GROWER'S CHOICE LEARNING FROM LILY TRIALS ON LOCATION DRIED BOTANICALS FOR THE GILDED AGE FROM THE HEART THE FLOWER (FLOUR) HUTCH
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Debra Prinzing
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Robin Avni
COPY EDITOR
Brenda Silva
CONTRIBUTORS
Jenny M. Diaz, Jayson Munn
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Alicia Houston, Nicole Huson, Carol Millett, Alison Sheehy, and Nicole Wright
ON THE COVER
Dried flower garlands hang from the frame of diamond-paned windows at Lyndhurst Mansion, designed by Muriel Poure of Muriel Fleurs for her installation at Lyndhurst in Bloom. Timeless and ethereal, the delicate design incorporates dried botanicals and pods, threaded onto bullion wire to create lacy patterns.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.
celebrate.
Just in time for Harvest and Holiday, we are delighted to share the Fall 2025 issue of Slow Flowers Journal. Ours has been a season filled with book promotions and events to celebrate the publication of The Flower Farmers, and we are so grateful to the many Slow Flowers members who have hosted us on their farms and in their flower shops. We believe strongly in storytelling and have dedicated the book “to living a flower-filled life.”
This issue is for flower lovers, of course. We are inspired by Muriel Poure’s Gilded Age-inspired installation featuring all dried flowers at Lyndhurst in Bloom, as she filled one room of the historic mansion with her botanical artistry. We love Nicole Wright’s “From the Heart” essay, in which she tells the story of a family heirloom that has passed from one generation to the next. And we’re excited to read how Susan Larder and Carol Millett host fellow artists to paint their gardens and flowers, en plein air, at Foraged Florals in the heart of Nova Scotia.
We hope each of these heartfelt narratives will prompt ideas and insights for your floral enterprise! As always, please reach out to share your creative news. We’d love to see more of our Slow Flowers members in the pages of this magazine.
Debra + Robin
As co-founder of Foraged Florals, Susan has returned to the land and floral design as a path to health. In 2021, she and her partner, Carol Millett, founded Foraged Florals, a flower farm and wedding venue on 32 acres in rural Nova Scotia, Canada. Using permaculture principles and practices that she learned in Guatemala, they created a flower farm. Susan is a blog writer, avid gardener, floral designer, and educator. Foraged Florals is a member of the Sustainability Floristry Network and Slow Flower
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NICOLE WRIGHT. Nicole is the owner of The Pink Peony floral studio in Waterford, Wisconsin. With her mother and business partner, Kelli Petrusich, Nicole specializes in memorial flowers, weddings, and large events. “Our love for the changing Wisconsin seasons and nature influences us the most when designing our abundant and texturefilled, garden-style arrangements. We source only the finest American-grown flowers and foliage available and incorporate locally grown and foraged blooms whenever possible. We do anything possible to make our business more nature-friendly by composting only organic flowers and foliage, repurposing and reusing vintage vessels and materials and have eliminated toxic, single-use products.” Nicole is author and publisher of Returning Home: Reconceptualized Sympathy Flowers, a funeral flower book for death midwives, funeral directors, grieving families, florists, flower farmers, and more.
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departments ON LOCATION exquisite everlastings.
6 FROM THE HEART the flower (flour) hutch
Inspired by the Gilded Age, floral artist Muriel Poure brings a historic room to life with dried botanicals.
The long, colorful journey of one family’s heirloom hutch. 10
SITE SPECIFIC
plein air at foraged florals
Beauty abounds at the flower farm.
SLOW FLOWERS
worldwide summit 2026. a preview of our second online conference, schedule, and speakers.
FIELD REPORT: LILY TRIALS lily trials. two first-time lily growers share lessons learned.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
ALISON SHEEHY
exquisite everlastings.
Inspired by the Gilded Age, floral artist Muriel Poure uses dried botanicals to bring a historic room to life.
