I’m sure it won’t surprise you, fellow flower lover, that I have been on the verge of tears every time I have to throw away perfectly beautiful flowers at the end of an event. It’s the worst! What a waste of beauty. Recently we have teamed up with a friend at Shap Hospital so that this is no longer an issue. Now, these leftover gorgeous florals can bless pregnant women in the intensive care unit instead of taking up space in landfills. I call that a win!

I got into flowers purely because of my love of nature. Being in nature, seeing flowers, watching the seasons, feeling the still wildness of growth; it made me feel free. And now that I’ve been in the industry, I’ve realized that so much of floristry is not the way nature makes me feel. We might be using flowers, but sometimes the practices surrounding these gorgeous gifts are less than ideal. You guys, changing the flower world is hard. Changing the way that things are done, so that we are kinder to the environment is also a massive undertaking. So, I’ve implemented a few best practices here that we utilize as often as possible.

I’ve noticed that by actually doing things the way nature intended, we also can create a higher quality product. Still, we here are just about completely foam-free for one thing! Floral foam is a single-use plastic that isn’t good for flowers and makes them wilt more quickly. For the most part, we use chicken wire or other materials instead when creating installations and other arrangements.

As far as actual flowers go, we also are dependent on our local San Diego community. We use quite a bit of foraged materials as well as purchase from local growers. One of our favorites is an urban farmer, Rachel at Psalter Farms who is growing in North Park.