November 3, 2023 • 54 mins
Buckle up for an awe-inspiring journey into the world of floristry, local farming, and community support. We promise you'll find yourself entranced as we uncover the unique ways small farmers have adapted and thrived in these challenging times, while also fueling a revival in gardening.
Join co-hosts Jules Lewis Gibson and Nita Robertson, AIFD, CFD who are all set to spill the beans on the exciting expansion with Flora Magazine in England. Our discussion with Cameron King, CEO and ambassador of Certified American Grown, unveils the immense efforts made to enhance the bond between American farmers and florists.
The stage then shifts to the vibrant city of San Diego, where Meg Blancato, co-owner of Native Poppy, shares her incredible journey — from the inception of her flower shop to establishing three locations in the area. But what sets Native Poppy apart? Well, their unique stem bar and art installations provide an immersive and captivating experience that educates customers about different flora. Natalie's insightful narrative about how social media and their innovative services, including flower subscriptions and dog treats, have engaged and retained customers will fascinate you.
But that's not all! We'll also plunge into the intriguing realm of micro-farming and how Native Poppy's lead flower farmer, Margaret, has revolutionized their business with sustainable and pesticide-free farming practices. Hold your breath as we reveal how the humble dried flower has bloomed into a thriving business that ships nationwide. We'll wrap up this inspiring episode with the tale of Native Poppy's limited edition seasonal wraps and their heartfelt initiative to support the LGBTQ community in San Diego. So, are you ready to be infused with a fresh perspective on floristry and local farming? Let's get started!
Certified American Grown (CAG) is a non-profit organization started in 2021 that was originally launched in 2015 as a marketing brand. Now as an independent national trade association, it represents a unified and diverse community of American cut flower, cut foliage and potted plant farmers from the United States. From multi-generational to new & up-and-coming, to micro-farms to large volume, our farms range from many types of groups – all working to keep floral, foliage and plants locally grown! Our farms grow classic varieties to the unique & trend-worthy. americangrownflowers.org
Native Poppy is a woman-owned flower shop that delivers flower arrangements, bouquets, and gifts all over sunny San Diego. Floral designer Natalie Gill launched Native Poppy in 2015. Meghan Blancato became a co-owner in 2018, having worked at the first Native Poppy store since opening day. After working every possible job at our shop, from sweeping the shop as a floral assistant to installing epic event florals, Meg has become the embodiment of the Native Poppy brand – that’s Meg responding to your Instagram DMs, leading our brand photoshoots, and planning product launches!
@native_poppy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to episode three of the Flower Hour with
Flores Review.
I'm Jules Lewis Gibson and I'mNita Robertson.
Well, hello, Nita.
How are things over in Coloradotoday?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Things are going wonderful.
We're just wrapping up summerand fall is on the horizon.
Just so excited about theseasons changing and just moved
to Colorado a few months ago, soit'll be my first real fall in
a long time I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Very nice, so get to see the leaves change.
We get none of that here inSarasota.
We get no color in the fall,it's just hot, hot, hot.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We'll just have to fill your house with
fall-colored flowers.
I think, yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I also have a lot of travel this fall.
It's a busy travel schedule sowe get to see some flowers.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I love that.
I know we have lots going on, Iknow we're going to yeah, we're
going to Columbia in October.
See some beautiful flowers.
You're going to Europe.
Yeah, we've got a couple oftrips to Europe, yeah lots of
exciting stuff in Europe thesedays.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We actually have an exciting announcement we have
acquired Flora Magazine inEngland.
By the time when this comes outin October, hopefully the word
will be out and our first issuewill be in November.
We'll hit the stands inNovember and we are very excited
about our expansion across thepond.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So exciting.
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
It's going to be an adventure, it is it is, and it's
a little bit different in Flora.
Flora at the moment is reallymore the conversation from
flower rangers to professionals,but really more of a
consumer-based publication,whereas we're going to make it
more of a business of flowersconversation.
So we're going to meet peoplewhere they are in their journey
(01:48):
in flowers, whether it be ahighly skilled hobbyist or a
florist.
We want to help people in theirjourney and become better
florists and especially thosethat are in the business of
flowers, really help them buildbetter, stronger businesses.
And I take that responsibilityreally seriously here at Flora's
(02:10):
Review because we do rack ourbrains every month to create
content that will educate andinspire the florist and help
them build stronger foundations.
On the business side whether itbe marketing, customer service,
social media, email marketing,store display there's just so
many things, especially ifyou're going to have a shop.
(02:33):
It's my feeling you should havethe best shop out there and
really make it a destination foryour community and the business
will come.
I think there's the days ofhaving the dusty old shop that's
basically the waiting room forthe delivery guy.
Those days are long gone and weneed to embrace the new
(02:56):
experiences, the retailenvironments that really do it
well.
I think they create experiencesin store, and that brings
people back over and over.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I think that's so true and I just love that we can
help lift up florists and givethem the tools that they need to
be successful.
I think is really important.
And then, speaking of awesomeretail shops, one of our amazing
guests today is going to be MegBlancato, who's the co-owner of
Native Poppy, which is a retailflower shop in the San Diego
(03:30):
area.
I think she does exactly whatJules just said.
It's just exciting because it'smodern and they really try to
create an experience at theirshop and they do great marketing
.
They do all the things.
It really is impressive and, Ithink, a great example of a
retail shop here in the UnitedStates for people to look at and
get inspiration on about what'spossible.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yes, they do do a fantastic job.
We've featured their shopseveral times in Floor's Review
and they just have such a fresh,creative approach and they are
really running on all cylinders.
They have their retail shops.
They now have three.
I think they should say retailfacilities and they also have a
very strong event business aswell and I just thought they
(04:15):
were so much as she's soexciting and innovative.
They even have a little microfarm which she's going to share
with us.
That they did on their parentsold tennis court.
They like turned it into amicro farm.
I thought that was extremelyclever.
I need to find somebody with it.
Well, I think that's sointeresting.
(04:38):
That's one of the outcomes ofkind of the pandemic is a new
resurgence in kind of smallfarming.
There's a lot of people it'svery popular with the
millennials.
I've talked to so many peoplerecently that they and they're
not even in the flower businessbut that have said that their
dream was to retire on like alittle, a little flower farm
with a few acres.
(04:59):
And I even have a good friendof mine who now she has a small
flower farm in Michigan that shegoes to in the summertime and
she just loves it, absolutelyloves it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I love that.
Yeah, I do love that.
The pandemic, you know, see, ithad had some good highlights,
and one of them was everybody'sjust kind of diving into
gardening again and the love offlowers and of actually planting
and growing them, which is justexciting.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yes, absolutely.
I think there's an excitingbyproduct.
You know there were some reallygood things about the pandemic
and buried in all the sadnessand the tear, we did find some
really good, good, good kernelsof goodness.
But I think the micro farming,you know, aspect is going to
continue to grow, hopefully inyears to come.
(05:46):
And Cameron, who was one of ourguests as well, cameron King,
who is the CEO and ambassador ofcertified American grown, he
joined us as well and sharedsome of the things that they're
doing with the growers acrossthe United States and really
trying to help the Americangrowers better connect with the
florist and being able toutilize their product in
(06:09):
different ways and reallysupporting the American farmers,
which is which is also near anddear to my heart.
Actually, my father's familywere farmers.
They were, they were producefarmers, but they were promo
farmers in North Georgia and itwas actually my grandmother who
ran the business.
Awesome, yep, she was ahead ofher time.
She had her own attorney in the1920s, yeah, and she was all of
(06:35):
four foot nine Cherokee Indian.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
And yeah, ran, ran the business.
She went to Atlanta and got allof the the contracts with
restaurants and hotels to forher their family produce farm to
fulfill the orders.
And so that was.
That was many, and her name wasmany like the mouse.
Oh, I love it.
Little money, so well, let'sget on with it and hear some of
(07:02):
these great stories with thegrowers and also with native
Papi.