When floral installations are paired with treasured architectural spaces, a certain magic happens. The rooms in a mansion or historic edifice may already tell a story, but the addition of botanicals animates those environments in a beautiful way.
For Muriel Poure, owner of Muriel Fleurs, based in Hastingson-Hudson, New York, designing for the 2025 Lyndhurst in Bloom Flower Show inspired her creativity and her imagination. The annual event showcases the majestic estate on the banks of New York’s Hudson River, where both the mansion and the grounds reflect the iconic architecture, decorative arts, and landscape of the 19th and
MURIEL FLEURS
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
LYNDHURST MANSION
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
early 20th centuries. Designed in 1838 by A.J. Davis, it is one of America’s finest Gothic Revival mansions with a vast collection of art, antiques, and furniture.
There, floral artists create sculptural, large-scale floral installations throughout the mansion and grounds, adorning many of the 16 rooms and galleries. The estate’s profile has greatly increased since its appearance in the popular HBO series “The Gilded Age.” And while many of the rooms are opulent and ornate, Poure requested a modest space, originally called the boys’ room. “It had very simple furniture, nothing super fancy—just a few paintings. When I saw the room, I knew it would be perfect.” Even the parquet wood floor was an impressive alternative to a patterned rug.
“The Lyndhurst Mansion has done this showcase for many years, and it’s an invitation for floral designers to create,” Poure explained. “As this was my first year, it was my chance to use all kinds of flowers that I normally might not use.”
When she asked, “Can I use all dry flowers?” the organizers loved her suggestion. The event is typically held when locally grown blooms are just coming into season. Using dried elements meant there was no need for hydration, which can be an issue in museums and historic sites.
Poure wanted to install a hanging piece, but learned it would not be allowed due to the historic nature of the mansion. “The only place I knew I could hang something would be on the windows, which is why I created flower garlands.” Comprised of dainty dried flowers and pods threaded onto bullion wire, the installation created a lacy pattern against the diamond panes.
Elsewhere, dried floral accents included wreaths and a large bedside arrangement, but the centerpiece of the room is three female figures dressed in the
botanical version of The Gilded Age attire. Poure used a vintage metal dress form, saved from her previous career in the fashion industry, to create her elegant character. Additionally, two tabletop figures—metal busts once used as retail display pieces—continued the theme. “It’s almost like a family of ladies,” she pointed out.
Each of the metal figures provided a surface for attaching the dried elements, Poure explained. Rather than use glue or tape, each section of dried flowers, grasses, and seed heads were gathered into small bundles and attached with bullion wire.
Poure created each of the busts in complementary floral palettes—natural and more colorful—using dried flowers from her own cutting garden and other ingredients sourced from area flower farms. She played around with techniques like threading individual fresh tulip petals (like beads) onto the bullion wire to create a frilly neckline.
“I wanted to create contrasts in color and texture, but also to inspire viewers to think about what happens when flowers dry. What shapes do they take and how do they change form?” One thing she did not do was alter, spray, or dye the botanical elements.
“I draw my inspiration from nature and the rhythm of the seasons. Flowers transform in surprising and magical ways as they dry. Dried flowers are ethereal and timeless, evoking memories and emotions.”
“I started a month ahead of time to create all these tiny, hand-tied bouquets, and then attached them to the armature of the bodices and dress form. I was able to do the finishing touches on-site.”
The full gown’s rose-hued bodice is comprised of dried peony blooms, statice, and the flower-like tips of Leucadendron branches. Together, these pieces created a tapestry-like pattern. The asymmetrical sleeve placement includes draped miscanthus on one shoulder and billows of variously sized allium seed heads on the opposite shoulder. An underskirt of dried hydrangeas and amaranth blooms peeks out from the overskirt of feathery miscanthus, and a long train made with more dried grasses is dotted with pink peony accents.
