Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the publication of Slow Flowers: Four Seasons of Locally Grown Bouquets from the Garden, Meadow and Farm
Week One, 2023
New Ingredients:
7 stems, *Ozothamnus ‘Sussex Silver’, a gorgeous evergreen with fine silvery texture
3 stems, *Senecio candidans ‘Angel Wings’, a Dusty Miller relative with smooth, silvery-white foliage
4 stems, *Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’ (Berggarten sage)
7 stems white hyacinth, Canadian-grown
2 stems *white hellebores
8 stems dried pussy willow (saved from a 2022 arrangement)
*Slow Flowers Cutting Garden
Ingredients:
5 branches pussy willow (Salix caprea), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers
7 stems each of two forms of Dusty Miller (Centaurea cineraria), grown by Charles Little & Co.
7 stems Artemisia absinthium, harvested from my garden
I created the 52 arrangements that appear in the Slow Flowers book between November 2011 and October 2012, finishing just in time for the editing, design, layout, and printing. Slow Flowers was published 10 years ago, in February 2013.
As the New Year of 2023 approached, I wanted to reflect on the significance of this little book, both on my life and on the Slow Flowers Movement. It is utterly amazing to take stock of what has emerged from this personal floral design experience in th past decade. From a challenge I gave myself to create one bouquet each week for a full year, using only what I could harvest from my own garden or source from local flower farmers, an entire community of kindred spirits has come together to do the same, to celebrate and uplift domestic flowers and sustainable floral design.
Make no mistake, others have joined this movement, but it started here.
Debra Prinzing, author and founder of the Slow Flowers Movement
It started with SLOW FLOWERS, the book.
SLOW FLOWERS inspired all of our subsequent programs and initiatives that benefit the entire floral marketplace to this day. Here is the chronology of all that we have achieved in the past 10 years!
- Slow Flowers Podcast, which debuted July 23, 2013 and has run continually with nearly 500 weekly episodes ever since.
- Slowflowers.com, the online directory to more than 850 flower farms, florists, shops, and studios that supply local, seasonal, and sustainable blooms. The site debuted on May 12, 2014.
- Slow Flowers Journal (online magazine), first published in April 2015.
- American Flowers Week, which debuted June 28-July 4, 2015, and has continued annually as the original domestic flower celebration, holiday, and promotion.
- Slow Flowers Summit, the live, in-person conference that takes place during American Flowers Week. The first Summit took place in 2017 and continues to this day.
- Slow Flowers Society, our rebranded community and its corresponding website, launched in January 2019 as a one-stop portal for all of our programs, events, and membership resources.
- Slow Flowers Journal – Volume One, published in June, 2020, as a compilation of the “Best of” Slow Flowers members, and stories about their farms, studios, floral designs, and more.
- BLOOM Imprint, Slow Flowers Society’s book publishing arm, formed with partner Robin Avni in Fall 2020.
- Slow Flowers Show, launched in celebration of the Slow Flowers Podcast’s 8th anniversary on July 28, 2021. As our weekly video companion to the Slow Flowers Podcast, the Slow Flowers Show is archived on our YouTube channel.
- Slow Flowers Journal digital, now a quarterly ezine, launched in June 2022.
A Renewed Slow Flowers Challenge
Join me as I revisit SLOW FLOWERS for a celebration of the book’s 10-year anniversary.
Beginning today, for Week One of 2023, I will design a weekly updated version of the arrangement I created a decade ago for Slow Flowers: Four Seasons of locally Grown Bouquets from the Garden, Meadow and Farm (St. Lynn’s Press, 2013).
You’re invited to join in as we revive the #slowflowerschallenge!