Well, hello Cameron.
Today we have joining usCameron King with Certified
American Grown.
Welcome, cameron.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Good afternoon.
Thank you so much for theinvitation.
Excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Absolutely.
You're one of my favoritepeople to see out on the road.
We always see Cameron at eventsand he's so much fun to hang
out with.
He's such a great guy andyou're such a great
representative for the CertifiedAmerican Grown.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the organization and how
you all got started?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Sure.
Thank you so much.
So Certified American Grown isthe only domestic organization
that's focused on representingAmerican farming families of cut
flowers and foliage, and so wereally work on behalf of the
domestic industry in a twofoldapproach really, kind of
elevating and highlighting thegreat works that are happening
(08:00):
on our homegrown farms as wellas in our homegrown communities,
the impacts they're having withtheir teams and families, as
well as advocating at thefederal level to ensure that
these families continueoperations for years to come.
So we work in Washington DC andwith a number of organizations
to ensure that financial andregulatory sustainability is an
(08:23):
option for folks, and so forCertified American Grown, it's
an exciting way of saying wehave value in what is happening
here domestically and reallyworking to ensure that moves
forward.
So we have farms from Maine toCalifornia and Florida to Alaska
and everywhere in between, goodpeople that are doing great
(08:47):
works day in and day out andworking with phenomenal teams
and, as I mentioned, communities, and so we're pleased to be
able to advocate and promotethem.
So we really were formed as acoalition of national farms that
wanted to make sure that theyhad the opportunity to band
together and have a unifiedvoice for their interests and
(09:09):
really focus on what are theprospects of making sure that
what is happening today begetsan opportunity for them to
continue to work in the future,but always paying homage and
heritage to the great works andthe generations that have come
before them.
So it's a multitude of thingsthat we work on.
It's a very dynamic andengaging organization.
(09:32):
Certified American Grown is astandalone, has been on its own
since 2000.
So why not start somethingexciting and new during the
pandemic?
But it was really justhighlighting the chance for
folks to come together in asignificant way and we're
excited about the energy andmomentum that's being built on
the American Grown movementgoing forward.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Fantastic Now.
Have you all seen an increasein kind of small flower farmers
in the past few years?
Because it does seem,especially with the millennial
crowd, that it's so popular.
It's like every one I talk to.
Their dream now is to own asmall flower flower farm.
It seems that the popularityhas really grown in the past few
(10:13):
years, particularly since thepandemic when people were home
war and maybe started gardeningwar and seeing how rewarding it
is.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Absolutely, and you know it's interesting because we
used to have a really, reallyrobust American Grown industry
in terms of cut flower andfoliage here, and even as recent
as 20, 25 years ago, about 80%of all of the products that were
sold here in the United Stateswere actually grown here in the
(10:43):
United States as well, and dueto some policy and international
trade negotiations andregulation shifts and changes,
we've seen that paradigm shiftover the last couple of decades
to where, unfortunately, today,only about 22% of everything
sold here in the United Statesin terms of cut flower and
(11:04):
foliage is actually grown here.
So we've seen a retraction interms of what our industry was
and, historically, the presencewe had.
But the pandemic really posedan opportunity that was unique.
As a society, we were stuck inplace or we were put into a
position where we were homegrownand we needed to look at our
(11:28):
surroundings in terms ofcreating space for beauty, for
comfort.
We needed to create and workwith our local farmers and our
local communities and our localdesigners in terms of creating a
surrounding where we felt caredand comforted and where we
could beautify what was ourspace in our existence.
(11:49):
And so out of that came this,as you mentioned real interest
in sourcing local and looking atcreating spaces where farms or
small farm stands weredeveloping and the prolific
nature of that direct toconsumer from down the street,
(12:12):
because that became what ourworld was and, as we've emerged
out of the pandemic, we'reexcited to see that people are
really still looking at sourcingfrom their neighborhoods,
sourcing from their communitiesand sourcing from here at home
in the United States, and soit's exciting to see, both from
the consumer perspective, butalso from designers and florists
(12:36):
and event planners, that theopportunity to collaborate and
work together for what we havehere is our homegrown community
is growing and we're excited forthat prospect going forward.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Well, and there were many factors that really caused
such the dramatic change in thepercentages of flowers that were
sold.
I mean a lot of.
It was the land where flowersare more popularly grown.
It was very valuable.
Developers wanted it.
Cannabis farmers came in.
It was more profitable.
There are a lot of differentfactors that result in that and
(13:11):
we just have the demand we havenow is so much more than it was
maybe 40 years ago as well, soit's wonderful to see that we
have more varieties andopportunities.
We're just always of thefeeling that there's room for
everybody, and it's great to seesmall farmers finding their way
as well as the large farmersfinding ways to source and
(13:36):
really connect with thecommunity more.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
You know we couldn't agree with you more.
It's a challenge, and doingbusiness here it doesn't matter
whether you're farming, whetheryou're designing, whether you're
putting together events oryou're making tennis shoes, as
an example doing business herein the United States and
producing things in the UnitedStates is a challenge
economically, regulatory, publicpolicy and the like, and so
(13:59):
decisions impact everybody andwe're not negligent to that idea
.
But we're also recognizing thatwe are part of a global
community and our foliageproduction community is coming
from around the world andflowers bring everybody in
humanity joy or comfort, andthat's a really special thing,
(14:21):
and so for us it's just aboutsaying what we have here also
matters and is significant, andthe history and the heritage
that we've had here in theUnited States is important, and
it's important for us to protectboth from the historical
mindset but in the contemporaryand into the future as well, and
so I think you're right, thereis a space for everyone.
(14:43):
We're excited to see that theentire floral community everyone
from from farms and producersthrough to the end consumer
that's sitting at the table andenjoying it.
We're excited to see thatthere's interest in having more
and more floral and foliage as apart of our daily lives and
that's a critical thing for usto continue to enhance and
(15:07):
develop.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And I think probably one of the most critical things
these days is really how doflorists connect better with
their sources that are locally?
So I'm sure you all are veryinvolved in that.
So what are what?
How are you guys making changesso that it can make it easier
for the florists to connect withthose regional growers around
them?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Sure.
So that's a that's a reallygreat question and I think it's
really dependent upon locationswhere they are florist and
designers.
The US is broad and very diverseand it's a very unique set of
systems across the country, andone of the beauties is is that,
you know, we're constantlyencouraging designers, as
(15:50):
artists, to think outside of thebox, to think outside of what
maybe, in some cases, has beentraditional product.
There is something grown and inbloom in every single state 365
days a year, and it may not bewhat is traditionally something
that was available for anarrangement, but that's the
(16:12):
beauty of designers and floriststhey're artists and it's about
the creativity.
It's about looking who are theproducers and the farmers around
you, who are those wholesalers,and encouraging and asking them
to to source American grown.
They're in contact with farmsdirectly as well, and so, if the
(16:32):
questions are asked, that's animportant place to start, if you
have the means and the capacityas a designer, as a florist, to
be working and developingdirect connections with farms
that are in your backyard or areclose by.
Many of the farms are directshipping or are working to
ensure that that folks havebeauty that is available to them
(16:56):
in a really fresh nature, thatis, you know, harvested, and
within the same day on theirdoorstep or in their shops, and
that's really special.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Do you have the directory?
We do yeah so they can go onyour site.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Absolutely Certified American Grown at
AmericangrownFlowersorg has adirectory that is searchable
both by state as well as byvarieties that you may be
looking for.
We're also in the works ofcreating spaces where the
directory has means to besourcing and developing sales
directly to farms, and so it'san exciting time to be able to
(17:34):
draw and deepen thoseconnections between florist
designers and farms.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Absolutely, and I love what you said about looking
at things a little bitdifferently.
I was recently with somebreeders and looking
specifically at lilies andcallow lilies and they had this
variety that had it was yellowcallow lilies and the leaves had
yellow growing in it and I waslike, oh my God, these are
(17:59):
beautiful, and what do you dowith the leaves?