In alignment with the sustainable focus of her studio, Poure made sure to repurpose or compost all of the botanical elements of the installation. “I’m so conscientious about waste, so I brought everything home with me to reuse or recycle.” She saved spools of bullion wire for future projects, and only recently deconstructed the dress form to include the miscanthus plumes and other dried elements into fall wreath production.
Poure has filled her studio racks with all kinds of fresh-cut material, just to see how it looks when dried. “I want the person who receives my flowers to really appreciate what went into each stem—from the seeds to the harvesting to the design.”
FROM THE HEART BY NICOLE WRIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICOLE WRIGHT
the flower (flour) hutch.
The long, colorful journey of one family’s heirlo,om hutch.
This essay is adapted from "The Flower Hutch,"a writing project from Nicole Wright that includes seasonal family recipes and tablescape decorating ideas.
The word “hutch” originates from the ancient French word “huche,” meaning chest. For centuries, hutches have been used in kitchens and homes, harboring dry goods, cookware, linens, and other household items. A typical piece features closed cabinets on the lower portion for concealment
and an upper portion of open shelves for display. Many families used the tabletop portion for food preparation or serving holiday meals.
The hutch that passed into my hands has been in my family for three generations. It inspired the name of my grandparents’ bar, The Hutch. This massive piece served as the backdrop of their bar, holding glassware in the lower portion and displaying bottles
of liquor on the upper shelves. Later, I remember the hutch in the kitchen of my childhood home, where my mom, Kelli Petrusich, stored cookbooks and household items in the cabinetry and vintage plates on the shelves. For years, it resided in The Pink Peony, my flower shop in Waterford, Wisconsin, where it served as the backdrop to my register counter, doubling as a divider between my retail and workshop areas. With each passing season, I utilized the hutch to display my favorite retail items and wrapped bouquets, and gifts on its surface.
It's possible to trace my story through the history of this cherished piece of furniture. Since the early 1800s, Milwaukee has been significantly influenced by the large German population and the city’s expansive brewing industry. Nearly every Wisconsin town possesses a bar. My small town alone has five bars and breweries, one of which is the oldest tavern in the state. Odds are, most Wisconsinites have an ancestor who operated or tended bar. These places evoke a sense of fellowship and nostalgia.
My grandparents, Frank and
Yvonne Petrusich, opened The Hutch in 1959, just two weeks after my dad, Mike, was born. The bar was located at 1875 West Euclid Avenue in Milwaukee, and it doubled as their home. Frank worked a day job at Wisconsin Electric. He would come home, take a quick nap, and then tend bar until closing. On Fridays at lunchtime, Yvonne tended bar. A Dutch door divided the bar and their living quarters. It remained locked on the bottom half and open on the top, so my dad and his sister Lani could look over the door into the bar and “stay put” in their home.
I love the stories they tell of The Hutch, of the regulars who perched on its warm bar stools, the customers who gave them the keepsakes they still have today, or the neighborhood children with whom they played outdoors. Dad recalls my 100-percent-Croatian grandfather, Frank, saying “Još jedno” (meaning “one more” in Croatian), when he noticed a gathering coming to an end.
The antique hutch has seen many days and settings—from bustling bar life to the slower, quieter times of a flower shop. Just like any heirloom piece of furniture, it has played many different roles. Today, the hutch stands in the dining room of my home, where it holds cherished belongings.
I dream of the day when one of my children will use this very hutch as a centerpiece of their own business or home. The hutch may again be amidst bustle and enterprise, holding stories from the past and watching over more modern ones as they unfold.
AUTUMN TABLE DÉCOR
Decorations of all kinds can transform an ordinary meal into an extraordinary one, making everyday occasions feel celebrated and special. I like to incorporate heirloom pieces, and as a florist, a display of locally grown flowers is a must. Forage from your own garden or snip a few branches of greenery from a favorite backyard tree. Grab a bunch from the farmers’ market to incorporate local blooms into your arrangement.
