Made & Grown Here

Week 36, as we revisit the 10-year anniversary of the book Slow Flowers

Two McCoy vases filled with local September flowers and foliage.
Two McCoy vases filled with local September flowers and foliage.

My obsession for acquiring USA-made pottery has been fueled by a few friends who are also collectors. Back in the early 2010’s, when we had just moved back to Seattle from living in Los Angeles for four years (where I was introduced to the magic of vintage California-made pottery), there were some really fabulous flea market events here. I habitually went to one called “Second Saturday” at a large decomissioned airplane hangar. I usually met my friend Jean Zaputil there, but we ran into many other flower friends and collectors, including Gillian Mathews.

My McCoy and Haeger pottery collection exploded during this time, and I used two vases — one green and one turquoise — in the 2013 design. You can see that I mostly kept to a monochromatic floral palette in order to showcase the gorgeous glazes.

Slow Flowers book 2013 - page 66 "Made - and Grown - in America"
Slow Flowers book 2013 – page 66 “Made – and Grown – in America”

I used two turquoise McCoy vases in this 2023 version of the twin pairing, including the 5-1/4-inch tall x 5-1/2-inch square charmer with a tiny pedestal (returned from 2013) with a matte glaze, and a small circular vase with a glossier glaze and a swirl pattern.

The floral palette isn’t exactly the same, but I hope you can see where I’m coming from visually, in the spirit of the original designs. Rather than the ‘Hot Lips’ calla lilies and ‘Persian Violet’ love-in-a-mist (not available this week), I started with all Seattle Wholesale Growers Market ingredients, outlined below.

Square turquoise McCoy vase with burgundy and silver accents
Square turquoise McCoy vase with burgundy and silver accents
Circular McCoy vase
Circular McCoy turquoise swirl vase with lots of jazzy zinnias

I used a flower frog inside each of these sweet vases. I was inspired by my recent interview with Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht of Wild Bloom, who designs with flowers first (before foliage), so that’s what I did here.

texture and color for a fall bouquet

Mauve-and-burgundy chrysanthemums, grown by Ojeda Farms
Burgundy-maroon dahlias, grown by Everyday Flowers
Hibiscus ‘Mahogany Splendor’, grown by LaFlora Farm
Broadleaf Dusty Miller, from California
Plume celosia in pale pin, grown by Free Range Flowers

to this, I added a little sparkle, my ‘Jazzy Mix’ zinnias, grown by yours truly from Johnny’s Selected Seeds!

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.

Subscribe to SlowFlowers newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list

Powered by Robly

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.

FOLLOW US ON

Media Contact:

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