Like the leaves of callowlilies are really nice.
They actually said, well, it'sfunny you say that because our
breeders really liked thatanomaly and so now they're
trying to breed for it andthey're also working on how to
utilize the greenery from thecallow lily to make that a
(18:22):
usable product as well, which Ithought was really interesting
to to be able to change with thetimes and learn how to look at
something in a different way.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You know, and that's an exciting thing, and it is
it's about the artistry and it'sabout developing the
relationships and thecommunication lines between
farms and florists in such a waythat that again what is
happening in the productionsense is meeting the demands and
the desires of what floristsare able to create and designers
(18:51):
are able to create and put intoour arrangements, into our
bouquets that we can enjoy innew and unique ways.
And that's super excitingbecause it's a partnership and
it's a communication, but alsorecognizing to your point that
just because an artist wants tocreate X, y or Z doesn't mean
(19:11):
that it's always available topurchase immediately.
But it's a partnership eventhat goes all the way back to
the breeders and it goes back tothe initial input in such a way
that that may be a couple ofyears down line prospect, but
again, with open lines ofcommunication in these really
robust relationships frombreeders all the way through
consumers, we can create spacesand really push the envelope in
(19:36):
new and exciting things.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I think it's so exciting, I think, as a floral
designer, just having all thisavailability, even though, yes,
it might not be available allthe time.
But that's kind of what makesit special, too, for you to
offer to your customers and letthem know that, yeah, this is
special, this is only at thistime of year, or, you know, and
maybe you'll look forward to itnext year, and I do think you've
done a great job of, like yousaid, bonding the florists, the
(19:59):
floral community, to the growers.
You know, until what's going on, it's just a great relationship
and I think it's just reallyexciting, which does bring us to
our second guest that I wouldlike to introduce, and I would
like to introduce Meg Blancato.
She is the co-owner of NativePoppy, which is a flower shop
located in the San Diego area,and we're just always impressed
(20:21):
with what you're up to overthere at Native Poppy.
So, meg, if you could tell us alittle bit about the history,
how it began, a little bit aboutNative Poppy.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you, nina.
Thank you both, nina and Jules,for all your support.
You have been so amazing to us,so we really appreciate you
guys.
Yeah, so Native Poppy isactually coming up on its 10th
year.
My business partner, natalieGill, is the founder of Native
Poppy and she started in Januaryof 2014 as an event florist.
She always says that she didher first events on her
apartment floor and, after doingevents for about two years, she
(20:53):
had the opportunity to open thefirst brick and mortar, which
is when our paths crossed, and Iat the time had no formal
experience whatsoever.
My dad was actually in theplant and flower industry.
He owned a plant import exportcompany, so I had a real love of
plants and flowers.
But I was having a career changeand I came across Natalie and I
(21:17):
basically just pitched myselfand said I don't have a lot of
experience, but I'm a joy towork with and I'm very
hardworking and I'd really liketo work for you and with you.
And she said, great, let's doit.
And then we realized reallyquickly that we had a real
connection and synergy, not onlyas friends, but just.
We both had a fire for businessand flowers and could see the
(21:39):
potential of what this could be,and so we became business
partners in 2018, which has beenawesome and yeah.
So we now have threetechnically three locations in
San Diego two full blown retailshops, and then we have a studio
warehouse space that also has asmall express location in the
front, and we do a lot ofweddings and events, as well as
(22:01):
daily deliveries in San Diego.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's so exciting.
Where are the locations?
Are they close to each other?
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Relatively.
I mean, san Diego is prettylike stretched out.
So within San Diego we have onein North County which is in
Solana Beach, and then we haveone in South Park which was like
a very darling littleneighborhood near Balboa Park,
and then our studio warehousespace is in Mission Valley.
So the Mission Valley and SouthPark locations are in South
County and they're pretty closeto each other, and then Solana
Beach is about 25 minutes northof that.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
We really love the way you do retail.
You have really great stores.
Your stores are so open and funand lively and I'm curious,
like with your retail stores, doyou consider it kind of a
destination?
Do you want to be a destinationfor people in your community to
come in and see kind of what'snew?
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's something that Natalie andI are super passionate about is
making the shops a veryimmersive experience with scent
and touch and site.
And we have one of oursignatures is our native poppy
stem bar.
We actually have like a fullwall of flowers and bases that
people can come in and touch andfeel.
And it's funny because,starting off, natalie and I were
advised like not to do thatactually because your flowers
(23:11):
aren't in a cooler and then alsopeople are gonna be touching
them a bunch.
But you guys know, the moreyou're handling flowers, they're
gonna start to break apart alittle bit more.
But it's something that we justlove to be able to offer people
that, instead of a traditionalflower shop where everything is
behind the florist in a coolerand you're kind of just looking
that, this gives people theopportunity to literally come in
and pick up each flower andsmell it and touch it.
(23:34):
And they'll touch straw flowerand go, oh, this is so crunchy,
is this dry?
And I'm like, no, that's how itactually blooms fresh that way.
And they're like that's amazing.
It's just like it's such animmersive experience, which is
really fun.
And then we also do artinstallations.
Quarterly we have an amazinginstallation artist named Ashley
Renwart and she makes theseamazing installations that come
in and hang from the ceilingsand everything.
(23:55):
So it really is meant to belike and it's so special.
Honestly, my first love is theflower shops.
It really that's like where Imy journey with Anita Poppy
started and I just love beingthere so much and it's day in
and day out.
I've had been with the companyfor almost eight years.
When I'm in the shops, peoplecome in and they just say, oh my
gosh, this is so magical.
(24:16):
Or I've never experiencedanything like this or in that
like is just an incrediblecompliment that we're able to
give people this moment of magicand joy when they come into our
shop.
So, yes, very, very much so.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I think you're an inspiration to the industry.
I mean, I was a florist for 20years and when I first
discovered you I thought, man, Iwish I could go back in time
and I wish my shop looked likethat, because in the old days it
was kind of just a place for,like, the delivery driver to
come through and, like you said,everything was in the back and
that was just all I knew.
So it's all I knew.
But I just love your energy andthe modernness that you bring.
(24:54):
Just everything the pictures Isee.
It just looks beautiful andinviting.
I want to go and you know, buthow exciting for a consumer who
doesn't even have the passion,like I do, for flowers, you know
, to go and experience that andget them to really connect to
the flowers.
I just, I just think it'sfabulous.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And do you get people that come in regularly Like, do
they come back and just seewhat's new?
And I imagine that's why you doyour installations to get
people coming in.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
We definitely have someregulars that just come in often
for because we're within ourflower shops, we also have a
lovely gift shop, so we do haveflowers and gifts.
We get people that regularlyare coming in to get candles and
cards and such.
But then we also havesubscribers.
We have like a subscriptionservice, a flower subscription
service called the WildflowerClub, and so some of our
subscribers they pick up or theycan receive delivery.
(25:40):
But our pickups who come inevery week or every other week,
it's so fun because we, ourflorists, really build a
connection with them and theycome in and they love to see you
know what's new that week andand so, yes, we have a lot of
people that come in veryfrequently and that's really
special.
We also have a lot of dogfriends.
We we offer, like, dog dogtreats and we have certain dogs
that will pull their owners intothe shops because when they're
(26:03):
on their walks and they knowit's pretty cute.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That's a good marketing strategy.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
We're really like animal lovers that then it does
tie, because often they'll likeoh, I'm in, I'll pick something
up.
So it's a win-win, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Well, and you know, I think one of the things that's
interesting about Meg andNatalie as well is is their
designs and their talent andtheir stores are an embodiment
of their personalities and it'sapproachable and engaging and
beautiful and it reallyencapsulates who they are as
people and that that embodimentcomes through in what they put
(26:37):
out and I think for consumersand for their customers, that's
part of their allure and their,their, their intrigue, which is
is really a great thing.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Thank you, cameron, that's super nice.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Another thing that you're really good at is social
media.