Design freely in your favorite vessel or a vase you’ve been hanging onto for just the occasion. Invite your children to get involved. You may wind up with a mason jar filled to the brim with scrappy dandelions, which is perfect! The excitement children feel about contributing to the table is worth it. Encourage them to collect pinecones, acorns, unique stones, or shells to scatter down the table—it allows them to be creative and feel helpful.
In autumn, set gourds and various colored foliages near each place setting. The idea is to create a tablescape that encourages those around the table to hold mealtime sacred in their hearts. Whether your tablescape is the same for a few weeks or a single meal, it will help create memories like my family has enjoyed.
LARGE EARLY AUTUMN CENTERPIECE
Antique copper pot (4 x 6 inches)
Chicken wire mechanics
Florals/Foliage:
5 stems sunflowers
3 stems orange marigolds
3 stems mixed color lisianthus
7 stems mixed color cockscomb celosia
2 stems burgundy celosia
1 stem 'Flamingo Feather' celosia
3 stems Dusty Miller
THE PINK PEONY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
CAROL MILLETT
plein air day.
Beauty abounds at Foraged Florals flower farm.
At Foraged Florals, we align our business with the principles practiced at our permaculture flower farm and wedding venue in New Ross, Nova Scotia. Our way of growing and designing flowers might seem old-fashioned, but it’s all about caring for the earth— and each other.
As a destination, Foraged Florals is ideal for workshops that combine our students’ love for the earth with practical, sustainable skills that they can experience here. Surrounded by the calming presence of the forest, our curriculum offers a chance to breathe, recharge, and be immersed in nature. Time seems to slow down here, providing the space to truly connect with the environment.
Earlier this year, we hosted an intimate group of artists for a Plein Air painting experience. We started the day with a 30-minute lesson in composition by guest instructor, Lisa Hrabowsky.
Those who attended were accomplished artists in their own right, with experience in a variety of media, including acrylic, watercolor, pencils, and ink. Everyone came prepared with their supplies (we provided water stations for brush cleaning and requested that students not bring or use oil paints).
The flower farm and woodland areas were open for participants to find a site of inspiration. We assisted in placing chairs at their
ABOUT THE BOWER
It’s our tucked-away woodland venue here on the flower farm, a favorite place to see love stories unfold. We built The Bower for couples who want a wedding that’s less about the production and more about the connection. The Bower accommodates the personal vision of many couples: a barefoot ceremony under the canopy, a wildflowerlined aisle, or a long table feast where birds sing in the background and joy feels as abundant as the blooms.
FORAGED FLORALS
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM
chosen site and provided aprons, of course. We prepared two bouquets for still-life painting to accommodate people with mobility issues.
Lunch was at The Bower, an open-sided structure with a UV-protected clear covering that’s often the setting for private wedding ceremonies and dinner parties. Nothing builds a sense of community more than being seated around a harvest table and sharing local and seasonal food in community.
The Bower was decorated with seasonal florals to highlight the natural beauty of Foraged Florals. For our events, we have on hand a variety of dishes, stemware, glasses, and fabric napkins to be consistent with our sustainability goals.
In our welcome letter, we request any dietary or mobility considerations, and to suggest guests wear sturdy footwear and sun hats. In the letter, we also invited the artists to donate their art piece from the workshop to a local silent auction in support of an affordable housing project on which I serve as a board member. Most did. Each piece sold at or above the artists’ listed values.
“Those who attended were accomplished artists in their own right, with experience in a variety of media, including acrylic, watercolor, pencils, and ink.”
As hosts, our thrill is seeing how each artist captures the beauty of this special destination in the woods. Hosting artists here and seeing this property through their eyes makes us fall in love with this place all over again.
And it's true, a painting captures a moment in time. One of the artists painted a scene with curly willow. The very next day, I needed to harvest some curly willow for a floral design; yet the curly willow also lives on through art.
Slow Flowers Worldwide Summit 2026.
