Episode 450: Emily Watson of Milwaukee’s Wood Violet and our Stories of Resilience guest, Janis Harris of ASCFG and Harris Flower Farm

Emily Watson of Wood Violet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Our featured guest this week is florist-farmer Emily Watson, who first appeared on the Slow Flowers Podcast in 2015. I'm delighted that she has agreed to return and share an update on her business, Wood Violet, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You'll want to go back and listen to that earlier episode -- click here.

Wedding design by Wood Violet - personal flowers and ceremony flowers.

Emily Watson, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based flower farmer, floral designer, entrepreneur -- today's podcast guest.

Five years ago when Emily joined me for an episode, the timing was auspicious. She was in the throes of pivoting from her small cut flower farm operation called Stems Cut Flowers to a wedding design studio named after Wisconsin's state flower - the Wood Violet.

After five years focusing entirely on designing for couples and ceremonies, the land is calling Emily back. And she's agreed to discuss her entrepreneurial thought process as her business is again responding to market opportunities.

Here's a bit more about Emily, excerpted from

her web site:

Emily is a farmer florist and small business owner who calls Milwaukee home. With an education in biological conservation and a background in both floral design and landscaping, she started Stems Cut Flowers in 2008.

With a little land borrowed from her grandparents' farm in East Troy, Wisconsin, Emily envisioned that Stems Cut Flowers would sell to florists and at farmer's markets, and maybe for an occasional wedding. Well the idea of occasional weddings turned into a nearly every weekend occurrence and it soon became evident that Emily was running two separate businesses. That's when in 2015, she officially established two separate businesses and launched her floral design studio. Being that the wood violet is Wisconsin's state flower it seemed an appropriate name for a business that is focused on using locally grown blooms. Stems Cut Flowers continued to grow and mostly supply flowers to the Wood Violet studio.

Beautiful floral design by Wood Violet, with Wisconsin-grown blooms

Find and follow Emily Watson at these social places:

Wood Violet on Facebook

Wood Violet on Instagram

Our bonus series here on the Slow Flowers Podcast continues with our next installment of Stories of Resilience. I believe that now, more than ever, the message of sustainability and seasonal and locally-available flowers is top of mind -- among consumers, flower farmers and florists.

I want the Slow Flowers Podcast to be a companion to those of you in isolation, away from your physical community of peers, neighbors, customers and friends. I don't have many answers, but I do want to keep the lines of communication open and accessible.

This week's guest: Janis Harris of Harris Flower Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada

Today's Stories of Resilience guest is Janis Harris of Harris Flower Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. She is also Canada's regional director for the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. 

I have been so intrigued by Janis's posts on social media promoting local flowers to her community. For the past month, Harris Flower Farm has been marketing no-contact flowers thanks entirely to Janis's creative efforts. It started on March 21st when she posted this message on Instagram: Fresh Locally Grown Spring Cheer-Up Bouquets; 3 Local Flower Farming Families are Coming Together to Bring You Some Cheer.

Janis,