You guys have a fantasticsocial media presence and I
assume that I'm sure that wasthat was on purpose and for such
a short period of time.
You have a huge following,thank you.
How did that kind of transpireand how much time and effort do
you put into your social media?
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yeah, well, thank you , yeah, it's.
You know, it's really fun andsocial media has changed so much
over the past few years.
But, yeah, I.
So, natalie, actually, when Ijoined the company, she had one
Instagram that was native Poppyand it was event focus, right.
And then when we started theshops, she said I think we need
to start a shop account and itwas going to be like native
(27:29):
Poppy events, native Poppy shop.
And there was all this likeconfusion and discourse about
like what was the real nativePoppy or what have you.
And so we had a business mentorin front of the time who was
like he just need to, it justneeds to be one native Poppy.
And then that you're going tobecome native like Natalie Gill,
founder of native Poppy.
People can follow you fromwhere far stuff they want.
So we did that.
And when that happened, nataliesaid will you run the Instagram
(27:52):
?
And at the time I was like,yeah, sure, no idea what I'm
doing, but let's do it.
And so I mean she had like suchan amazing eye.
And then we just like learned alot together and followed
trends and what have you.
And then there's certain thingsthat have been well received.
That kind of would catapult usa little bit as far as a big
(28:16):
surge in followers.
But just recently we actuallyhad a real go viral and it hit
it's at 1.6 million views now,which is wild because our other
highest real we've ever had islike 40,000.
So that was crazy and with itwe had a huge jump in following
because things had honestly kindof started to plateau a little
bit just because in the shiftwith the algorithm and
(28:37):
everything it was very differentand so that was huge for us,
which was really really cool,and that's honestly just luck of
the drop.
My marketing assistant, liz, isthe one who did it and like it
was amazing and she's, we werejust like everybody's, like why
do you think?
We're?
Like?
We have no idea.
You know, it's like you put abunch of things out there and
certain things hit and certainthings don't.
So what was the fabulous?
Speaker 1 (28:57):
reel.
What was it?
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Oh, I mean, it was lovely.
It was a wedding that we did atthe Ritz Carlton in Santa
Barbara and it's just abeautiful rainbow garden wedding
and the reel is six seconds butit's just it's like very
captivating and people loved it.
So, but yeah, so, as far aslike our, you know there is some
(29:18):
, some method to our madness asfar as like what we do on social
media, but the goal is reallyto like inspire with beauty.
You know we try to.
We try to represent all thedifferent parts of the company.
We try to talk about the shopsand events and our subscription
service and our e-courses andour celebration of life menu and
all these different things thatwe offer, so that people coming
(29:38):
to Instagram specifically cankind of scroll and get a taste
very quickly of like everythingwe do.
But ultimately it's about likeis it beautiful?
Does it spark joy?
Is it on brand?
You know, like, we try and wetry to like have fun with it too
.
You know we did a Barbie reelbecause we're like all on fire
for the Barbie movie.
If you haven't seen it, youhave to.
But we did a Barbie reel whereeverybody we had our team make
(30:01):
Barbie flowers and you know like, so we also just try to have
fun with it.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And you I'm speaking of, like the retail side.
You I love the way you displayyour gifts.
You do a really good job ofkind of displaying the different
merchandise that you have, thatyou offer what works best for
you.
What do you find that you sella lot of, besides flowers?
Do you sell it with flowers?
You sell it separately, or howdoes that work for you?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Yeah, great question.
So we have an amazing giftbuyer for a company, erin.
She is just really talented atfinding new gifts and she's also
really passionate aboutsourcing from a diverse group of
vendors BIPOC vendors, queervendors just really bringing in
a really diverse vendor artistcollective, which is so cool.
(30:45):
And so she sources all thesegifts and then she works with
our merchandiser, who's actuallythe same woman who does our
installations, ashley Renward,and she comes in and does like a
quarterly floor set where we goahead and we redo everything,
which is really fun and she'sincredible and they work so well
, you know, as a yin and yangtogether to really create the
(31:06):
magic of the gift side.
We do bundles on our menu, so wedo.
You can order gifts and flowerslike together, you know, and we
make some of our productsin-house.
So we have a lot of nativepoppy exclusive things.
We have candles and body creamsand even a exclusive chocolate
bar collaboration, which isreally fun.
So we have a bunch of giftsthat are exclusive to us that
(31:27):
you can buy with flowers.
You can also just order giftsand have them delivered locally
in San Diego.
You can have buy our gifts andhave them shipped, and so there
is a lot of synergy there andgifts are definitely a big part
of the company.
About what?
Speaker 1 (31:39):
percentage.
Do you think like just a guest?
It's about 25%.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
So it's certainly still majority flowers, but it
is.
It's a significant portion isgifts and a big part of that are
like probably our best sellersare candles, vases and cards For
a flower shop.
Those three are just alwayslike.
Vases make sense, right, anyvases for flowers.
Cards, because often you'regifting the flowers and those
are such an easy buy.
(32:03):
And then candles, becauseeverybody loves a candle we make
.
Like I said, we make our ownin-house.
They're exclusive to us and sopeople get really excited about
our candles and often want toscoop a bunch of those up.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So that's so exciting .
Well, cameron, we would love tohear about some of the things
you guys do.
I'm so curious to hear moreabout the field to vase tours
that you guys do.
It's on my bucket list.
I haven't made it yet, but itlooks like something that's just
absolutely enchanting, so I'dlove for you to tell us more
about that program and what youdo with that.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
And it's actually fortuitous to be here with Meg
because she was involved in oneof our recent field-to-base
dinner tours.
So, certified American Grownone of the things that we do is
really bring the floral farmconnection to life.
By doing so, what we havecreated is a field-to-base
dinner series, and it's anannual tour whereby we pick four
(32:55):
to five locations around thecountry on an annual basis, work
with farms and invite consumers, influencers, floral designers,
florists what have you Folks tocome on and experience what
exactly it means and where yourproduct is coming from.
You know, we find that actuallysanding in the middle of a
greenhouse or in a field takeson a totally different
(33:18):
perspective in terms of how youlook at the products that you
put on your tables or on yourdesks and the beauty that you
enjoy in terms of floral andfoliage, and so the
field-to-base dinner tour is anopportunity to do just that, and
we work with farms, as Imentioned, in different parts of
the country, and then verytalented designers who are
(33:39):
committed to the American Grownmovement and sourcing local and
really providing uniqueexperiences that are the
embodiment of what is beinggrown in that area or on that
farm.
So in 2023, as an example we'vehad.
We just concluded our fourthevent and we really are all over
(34:01):
the place.
We kicked off the year with Megas our designer and native,
poppy and the team there as ourdesigners, at the Flower Fields
in Carlsbad, california.
Really a celebration ofrenunculus overlooking the
Pacific Ocean, and it wasabsolutely stunning, big, long,
as you might imagine, kind oflike a farm-to-table event where
(34:22):
we partner with local chefs andthat complement the feast for
the eyes that Meg and the teamcreated and the farmers grew,
and so it was a wonderful,wonderful evening.
We then carried that forwardand had an event in Seville,
florida, at Firm Trust, soreally focused on foliage,
(34:43):
because that's an important partof what our designers have in
their palates to work with.
We also had an event in Homer,alaska.
A lot of folks don't realize,but beautiful peonies are farmed
in Alaska.
At no other time in the worldare peonies available other than
sourcing them out of Alaska.
(35:04):
There's about 200American-grown peony farmers up
there today.
So that was in July, and justfinished up this last weekend in
Virginia with folks at HarmonyHarvest who were doing a
beautiful, beautiful job, and soit's a celebration.
It is truly what it comes downto.