Black Flower Farmers joins Slow Flowers Society to co-host the ninth annual global conference: a focus on floral design, flower farming, and sustainability.
Following the success of the most recent Slow Flowers Worldwide Summit (held in January 2025), the online conference returns in 2026 to showcase new ideas and leading voices in floral design, flower farming, and sustainability topics.
The upcoming conference welcomes a new strategic partnership with Black Flower Farmers, founded in 2021 to convene Black specialty cut-flower growers from around the world. We’re thrilled to partner with Black Flower Farmers’ founder Dee Hall Goodwin, as together we share the expertise of both organizations to educate and inspire attendees engaged in the Slow Flowers Movement around the globe.
“I’m excited to bring the perspective and experience of Black Flower Farmers to enhance the programming for the Slow Flowers Worldwide Summit,” Goodwin said. “There is so much more to be gained when our members share their knowledge and learn from one another. Black Flower Farmers’ stories and knowledge will enhance and elevate the Summit experience for all attendees.”
The Worldwide Summit will take place over two days in the New Year—held online January 30-31, 2026. Get ready for the conference that has been called “The TED Talk for Flower Lovers” and a “Floral Mind-Meld.” This online conference promises to give attendees a jolt of inspiration for the New Year and new floral season.
The program format includes 10 floral education sessions led by sustainable floral leaders, as well as bonus content from special guest presenters.
SUMMIT SPEAKERS
Learn from our inspiring lineup of floral luminaries and new voices in the Slow Flowers Movement.
Top Row, from left: SHANE CONNOLLY, Shane Connolly & Co.; DEE HALL GOODWIN, Mermaid City Flowers and Black Flower Farmers; MAX GILL, Max Gill Design; and FRANÇOISE WEEKS, Françoise Weeks Floral
Row 2, from left: RIZANIÑO “RIZ” REYES, RHR Horticulture; DIANE SZUKOVATHY, Jello Mold Farm and Seattle Wholesale Growers Market; KATHERINE RAZ, The Fernseed; and MONIQUE MORRIS, Epiphany Eight Flower Farms
Row 3, from left: MARILYN GRIFFIN, Griffin Gardens; CELESTINA ROBERTSON, Forever Green Flower Co.; TJ MCGRATH, TJ McGrath Design; and DEBRA PRINZING, Slow Flowers Society
Row 4, from left: ALICIA HOUSTON, Healer’s Harvest and JOAN THORNDIKE, Le Mera Gardens
FOR SCHEDULE + REGISTRATION SLOW FLOWER WORLDWIDE SUMMIT
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY
ALICIA HOUSTON AND NICOLE HUSON
lily trials.
Two first-time lily growers share their experience.
Slow Flowers partnered with Flowerbulb.eu earlier this year to encourage gardeners and growers to experiment with lily cultivation. The promotion shared gift certificates for 100 bulbs of 10 varieties of LA hybrid lilies, selected to bloom in succession for four weeks. The recipients were drawn from social media promotions and from the attendees of Slow Flowers Sunday, a one-day gathering held in conjunction with the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in Seattle.
We checked in with two of the recipients to learn how they experienced growing lilies as farmer-florists. Read on to learn what Alicia Houston, of Healer’s Harvest in Poulsbo, Washington, and Nicole Huson of Headwaters Farm in Acme, Washington, shared.
Was this your first time growing lilies? Did you grow them outside or under cover?
Alicia: Yes, this was my first time growing lilies, and I grew them outside in Zone 8b.
Nicole: Yes, this was my first time growing lilies. I grew them in crates in our greenhouse.
How did they do for you, any challenges?
Alicia: They were super easy to grow—no challenges at all! I just put them in the ground and watched them grow beautifully.
Nicole: They were super easy to grow. I used Pro mix HP for soil in the crates, which seemed to work great. I hand-watered. In the
“I wasn’t asking about lilies because I had not grown them before. It was a really helpful trial because it got me asking the questions of our designers and customers of Field to Floral, our local flower collective.”
