Episode 399: Celebrating our 300th Episode with Teresa Sabankaya, the Posy Book and Our State Focus: Kansas

This is the 300th consecutive episode of your weekly podcast about American flowers and the people who grow and design with them. It’s all about making a conscious choice and I invite you to join the conversation and the creative community as we discuss the vital topics of saving our domestic flower farms and supporting a floral industry that relies on a safe, seasonal and local supply of flowers and foliage.

I have a very special guest to help me celebrate our 300th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Yes, for 300 consecutive weeks, ever since the first episode aired on July 23, 2013, I’ve brought you original programming about local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and the people who grow and design with them.

The Slow Flowers

Podcast is different. My audio storytelling is inclusive and welcoming to you,

and I hope you picture it the way I do: we're all sitting together in a

beautiful field of flowers or curled up around the fireplace sipping mugs of

tea. It is a community gathering place for voices, insights, ideas and

encouragement, bringing you nearly six years of meaningful and informative

content — delivered through your ear-buds. The Seattle Times just called this

podcast "a lively platform for voices in the local-flowers movement

throughout the country, which will have you craving blossoms and blooms."

Each week, you join my engaging conversations with flower farmers, floral

designers, cut floral and plant experts, authors, entrepreneurs and innovators

in the Slow

Flowers Community.

Teresa Sabankaya in her garden in Bonny Doon, California

And I thank YOU for joining me! For our 300th episode, I'm so pleased to welcome Teresa Sabankaya of the Bonny Doon Garden Co., based in Santa Cruz, CA. Teresa is a past guest of this podcast, but it has been quite a while since you've heard from her here -- more than four years, actually, since we recorded our conversation back in April 2015 when I visited her shop, studio and garden.

A lot has happened with Teresa who I call a Slow Flowers Pioneer! Like me, you may have first met this passionate artist in the pages of Flower Confidential, Amy Stewart's 2007 book about the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.

Teresa Sabankaya at the 2017 Slow Flowers Summit

And while so many people say they want to write a book, Teresa's book idea has actually become a beautiful reality. Her new endeavor, The Posy Book, will be published in one week by The Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Co., and we have the exclusive first peek inside its pages with today's conversation with Teresa. I'm so excited to welcome her here -- and be sure to listen scroll to the bottom of this post -- where you'll find the details on how you can enter a random drawing to win a copy of this special book.

The Posy Book's tagline is "Garden-Inspired Bouquets that Tell a Story," and in its 255 pages, you will find Teresa's floral recipes for more than 20 flower arrangements, along with the message each flower communicates -- yellow roses convey friendship; silver-leaf geranium articulates admiration, for example. There are step-by-step instructions, ideas for seasonal variations and a modern floral dictionary with hundreds of entries.

After hearing from Teresa Sabankaya, you'll also believe that whatever the sentiment, say it with a posy. Check out Teresa's New Language of Flowers Dictionary, online.

Here's how to find and follow Teresa:

Teresa Sabankaya on Facebook

Teresa Sabankaya on Twitter