It's a celebration of allthings that are happening on the
(35:27):
farms and drawing and deepeningthat, as I mentioned before,
that relationship and thatconnection point with where
things are coming from and whereyour oral and foliage is
actually grown and that thepeople who are growing it are
accessible and you have theopportunity to stand there,
experience it, take it all inand then celebrate together a
(35:48):
wonderful meal but truly a feastfor the eyes and the senses
that has been created by ourfarms and floral designers.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Nice.
When are the next ones?
What do you have coming up?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Well, that is a teaser that we're not quite
ready to announce yet for 2024.
As you might imagine, there's alot of work that goes into
identifying a calendar of what'snext and we have a wonderful,
wonderful following around thecountry and we have folks that
actually will travel from coastto coast to attend different
(36:21):
events, which we're very excitedabout.
But we're not quite ready toannounce 2024 yet.
But if you could check in ourwebsite and subscribe to our
email blasts and follow us onsocial media, it's going to be
announced here very, very soon.
We're excited for some of thethings that we're working on.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
We will keep that in mind.
It was a travel schedule fornext year.
And Meg, how did you?
How?
You must have had fun playingand doing the last one, but was
your experience life as aflorist doing that event?
Speaker 4 (36:50):
I did.
Yeah, I can't remember.
Before you got on, I wastelling Nita and Jules that I
was really excited that, likeyou said, that it was you as the
another guest on this podcast,because I did have a really
positive experience with Fieldto Vase and it really affected
me and our business subsequentlybecause of my experience with
it.
So I think Anna reached out inlike February or something for
(37:12):
the event in April Fulldisclosure.
The last six months for mepersonally, and then therefore
again business, have been wild.
It's business is busy.
I have two young kids who Iadore and childcare is nuts.
It's just been an adventure.
So I got this email and mybusiness partner, natalie, just
had her first baby and so shewas out on mat leave and I got
(37:35):
this email saying do you want todo this?
And I was like looking at itand I was like I just I don't
know if I can take this on.
I knew it was going to be mebecause Nat was out.
Nat is usually like in chargeof events, but I was like
reading the information on itand I was like, well, this seems
really cool.
And I got married at theCarlsbad Flower Field, so it's
like that's amazing that it's atCarlsbad Flower Field, that
field's meant to be, you know.
So I was like I'll, I'm goingto meet with Anna and see what's
(37:55):
up.
And so I met with Anna andshe's like so great.
And then just the mission of itis amazing and everything was.
I was like this sounds reallycool, let's do this.
So then I had these like funmeetings every week with with
Cameron and Anna and our eventplanner, and they're just such a
great group of people and so itwas like really fun to plan
that.
And then they said, oh, you getto pick the table top and you
(38:15):
get.
And I was like, oh, this isjust so fun, you know.
And so then when we went to dothe event you know, we get there
and it is really stunning theycut out this whole portion of
the flower fields and you're inthis just sea of renonculos,
which are absolutely one of myfavorite flowers anyway, and
then you're looking at the oceanand everything, and I got to
use American grown product,milano's provided, you know they
(38:35):
gave me their availability listand I picked things out of that
and, like Cameron said, it wasvery much so a celebration of
renonculos.
We were renoncula heavy andeverything.
So it was really cool and theeducation part of it honestly
blew my mind.
What Cameron was talking aboutat the beginning of this episode
, about the flip in productionin the US from about 20 years
(38:57):
ago to now, I had no idea andI've been in this industry, I
had been this in shape of timefor seven years and I knew, I
knew it had like shifted, but Ididn't know so drastic.
And so you know we do.
We buy from a wholesaler herein San Diego who's amazing, who
sources from all over the worldand their product is amazing,
and at the same time betweenthis field to base experience
(39:19):
and you know my our businessbook club is reading Yvonne
Schooniard's Let my People GoSurfing.
He's the founder of Patagoniaand he talks about the
environmental impact of business.
So both of these things kind ofcame together at the same time
and I just got very on fire forlike buying locally, buying
American grown, and so we havebeen shifting how, how we
(39:40):
purchase for native poppy to itused to be 100% not 100%
imported, but 100% through awholesaler, which a lot of it
was imported, and we've beenshifting over as much as we can
to work.
We now work with four localfarms in San Diego to supply a
huge percentage of our weeklyflowers.
And then we have our ownmicroflower farm actually,
native poppy does it's a raisedbed flower farm.
(40:02):
We have 52 raised beds on atennis court.
We have a lead farmer who'sincredible built all of them,
filled them with soil, irrigatedthem and grows flowers there,
and so there's five farms,including our own, that we're
now sourcing from and we arestill also, like you were saying
, there's a time and place andthere's a place for everybody.
Right, we're still orderingfrom our wholesaler and, at the
same time, we're trying to shiftthat ratio to be more balanced.
(40:25):
And the thing about it, like youguys were saying, is it's it is
amazing to have thisrelationship with these farmers
that are literally out theregrowing, harvesting and bringing
them to the shop.
That's like very special andthe seasonality of it, the
fragility of the fact that likewell, this, you know, these, the
loja, are only going to beavailable for the next 10 days,
(40:45):
or whatever it's like.
What an amazing gift andfleeting, right, we just like
appreciate them now.
It's such a beautifulexperience and just what an
impact it makes to these farmersthat we're able to buy from
them in bulk and, you know,therefore, supply our community
with these.
Like Cameron said, sometimesthe flowers are literally
harvested that morning.
We make it and somebody takesit out and it's in their door or
(41:05):
in their home Within that sameday, and that's.
That's just an incredible thing.
So the field to base experiencefor me was that first step in
that direction, and so I'm verygrateful in that respect, aside
from just the beauty of theevent itself.
It was really beautiful, verywindy.
Karen and Anna tried to warn meabout the wind and I did not
(41:27):
understand.
I do now and now I'm preparingfor the wind, but it was a
beautiful event.
But the education piece wasjust really inspiring.
So, yeah, I'm a big fan, bigfan.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Well, and you know it's Meg keeps.
Meg has referenced Anna, ourcolleague, anna Callans, at
Certified American Grown.
She is phenomenal and shedeserves a lot, a lot of credit
and so she needs to get a littlelittle props, a little shout
out in this process, because shedoes make so many things happen
.
But you know, one of the thingsthat I think was was really cool
(42:00):
and what I enjoy as as aconsumer for lack of a better
term in this, in this communityand in this space.
Yes, I have a role in the floralspace as well, but I'm not a
designer and I'm not a farmer.
I have the privilege of workingwith folks that are and and
learning from them.
But the collaboration and soMeg mentions the wind and and
(42:24):
she and her team had createdthese beautiful designs that the
farmers had done and then thewind comes up and things are
tipping over and and things areflowing water's going different
places, but you know, whathappened that I think is is
really kind of an embodiment ofwhat Field of Ace also creates
is the community rallied andeverybody's hands went together
(42:47):
very, very quickly to ensurethat the event came together,
that the beauty that wasprovided was honored and
respected, and the event cametogether in a really great way.
So, as odd as that may sound,it was another way of coming
together and and another way ofbuilding community and building
relationships, and that'sanother special piece of what
(43:09):
we're constantly trying to do.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
So I want to hear more about this micro farm on a
tennis court.
What?
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You guys already got your hands in everything over
there Sounds really intriguing.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
In fact, we have an article coming up about how to
create a micro of micro farm,because you're not the only
florist who has who has startedkind of creating their own
little micro farm for growingcertain things at certain times
of year.
So to tell us a little bitabout how that came about.
And on a tennis court, yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:37):
So it's, it's not a lease in laws house.
And they, they said we don'tuse our task court anymore, you
can take it and do it the wayyou will.
And so we actually started itin a very casual way about five
years ago and we had built acouple beds and we kind of
dabbled in such, but nothing,not not a lot, came of it.
And then it was during thepandemic that our lead flower
(44:01):
farmer, margaret, who's been alongtime friend of Natalie's and
the company, you know she was avegetable farmer and she was
looking for a job and we said doyou want to take over our firm?
