https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czmwuwa6XG4&feature=youtu.be

Yes, you can grow gorgeous cut flowers in Alaska. Just ask Misty Vanderweele, anAlaska native who founded All Dahlia’d Up in 2013, a boutique flower farm in Palmer. There is a magical effect on the intense color palettes and robust health of Misty’s blooms, as the short growing season is balanced by up to 22 hours of endless sunshine-a-day during the peak summer months. Misty believes that all that sunshine fills the flowers with good medicine, as she has personally experienced their healing properties and witnessed in her customers and guests when they visit her farm. Today, learn how Misty’s series of one-hour walking tours, immersive floral retreats, and special Alaska-grown farm-to-table dinners draw guests from around the globe.

Misty Vanderweele of All Dahlia'd Up, a Palmer, Alaska-based flower farm

Welcome to Misty Vanderweele, owner of All Dahlia’d Up Flower Farm in Palmer, Alaska. Misty is a past guest of the Slow Flowers Podcast – she appeared on Episode 413, recorded in August 2019. I’ll share the link in our show notes in case you’d like to go back and listen to her beautiful, story of how deep, personal loss and the grief that followed led to her life in flowers. It’s poignant and may just be the hopeful story you need to hear right now.

https://www.slowflowerspodcast.com/2019/08/07/episode-413-meet-misty-vanderweele-of-alaskas-all-dahliad-up-plus-our-state-focus-new-jersey/

Frolicking in the flower fields at All Dahlia'd Up (Palmer, Alaska), from left: Christina Stembel, Misty Vanderweele, and Debra Prinzing

In August 2023, I flew to Anchorage with Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers to attend one of All Dahlia’d Up’s flower farm dinner tours. It was a magical and sensory-filled experience. Everything about the majestic scenery, the stunning flower fields, the hands-on floral design component, the delicious, all-local food, the live entertainment, and the camaraderie around the farm table – it was all unforgettable. We had a blast. I recently came across some video I shot during that evening, and so you’ll see a mini video at the beginning of my interview with Misty. She graciously voiced some of the footage to add more insights to the video clips.

Farm table adorned with DIY floral arrangements

That’s followed by a conversation about All Dahlia’d Up Flower Farm’s many channels for marketing flowers, but mostly, about floral tourism and how Misty is sharing her farm as a tourism destination. Let’s jump right in and get to that conversation! Misty is about to announce the 2025 tour dates and calendar of on-farm events, so follow the link to sign up for the newsletter so you’ll be the first to know!

Floral tourism at All Dahlia'd Up Flower Farm

https://mistyvanderweele.com/links

This Week's News!

We’ve just wrapped up a very successful, three-day Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit, which took place as a virtual/online conference over January 9th to 11th and involved 160 registrants, 15 amazing speakers, several great sponsors and partners, and the talented Slow Flowers team. Whew!

I’ll share much more in the coming weeks, but I just wanted to publicly thank everyone who joined us. We had incredibly high engagement of live participants who logged in to watch the sessions and interact with each speaker – that was so gratifying. But no worries if you registered and didn’t make it to all of the sessions – your registration entitles you to three months of replay viewing – through mid- April.

Our 600th Episode!!

I also have to pause for a moment to mention that today is our 600th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast! Our episode numbering is a little confusing because this is Episode 699, but back when I started the Slow Flowers Podcast in 2013, I just decided to start our first episode at 100 – not sure why, but I must have heard that was a good idea – ha! It’s confusing, but no big deal.