NICOLE HUSON HEADWATERS FARM
future, if I grow lilies again, I'll set them up on drip irrigation and have them on a timed watering system.
Were you pleased with the assortment, did they bloom in succession?
Alicia: Overall, yes, though I felt there were a few too many of the “Butterfly Angel” variety. The bright orange color was more difficult to work with in my designs. I loved the one called “Eyeliner.”
Nicole: The succession bloomed about a little over a week from the planned bloom time. One variety blew open before I was able to harvest them at the ideal stage, but they were great for taking photos.
How do lilies compare with other crops you grow?
Alicia: They were a great addition to my crop plan— perfectly filled that transition between spring and summer flowers and worked well as a focal bloom.
Nicole: I enjoyed growing lilies. They were really easy to grow, and I liked how they can be forced to bloom during the months that are a little lean on focal flowers (May/June).
How did your customers receive them?
Alicia: My customers loved the arrangements I created with them. One client even said it changed her mind about lilies! She appreciated how I combined them with other locally grown flowers to create something more chic and modern.
Nicole: The varieties were great for my retail customers (grocery and farmers’ market) but not especially for my wholesale customers, because the colors were too bold and the flower size was too big for them to work with. I talked with my design customers and we came up with their "wish list for lilies." They are interested in lily varieties that are smaller in size; in cream, white, or soft pink with double petals, as well as pollen-free/scentless.
FARMER-FLORIST LILY TIPS
Use a spreadsheet for planning.
“The bulb packaging has the variety, the days to maturity, and the harvest date,” Huson said. “I was able to plug that into my spreadsheets to send out on my availability lists, which I really appreciate as a grower. And the designers also like to know what will be available for their future events.”
Let lilies shine in mixed bouquets.
“Use one stem as a focal flower in mixed bouquets,” Huson said. For Alicia Houston, the lilies bloomed at the perfect time for her mixed bouquet program, sold through a local coffee shop. “They really liked my arrangements because I paired them with other flowers like Queen Anne’s lace, baby’s breath, and sweet peas.”
Schedule lilies to fill gaps in your bloom calendar.
“I will grow them again next year, because lilies were a good transition flower for me,” said Houston. “I don’t have that many focal flowers in the beginning of July.
That’s when I’m starving for dahlias and I don’t grow peonies.”
“With crate growing, you can offer lilies at different times of the year. It’s not just in July or early-August when everyone is growing lilies in their garden outside. But you can also plan to offer lilies for late-May or early-June weddings,” Huson said.
DETAILS
HEALER’S HARVEST
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HEADWATERS FARM
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If you’ve ever dreamed of being a flower farmer, this joyful book will show you that dreams do come true.
AMY STEWART New York Times bestselling author of Flower Confidential and The Drunken Botanist
These twenty-nine stories offer readers a dazzling abundance of hope and possibilities for how flower farmers .
. . are growing our world better.
JENNIFER JEWELL host of CultivatingPlace, award-winning public radio program and podcast
Foreword by Christina Stembel of Farmgirl Flowers
top five.
Slow Flowers Podcast Episodes (May-October 2025)
EPISODE 716 (May 14, 2025)
More than a side hustle, flower farming and floral design with Marly Surena-Llorens of Fenimore & Rutland.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 720 (June 11, 2025)
Killing Frost Farm’s Jamie Rogers on solo flower farming in western Montana.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 726 (July 23, 2025)
Navigating weddings as a farmer-florist with Julie Raymond of Bittersweet Gardens.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 730 (August 20, 2025)
Meet farmer-florist Colleen Raney of Diadem Flowers as we discuss her new project, Songbird Seed Co., specializing in hard-to-find British sweet pea seeds and more.
WATCH HERE
EPISODE 732 (September 3, 2025)
Celebrating Taylor Swift’s Engagement as People Magazine’s Floral Expert with Ashley Greer of Atelier Ashley Flowers.