And she was like I've nevergrown flowers before.
I don't, you know what I'mdoing.
And we're like great, you canlearn on our dime, you know,
like let's do this.
And so she did.
And I mean she's incredible.
(44:22):
Like I said, she built I thinkat the time there was maybe like
six beds, maybe eight, and shegot it up to 52 that she
literally built herself, filledwith dirt, irrigated, everything
, and she also, you know, we wereally emphasize sustainable and
pesticide free farmingpractices.
I can't say organic, becausewe're not organic certified, but
we're very intentional abouthow we grow our flowers and also
(44:46):
just Margaret's so passionateabout doing everything she can
to put good things back into theearth, and these are all
virtually large containers but,like she told us recently that
we found a couple baby frogsliving in one of the containers
and she said you guys have noidea what this means.
This means it's success becausewe are creating a little
(45:08):
ecological environment that isso healthy that animals want to
live in it.
You know, like she's like thisis amazing.
Not only waters are animals,amphibious animals, who need a
lot of like water and stuff.
You know, like she said, thisis a maze and that we're
amadeline are like cool, great,tiny frogs.
So that's been really cool.
And then she, like I said it soit's, 2020 is when it started,
(45:30):
and this year her harvests areout of control, like we have.
We, like I said, we work withfour other flower farmers.
We're all so talented and I'vebeen doing this for a very long
time and Margaret is likeholding her own every time her
stuff comes in from the farm.
You know, the team is justblown away.
So it's very cool and it's very, it's very, very special to be
(45:50):
able to to grow those and what'sour favorite thing about it is
that she finds all thesevarieties and colors and like,
basically gives Natalie and Imenu things and we go, oh, we
want that one, that one, thatone, and then she's able to grow
these things for us but areharder to to get and you know.
So it's very cool, very fun.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Oh, that's so exciting.
I'm motivated, I want to gowhen I go make one myself.
I just need to find a very goodstore.
I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (46:18):
It's a lot of work.
It really is.
You know, that's the one thingpeople that haven't farmed at
all is that it's a lot of work,very rewarding and very
important and a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
Meg, I was curious about your dried flower
selection.
I was recently doing someresearch on dried flowers
because I'm doing an upcomingarticle.
I mean you guys just doeverything.
I mean now I know you have amicro farm.
It just it just impresses me.
But I did see that you'recarrying a line of dried flowers
that you are shippingnationwide and we know it's been
trending and I just love seeingyou jump on all these things
(46:52):
that are trending and you knowtaking advantage of them.
But can you tell us a littlebit about that.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
It's super fun and it issomething that we haven't gotten
into.
Whether or not we're going toship fresh flowers nationwide,
that's a whole other game as itsown you know challenges, but we
do ship dried flowers becausethey don't need a water source
and it's a really nice way thatwe're able to share a little bit
of need of poppy's floralartistry with people, because we
(47:18):
, like I mentioned previously,you can ship gifts nationwide,
but we get a lot of people thatsay, oh, I'm hoping to get your
flowers, and so it's a nice wayto be able to do that.
So we do offer dried flowerswrapped in paper.
We also offer dried flowercrowns.
There's a few different thingsand we have a few different
colorways of our wraps and twodifferent sizes.
And then what's fun about thedried wraps, too, is that we do
a limited edition, seasonal runof things.
(47:39):
So we just did a rainbow wrapfor Pride.
We're 25 percent of theproceeds went to the LGBTQ
community here in or thecommunity center here in San
Diego.
And then we do a limitededition fall dried wrap.
We do a holiday dried wrap.
We should do one forValentine's Day and Mother's Day
, where we do like a one batchrun of something because all the
other ones are available.
(48:00):
Year round and then it's kind offun for from an exclusivity
standpoint, and we'll do like aValentine's one every year, but
they're a little different everyyear.
And dried flowers are also justnice.
I mean, I love fresh, but Ialso love dried because they
really are just basicallymaintenance free.
They literally don't need water.
You put them in a vase and theyvirtually last forever.
And that's amazing.
And for people especially who,like, either don't have the time
(48:22):
or the desire to be switchingout water, you know, whatever
it's a, it's a nice way to stillbe able to bring flowers in,
because they're real flowers,they're just dried and sometimes
preserved, but it's stillbringing nature into your home
in a capacity where you don'thave to worry about the
longevity of it.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
Well, there's so much better than they used to be too
.
I saw on your website whatyou're offering and the colors
are just beautiful.
I mean, I think when we used tothink of dried flowers, you
just think of that.
You know, just light color,very dried, crispy kind of.
But now you know they're ableto preserve them and keep color
and keep shape and keep textureand I just think it's really
neat.
But just wanted to say I justthink that's great business and
(48:59):
just love seeing all that you'redoing with your business and
it's an inspiration for floristfor sure.
So I hope you're out therelistening florist, because a
native puffy is one to watch,thank you for sure, and then
camera also.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
You have some other events that you do throughout
the year.
I had the pleasure of attendingone last year at the First
Ladies Luncheon.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
Sure, sure, as I mentioned, to Certified American
Grow.
Not only do we have ourpromotional efforts, but we
really work on fosteringrelationships to advocate and
focus on policy developments andcreating spaces to be able to
do that, and one of the thingsthat we are very honored and
privileged to be a part of on aregular basis is working with
(49:39):
the Congressional Club inWashington DC to annually put
together all of the floral andthe design and have it focused
on American grown for the FirstLadies Luncheon.
This is the the hallmark eventfor the Congressional Club on an
annual basis, whereby the FirstLady is honored, and bipartisan
club.
It's really again about thatcommunity and about coming
(50:01):
together to raise funds for theclub, for the First Lady and in
this case, in thisadministration, the second
gentleman and the leadership ofthe club's areas of emphasis,
and so work has been done toraise funds for cancer awareness
, for veterans affairs, forother things that are really
(50:24):
relevant to to the Americanpopulace as a component to the
work that they do.
But it provides us with thespace and the opportunity to
support their efforts and toagain deepen relationships in
such a way that we can providethe education, like we were
sharing earlier today that Megmentioned that, that we were
talking about.
That really elevates the theimportance of what is happening
(50:47):
on our US farms.
We're part of a global community, but what is happening here at
home is is very, verysignificant and in the sense of
what we're doing in WashingtonDC and in advocacy and making
sure that our homegrown farmscan persist for generations to
come, we need to have therelationships to do so.
(51:08):
So the First Lady's Luncheon isan annual event that we're
honored and privileged to beinvited back to and have the
opportunity to engage in.
We just finished up a wonderfulevent in partnership with the
Congressional Wine Caucus andwith the California Wine
Institute in celebrating wineand flowers and complimenting
some of the work that they'redoing Two wonderful, beautiful
(51:30):
things that go together that areproduced here domestically.
Why not celebrate thoseopportunities?
And so we recognize that thatwhat's happening in cutflower
and foliage farmers across thecountry here is a large part of
a larger component ofagriculture here in the United
States, and and we want tosupport folks who are providing
(51:52):
food and fiber, beauty andcomfort for us in all aspects.
So we're excited about some ofthe things that we get to do.
Spend a lot of time inWashington DC, as you might
imagine, we have an annualfly-in where farmers actually
come boots on the ground, so tospeak, walking Capitol Hill and
having really substantivemeetings and being able to to
(52:12):
share firsthand experiences andfirsthand how things impact
decisions that are being made inWashington DC and in other
parts of government, how thingsare impacting their businesses
and their families andcommunities in such a way that
we, we hope, to build moresupport and greater efforts
(52:32):
going forward.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
Very nice, and, meg, what's going to be on your
horizon in the future?
What are your future plans?
World domination.
Speaker 4 (52:43):
Maybe 2024, 2023.
There's no world dominationplan.
We have a lot of fun stuff thatcomes up for fall and holiday.
We have just a lot of like Imentioned, like limited edition
dried flowers for fall, and thenwe do a lot of fun wreaths and
garlands for holiday.
