The Flower Podcast

Our guest this week is Amelia Ihlo, owner of Rooted Farmers. Amelia began flower farming five years ago after feeling called to a more back-to-nature approach to life. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, children, chickens, and ducks. They have about an acre in flower production, which is mostly field grown or in their one NRCS high tunnel.

Amelia started Rooted Farmers in 2019 after seeing opportunities to improve the business of farming for flower growers and florists. Rooted Farmers is a sales platform designed to effectively solve the problems specific to the nuances of flower farming.

If you're a flower farmer, use our Promo Code FLOWERPODCAST21 to receive your first years subscription free.

You can learn more about Amelia and Rooted Farmers on The Flower Podcast website. Visit TheFlowerPodcast.com and you can also see the Rooted Farmers Tutorial video we recorded.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of your choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel and see all of our videos including tutorials and more.

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Florabundance Inc.

We're talking about Pop-Up Shops with Phebe Robinson-Higgines this week on The Flower Podcast. Phebe shares her floral journey into creating her floral and event business, her ideas for marketing and strategy, and how that led to creating highly successful Pop-Up Shops. Now she, helps coach people and educate other floral entrepreneurs to use Pop-Up Shops as an additional revenue stream for their business.

I'd like to share just a handful of notes:

1. When planning a pop-up shop, but I think this can apply to starting any business, set your goals first. Remember Profit over Pretty!

2. It's important to think about what makes you different and what experience do you want to provide your customers.

3. I love the way that Phebe leads her customers to take ownership of the floral design by contributing their personal touch to the end product.

4. It's less risky to start with floral holidays when starting a pop-up shop.

5. By building a community, you give your customers the opportunity to like you, to know you, and then most importantly to trust you.

6. Be willing to be vulnerable. You're going to learn so much about yourself and your business.

You can learn more about Phebe on The Flower Podcast website. Visit TheFlowerPodcast.com and learn about all of our past guests.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of your choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel and see all of our videos including tutorials and more.

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Leopoldo Gomez is a renowned international teacher of Floral Design, based out of Mexico City. His style is widely acclaimed and sought after for its striking color palettes, vivid textural combinations, and masterfully crafted armatures and structures. He describes his work as "introspective" wherein the essence of nature can be perceived, and intrinsic treasures can be discovered.

From the ultra-modern architecture to the beautifully preserved historical landmarks, all enriched with life and culture, Mexico City has provided Leopoldo with a very unique setting in which to draw inspiration for his intricate works.

We're so excited to have Leopoldo as a guest this week. His story and experience is truly inspirational.

You can learn more about Leopoldo Gomez at The Flower Podcast website. Visit www.theflowerpodcast.com to learn about all of our past guests.

Leopoldo's thoughts in this episode:

1. Florist shops seem to focus on selling for holidays. We need to start thinking of floristry in broader terms and look to incorporate home accents, interior design, etc.

2. If we start showing more techniques in floristry, the customer will see greater possibilities, value, and options to purchase.

3. As a teacher you must ask the same of yourself as you ask of your students. He said "If I ask you to be creative, I have to be creative too".

4. Leopoldo explains what sustainable means to him. As a business it means being able to be sufficient enough to support itself. But also, taking 100% of the resources you have around you and actually using them. Not everything is trash.

5. Apply the same use of color in art and use it in floral design.

6. Culture is very impactful and has a great influence in his work, but it doesn't have to be a literal reflection. Leopoldo said, "I need to show where I am, and what I am in an elegant way that represents multiple points of view.

7. His attitude is to not think in terms of failure but instead 'falling forward'. Always try and never be afraid to take a risk. Explore new ideas and techniques!

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of your choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel and see all of our videos including tutorials and more.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

Melanie Harrington is the owner of Dahlia May Flower Farm and our guest this week on The Flower Podcast.

Dahlia May Flower Farm, founded in 2014, is a small family farm specializing in growing specialty cut flowers. Melanie brings a background in art and horticulture to her work in building community through locally grown flowers on her family's third generation farm. Melanie is a tremendous source of information and I'm excited about her suggestions for extending your season and finding new streams of income. After speaking with her, it was very clear why she's won so many awards for entrepreneurship.

I want to recap some of the valuable thoughts from Melanie.

1. I love the idea of pre-selling tulip bulbs to pay for the crop creating a more profitable crop in the spring and revenue in the fall.

2. Turn to other local plant producers to provide add-on sales for holiday's while your flowers are still growing.

3. If you grow dahlia's, dahlia tubers sales might also create additional revenue sources in the spring.

4. If you're exploring the idea of creating an on-line shop research Shopify, it has great tools that Melanie really found helpful.

5. Understand your limitations when opening your on-line shop. You don't want to over commit your resources, time and logistics, making for unhappy customers.

6. Lastly, embrace the philosophy of keeping everything as simple as you can.

You can learn more about Melanie and Dahlia May Flower Farm on our guest page. Visit www.theflowerpodcast.com to learn more about all of our past guests.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of your choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel and see all of our videos including tutorials and more.

