve farm stand, which is stocked Thursday-Sunday.

A Trip to Butler’s Orchard — Germantown, MD

By Kit Wertz

But­ler Orchards Flow­ers we picked and place in our con­tain­er. It was all you could fit for $10.

A few years ago when my twins were about 3 and a half, we went to a farm to pick our own rasp­ber­ries and flow­ers in Mary­land. On this year’s trip to the DC-Metro area, the kids are 7 and a half and we took an excur­sion train ride in Walk­ersville, MD and then stopped at a pick your own farm in Ger­man­town after lunch in Fred­er­ick. All of this was with­in an hour’s dri­ve of the District.

Keely and Cole (Kit’s twins) had fun in the flower fields and on a swing, too!

It’s just the begin­ning of flower sea­son, but I was able to gath­er a large and col­or­ful bou­quet fea­tur­ing Zin­nias, Celosia, Salvia, and Globe Amar­math. The kids enjoyed an old fash­ioned tree swing while my Dad and I picked our way through the flower fields. All in all, a love­ly way to spend the day.

Each row of flower type was clear­ly marked by sig­nage in case the vis­i­tor need­ed to have it identified.

Only a few sun­flow­ers were show­ing col­or. It’s very ear­ly in the sea­son for the vari­eties they were grow­ing on the farm.

The orchard also had an exten­sive shop with fresh pro­duce, hand­craft­ed pies and local hon­ey and much, much more!

Plumosa Celosia was in full bloom among oth­er vari­eties of flow­ers at But­ler’s Orchard, but we had a fab­u­lous bou­quet of Zin­nias, Salvia and a col­lec­tion of Amaranthus!

22222 Davis Mill Rd,

Ger­man­town, MD 20876

301–428-0444

New Hours of Oper­a­tion in 2018:  Hours vary dur­ing the year.  Please read carefully.

The farm and mar­ket are open sea­son­al hours.  Call 301–428-0444 for spe­cif­ic hours and pick­ing con­di­tions on the day you plan to vis­it.  Weath­er con­di­tions and demand deter­mine the sup­ply of Pick Your Own fruits and veg­eta­bles; plus, some crops have spe­cial pick­ing hours.

Closed Mon­days, except for Hol­i­days, check this page for spe­cif­ic hours.

Sum­mer:

Tues­day – Fri­day 8:30 am – 6:30 pm (Last entry onto Farm 5:30 pm)

Sat­ur­day & Sun­day 8:30 – 5:30 (Last entry onto Farm 4:30 pm)

Fall:

Tues­day – Sun­day 9:30 am – 6:00 pm (Last entry onto Farm 5:00 pm)

Spring: from Open­ing Day to Straw­ber­ry Season

Tues­day – Sun­day 9:30 am – 6:00 pm Mar­ket open

Farm Park opened May 12.  9:30 am- 5:00 pm

Floral Design by Flower Duet

Here is the design I made from the But­ler’s Orchard flow­ers! It shows a fan­tas­tic array of col­or and tex­ture for “ear­ly sea­son” pick your own flowers.