Something else that was reallyexciting and we're circling back
around on another campaign for,is our e-courses.
(53:03):
We actually launched twoe-courses this year or last year
yeah, last year gosh, time goesfast for you know it's
flowering 101 and flower crownmaking, and they're really
geared towards either floristswho are just getting into the
industry, who, like want somebackground information and a
good starting off place, orflorists who are looking to
(53:25):
break out of a maybe a moretraditional style and get into
kind of wild garden stylearranging.
It's also great for people whojust love flowers or have you,
and so that's something thatwe're working on bringing to the
forefront again, as well.
As our in-person workshops areback, which is exciting.
We brought those back just thislast spring for the first time
since the pandemic, and peopleare very excited to be able to
(53:47):
be with us in person andlearning in person and those are
really fun.
So we have a lot of workshopscoming up this fall.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Well, we are so excited to see new things that
you guys are going to create.
I'm sure it's going to be great, and thank you both for joining
us.
We really enjoy talking to youboth and appreciate you taking
some time and sharing with ouraudience what makes you guys
awesome.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
You're so kind.
Thank you so much, reallyappreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (54:13):
Thank you too.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
Take care Since 1897 in Chicago, florist review has
served the floral industry.
We're thrilled to have this newpodcast medium to help expand
the conversation in our monthlyprint publications.
Visit our website,floristreviewcom to subscribe.
(54:34):
We greatly appreciate yoursupport and please join us for
the next episode of the flowerhour with florist review.
Welcome to episode three of the Flower Hour with
Flores Review.
I'm Jules Lewis Gibson and I'mNita Robertson.
Well, hello, Nita.
How are things over in Coloradotoday?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Things are going wonderful.
We're just wrapping up summerand fall is on the horizon.
Just so excited about theseasons changing and just moved
to Colorado a few months ago, soit'll be my first real fall in
a long time I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Very nice, so get to see the leaves change.
We get none of that here inSarasota.
We get no color in the fall,it's just hot, hot, hot.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We'll just have to fill your house with
fall-colored flowers.
I think, yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I also have a lot of travel this fall.
It's a busy travel schedule sowe get to see some flowers.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I love that.
I know we have lots going on, Iknow we're going to yeah, we're
going to Columbia in October.
See some beautiful flowers.
You're going to Europe.
Yeah, we've got a couple oftrips to Europe, yeah lots of
exciting stuff in Europe thesedays.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We actually have an exciting announcement we have
acquired Flora Magazine inEngland.
By the time when this comes outin October, hopefully the word
will be out and our first issuewill be in November.
We'll hit the stands inNovember and we are very excited
about our expansion across thepond.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So exciting.
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
It's going to be an adventure, it is it is, and it's
a little bit different in Flora.
Flora at the moment is reallymore the conversation from
flower rangers to professionals,but really more of a
consumer-based publication,whereas we're going to make it
more of a business of flowersconversation.
So we're going to meet peoplewhere they are in their journey
(01:48):
in flowers, whether it be ahighly skilled hobbyist or a
florist.
We want to help people in theirjourney and become better
florists and especially thosethat are in the business of
flowers, really help them buildbetter, stronger businesses.
And I take that responsibilityreally seriously here at Flora's
(02:10):
Review because we do rack ourbrains every month to create
content that will educate andinspire the florist and help
them build stronger foundations.
On the business side whether itbe marketing, customer service,
social media, email marketing,store display there's just so
many things, especially ifyou're going to have a shop.
(02:33):
It's my feeling you should havethe best shop out there and
really make it a destination foryour community and the business
will come.
I think there's the days ofhaving the dusty old shop that's
basically the waiting room forthe delivery guy.
Those days are long gone and weneed to embrace the new
(02:56):
experiences, the retailenvironments that really do it
well.
I think they create experiencesin store, and that brings
people back over and over.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I think that's so true and I just love that we can
help lift up florists and givethem the tools that they need to
be successful.
I think is really important.
And then, speaking of awesomeretail shops, one of our amazing
guests today is going to be MegBlancato, who's the co-owner of
Native Poppy, which is a retailflower shop in the San Diego
(03:30):
area.
I think she does exactly whatJules just said.
It's just exciting because it'smodern and they really try to
create an experience at theirshop and they do great marketing
.
They do all the things.
It really is impressive and, Ithink, a great example of a
retail shop here in the UnitedStates for people to look at and
get inspiration on about what'spossible.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yes, they do do a fantastic job.
We've featured their shopseveral times in Floor's Review
and they just have such a fresh,creative approach and they are
really running on all cylinders.
They have their retail shops.
They now have three.
I think they should say retailfacilities and they also have a
very strong event business aswell and I just thought they
(04:15):
were so much as she's soexciting and innovative.
They even have a little microfarm which she's going to share
with us.
That they did on their parentsold tennis court.
They like turned it into amicro farm.
I thought that was extremelyclever.
I need to find somebody with it.
Well, I think that's sointeresting.
(04:38):
That's one of the outcomes ofkind of the pandemic is a new
resurgence in kind of smallfarming.
There's a lot of people it'svery popular with the
millennials.
I've talked to so many peoplerecently that they and they're
not even in the flower businessbut that have said that their
dream was to retire on like alittle, a little flower farm
with a few acres.
(04:59):
And I even have a good friendof mine who now she has a small
flower farm in Michigan that shegoes to in the summertime and
she just loves it, absolutelyloves it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I love that.
Yeah, I do love that.
The pandemic, you know, see, ithad had some good highlights,
and one of them was everybody'sjust kind of diving into
gardening again and the love offlowers and of actually planting
and growing them, which is justexciting.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yes, absolutely.
I think there's an excitingbyproduct.
You know there were some reallygood things about the pandemic
and buried in all the sadnessand the tear, we did find some
really good, good, good kernelsof goodness.
But I think the micro farming,you know, aspect is going to
continue to grow, hopefully inyears to come.
(05:46):
And Cameron, who was one of ourguests as well, cameron King,
who is the CEO and ambassador ofcertified American grown, he
joined us as well and sharedsome of the things that they're
doing with the growers acrossthe United States and really
trying to help the Americangrowers better connect with the
florist and being able toutilize their product in
(06:09):
different ways and reallysupporting the American farmers,
which is which is also near anddear to my heart.
Actually, my father's familywere farmers.
They were, they were producefarmers, but they were promo
farmers in North Georgia and itwas actually my grandmother who
ran the business.
Awesome, yep, she was ahead ofher time.
She had her own attorney in the1920s, yeah, and she was all of
(06:35):
four foot nine Cherokee Indian.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
And yeah, ran, ran the business.
She went to Atlanta and got allof the the contracts with
restaurants and hotels to forher their family produce farm to
fulfill the orders.
And so that was.
That was many, and her name wasmany like the mouse.
Oh, I love it.
Little money, so well, let'sget on with it and hear some of
(07:02):
these great stories with thegrowers and also with native
Papi.
Well, hello Cameron.
Today we have joining usCameron King with Certified
American Grown.
Welcome, cameron.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Good afternoon.
Thank you so much for theinvitation.
Excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Absolutely.
You're one of my favoritepeople to see out on the road.
We always see Cameron at eventsand he's so much fun to hang
out with.
He's such a great guy andyou're such a great
representative for the CertifiedAmerican Grown.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the organization and how
you all got started?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Sure.
Thank you so much.
So Certified American Grown isthe only domestic organization
that's focused on representingAmerican farming families of cut
flowers and foliage, and so wereally work on behalf of the
domestic industry in a twofoldapproach really, kind of
elevating and highlighting thegreat works that are happening
(08:00):
on our homegrown farms as wellas in our homegrown communities,
the impacts they're having withtheir teams and families, as
well as advocating at thefederal level to ensure that
these families continueoperations for years to come.