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Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

We're thrilled to host Shane Connolly again to The Flower Podcast. This week Shane and I chat about the amazing life and influence of Constance Spry.

Constance Spry is a pioneer of floral design and her life's work was to coalesce her love of gardening, nature, and her passion for teaching. Her impact on the floral industry is still being felt today and inspiring floral decorators around the world.

Some thoughts from my conversation with Shane:

1. Embrace the process of trial and error. Many times we produce our most memorable work by staying the course.

2. Danger…We should never design to be safe but design for what suits your creative explorations and your clients requests.

3. Constance Spry was a true believer that beauty uplifts people. The simple expression of giving flowers is very personal.

4. Sometimes your best actually happens when everything is failing and you have to go with your instincts. It also builds your confidence in trusting yourself.

5. Constance Spry's view was that nothing was off limits in design. It was never just about flowers but incorporating fruits, vegetables, foliages, and other items of nature.

6. If you want to be a floral artist, you have to do something unique, something different. You must behave as an artist.

You can learn more about Constance Spry on our latest Blog post on www.theflowerpodcast.com ! We've included links there to our past episodes with Shane Connolly and Emily Thompson, both of which have been deeply inspired by the work of Constance Spry.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of you choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can also visit our Youtube channel if you would like to watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel for more information.

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Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

Our guest this week is Eric Tanouye with Green Point Nurseries.

Eric shares the story of his family business born out of his father's return to his hometown after college and in need of work. Harold Tanouye returned to Hilo which was recovering from WWII, and saw the demand for anthuriums being sent home via mail to family and girlfriends and he new this was to be life's work.

That was 1956 and now Green Point Nurseries located on the Big Island of Hawaii is entering their 3rd generation of their family business. Eric Tanouye continues growing his father's legacy through his connections with studying farming methods of ancient Hawaiians, customer relationships, leadership in trade and flower associations, and most importantly connecting with the land and protecting their natural resources.

Eric's belief, if don't have balance when we do business and in how we do our business, we aren't going to be able to sustain ourselves-the environment, the crops we produce, the employees and the business.

We chat about all of it this week with guest Eric Tanouye. Flowers are not just grown in the islands, but are meant to connect people with the beauty and the romance of Hawaii. I'm ready for a plane ticket, how about you?!

You can learn more about Eric, his family business Green Point Nurseries, and all of our past guests at www.theflowerpodcast.com !

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of you choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can also visit our Youtube channel if you would like to watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel for more information.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

Our guest this week is Adrienne Ryser. Adrienne shares her floral journey of working in her new flower shop, L'Arrosoir, and in 2020 during a global pandemic, she bought this most magical flower shop which has existed for over 100 years. It's a true love story filled with love, Paris and of course flowers.

You can learn more about Adreinne Ryser, her business L'Arrosoir, and all of our past guests at www.theflowerpodcast.com !

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of you choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can also visit our Youtube channel if you would like to watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel for more information.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

One of Australia's most well-known, respected, influential floral designers, and a force within the Australian Floral Industry for nearly 20 years, highly decorated in National and International Competitions, working with some of the world's leaders in floral designs, and teaching across the globe, my guest this week is Matthew Landers.

How do we make ourselves known? What is an important factor in establishing ourselves? Of course an obvious answer is our work but my guest this week is here to chat about another key component. Branding!!! Creating our brand goes beyond the logo as an identity. Branding ourselves becomes our connection with the client. A positive reinforcement establishing a relationship of trust, consistency, and confidence. So buckle up for a straight forward chat with a Brand Powerhouse.

We're excited for 2021 and all our new guests!

You can learn more about Matthew Landers and all of our past guests at www.theflowerpodcast.com !

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of you choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can also visit our Youtube channel if you would like to watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel for more information.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

Bonus Episode with Joseph Massie! Today we're learning about Joe's new online floral membership called Flower Class. You can learn more about Joe's Flower Class HERE!

You can learn more about all of our guests and content on our website The Flower Podcast.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of you choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can also visit our Youtube channel if you would like to watch my chats with guests via Zoom.Follow the link to our YouTube channel for more information.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software

Georgia Monroe returns to The Flower Podcast. She openly shares about pivoting her business last year and scaling her business this year. We talk about generating additional streams of revenue, including opening retail streams, wedding and events, hiring new employees, and so much more.

I would encourage you to listen to Georgia's first episode with The Flower Podcast to learn more about how she started and her farm.

We're excited for 2021 and all our new guests!

You can learn more about Basecamp Farms and all of our past guests at www.theflowerpodcast.com !

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on the platform or app of you choice and we would love to have you join our email family.

Did you know that you can also visit our Youtube channel if you would like to watch my chats with guests via Zoom. Follow the link to our YouTube channel for more information.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

Accent Decor

FlowerSchool NY / LA

Details Flowers Software