Vintage Patina

Week 46, as we revisit the 10-year anniversary of the book Slow Flowers

Week 9 Autumn Slow Flowers Revisited for 2023
Week 9 Autumn – Slow Flowers Revisited for 2023
"Vintage Patina" from the Slow Flowers Book, 2013
 (originally designed in November 2011)
“Vintage Patina” from the Slow Flowers Book, 2013
(originally designed in November 2011)

This design was the very first one that I created for my “52 Weeks of Local Flowers” blog series. It was early November 2011 and at the time, I was so frustrated by the response from book editors to whom I had been pitching “The 50 Mile Bouquet” project. After a prominent NYC editor told me that the idea of local and seasonal floral design was “fringe” because one would have to live in Santa Barbara in order to enjoy year-round, locally-grown blooms, well, that was the impetus to get me started on this endeavor ultimately called “the Slow Flowers Movement.”

This design was the very first one that I created for my “52 Weeks of Local Flowers” blog series, an endeavor ultimately called “the Slow Flowers Movement.”

I originally clipped mop-head hydrangeas from my former garden in south Seattle, adding stems of Dusty Miller (grown by Charles Little & Co.) and sea oats, or Chasmanthium latifolium (grown by Jello Mold Farm) to fill a weathered cast iron planter. I wrote about how these flowers went on to air dry in the container, as the water soon evaporated; I kept the urn on display for months.

Two types of Senecio -- Dusty Miller and Angel Wings
Two types of Senecio — Dusty Miller and Angel Wings

As the days approached for me to make the 2023 edition of this piece, I had a little scramble to find everything. The lacy Dusty Miller (grown by Everyday Flowers) needed a boost, so I clipped stems of my Senecio candidans ‘Angel Wings’, a Dusty Miller relative and beautiful container plant in the #slowflowerscuttinggarden.

My neighbor's hydrangeas
My neighbor’s hydrangeas
My neighbor's hydrangea and its lovely vintage patina
My neighbor’s hydrangea and its lovely vintage patina

I clipped the mop head hydrangeas from a former neighbor’s garden (cut with permission) and hung them to dry in my garage.

Sea oats to dance above the hydrangeas
Sea oats to dance above the hydrangeas

Only yesterday, was I lucky enough to grab one bunch of sea oats from Dee Swan and Valiant Poole, when I visited them at Field to Heart to record an upcoming episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast.

Slow Flowers on a breezy autumn afternoon

This new interpretation with a trio of ingredients (plus one bonus cultivar) is a little more quirky. The pile of dried hydrangeas reminds me of a bee-hive hairdo. The wind would NOT stop blowing when I tried to take the photograph, so I shot a little video to capture the lovely way the sea oats swayed today.

Debra Prinzing

Debra Prinzing is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and leading advocate for American-grown flowers. Through her many Slow Flowers-branded projects, she has convened a national conversation that encourages consumers and professionals alike to make conscious choices about their floral purchases. Debra is the producer of SlowFlowers.com, the weekly "Slow Flowers Podcast" and the American Flowers Week (June 28-July 4) campaign. Debra is author of 11 books, including Slow Flowers (2013), The 50 Mile Bouquet (2012) and Slow Flowers Journal (2020). She is the co-founder of BLOOM Imprint, the boutique publishing arm of Slow Flowers.

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Slow Flowers Journal is brought to you by SlowFlowers.com. Slow Flowers is an award-winning online directory created to help consumers find florists, studio designers, wedding and event planners, supermarket flower departments and flower farmers that supply American grown flowers. Founded in 2014, the site has grown to 850 members across the U.S.

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For more information, please contact Debra Prinzing
at 206-769-8211 or 844-SLOWFLO (844-756-9356); debra(at)slowflowers.com.