So we work in Washington DC andwith a number of organizations
to ensure that financial andregulatory sustainability is an
(08:23):
option for folks, and so forCertified American Grown, it's
an exciting way of saying wehave value in what is happening
here domestically and reallyworking to ensure that moves
forward.
So we have farms from Maine toCalifornia and Florida to Alaska
and everywhere in between, goodpeople that are doing great
(08:47):
works day in and day out andworking with phenomenal teams
and, as I mentioned, communities, and so we're pleased to be
able to advocate and promotethem.
So we really were formed as acoalition of national farms that
wanted to make sure that theyhad the opportunity to band
together and have a unifiedvoice for their interests and
(09:09):
really focus on what are theprospects of making sure that
what is happening today begetsan opportunity for them to
continue to work in the future,but always paying homage and
heritage to the great works andthe generations that have come
before them.
So it's a multitude of thingsthat we work on.
It's a very dynamic andengaging organization.
(09:32):
Certified American Grown is astandalone, has been on its own
since 2000.
So why not start somethingexciting and new during the
pandemic?
But it was really justhighlighting the chance for
folks to come together in asignificant way and we're
excited about the energy andmomentum that's being built on
the American Grown movementgoing forward.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Fantastic Now.
Have you all seen an increasein kind of small flower farmers
in the past few years?
Because it does seem,especially with the millennial
crowd, that it's so popular.
It's like every one I talk to.
Their dream now is to own asmall flower flower farm.
It seems that the popularityhas really grown in the past few
(10:13):
years, particularly since thepandemic when people were home
war and maybe started gardeningwar and seeing how rewarding it
is.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Absolutely, and you know it's interesting because we
used to have a really, reallyrobust American Grown industry
in terms of cut flower andfoliage here, and even as recent
as 20, 25 years ago, about 80%of all of the products that were
sold here in the United Stateswere actually grown here in the
(10:43):
United States as well, and dueto some policy and international
trade negotiations andregulation shifts and changes,
we've seen that paradigm shiftover the last couple of decades
to where, unfortunately, today,only about 22% of everything
sold here in the United Statesin terms of cut flower and
(11:04):
foliage is actually grown here.
So we've seen a retraction interms of what our industry was
and, historically, the presencewe had.
But the pandemic really posedan opportunity that was unique.
As a society, we were stuck inplace or we were put into a
position where we were homegrownand we needed to look at our
(11:28):
surroundings in terms ofcreating space for beauty, for
comfort.
We needed to create and workwith our local farmers and our
local communities and our localdesigners in terms of creating a
surrounding where we felt caredand comforted and where we
could beautify what was ourspace in our existence.
(11:49):
And so out of that came this,as you mentioned real interest
in sourcing local and looking atcreating spaces where farms or
small farm stands weredeveloping and the prolific
nature of that direct toconsumer from down the street,
(12:12):
because that became what ourworld was and, as we've emerged
out of the pandemic, we'reexcited to see that people are
really still looking at sourcingfrom their neighborhoods,
sourcing from their communitiesand sourcing from here at home
in the United States, and soit's exciting to see, both from
the consumer perspective, butalso from designers and florists
(12:36):
and event planners, that theopportunity to collaborate and
work together for what we havehere is our homegrown community
is growing and we're excited forthat prospect going forward.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Well, and there were many factors that really caused
such the dramatic change in thepercentages of flowers that were
sold.
I mean a lot of.
It was the land where flowersare more popularly grown.
It was very valuable.
Developers wanted it.
Cannabis farmers came in.
It was more profitable.
There are a lot of differentfactors that result in that and
(13:11):
we just have the demand we havenow is so much more than it was
maybe 40 years ago as well, soit's wonderful to see that we
have more varieties andopportunities.
We're just always of thefeeling that there's room for
everybody, and it's great to seesmall farmers finding their way
as well as the large farmersfinding ways to source and
(13:36):
really connect with thecommunity more.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
You know we couldn't agree with you more.
It's a challenge, and doingbusiness here it doesn't matter
whether you're farming, whetheryou're designing, whether you're
putting together events oryou're making tennis shoes, as
an example doing business herein the United States and
producing things in the UnitedStates is a challenge
economically, regulatory, publicpolicy and the like, and so
(13:59):
decisions impact everybody andwe're not negligent to that idea
.
But we're also recognizing thatwe are part of a global
community and our foliageproduction community is coming
from around the world andflowers bring everybody in
humanity joy or comfort, andthat's a really special thing,
(14:21):
and so for us it's just aboutsaying what we have here also
matters and is significant, andthe history and the heritage
that we've had here in theUnited States is important, and
it's important for us to protectboth from the historical
mindset but in the contemporaryand into the future as well, and
so I think you're right, thereis a space for everyone.
(14:43):
We're excited to see that theentire floral community everyone
from from farms and producersthrough to the end consumer
that's sitting at the table andenjoying it.
We're excited to see thatthere's interest in having more
and more floral and foliage as apart of our daily lives and
that's a critical thing for usto continue to enhance and
(15:07):
develop.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And I think probably one of the most critical things
these days is really how doflorists connect better with
their sources that are locally?
So I'm sure you all are veryinvolved in that.
So what are what?
How are you guys making changesso that it can make it easier
for the florists to connect withthose regional growers around
them?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Sure.
So that's a that's a reallygreat question and I think it's
really dependent upon locationswhere they are florist and
designers.
The US is broad and very diverseand it's a very unique set of
systems across the country, andone of the beauties is is that,
you know, we're constantlyencouraging designers, as
(15:50):
artists, to think outside of thebox, to think outside of what
maybe, in some cases, has beentraditional product.
There is something grown and inbloom in every single state 365
days a year, and it may not bewhat is traditionally something
that was available for anarrangement, but that's the
(16:12):
beauty of designers and floriststhey're artists and it's about
the creativity.
It's about looking who are theproducers and the farmers around
you, who are those wholesalers,and encouraging and asking them
to to source American grown.
They're in contact with farmsdirectly as well, and so, if the
(16:32):
questions are asked, that's animportant place to start, if you
have the means and the capacityas a designer, as a florist, to
be working and developingdirect connections with farms
that are in your backyard or areclose by.
Many of the farms are directshipping or are working to
ensure that that folks havebeauty that is available to them
(16:56):
in a really fresh nature, thatis, you know, harvested, and
within the same day on theirdoorstep or in their shops, and
that's really special.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Do you have the directory?
We do yeah so they can go onyour site.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Absolutely Certified American Grown at
AmericangrownFlowersorg has adirectory that is searchable
both by state as well as byvarieties that you may be
looking for.
We're also in the works ofcreating spaces where the
directory has means to besourcing and developing sales
directly to farms, and so it'san exciting time to be able to
(17:34):
draw and deepen thoseconnections between florist
designers and farms.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Absolutely, and I love what you said about looking
at things a little bitdifferently.
I was recently with somebreeders and looking
specifically at lilies andcallow lilies and they had this
variety that had it was yellowcallow lilies and the leaves had
yellow growing in it and I waslike, oh my God, these are
(17:59):
beautiful, and what do you dowith the leaves?
Like the leaves of callowlilies are really nice.
They actually said, well, it'sfunny you say that because our
breeders really liked thatanomaly and so now they're
trying to breed for it andthey're also working on how to
utilize the greenery from thecallow lily to make that a
(18:22):
usable product as well, which Ithought was really interesting
to to be able to change with thetimes and learn how to look at
something in a different way.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You know, and that's an exciting thing, and it is
it's about the artistry and it'sabout developing the
relationships and thecommunication lines between
farms and florists in such a waythat that again what is
happening in the productionsense is meeting the demands and
the desires of what floristsare able to create and designers
(18:51):
are able to create and put intoour arrangements, into our
bouquets that we can enjoy innew and unique ways.
And that's super excitingbecause it's a partnership and
it's a communication, but alsorecognizing to your point that
just because an artist wants tocreate X, y or Z doesn't mean
(19:11):
that it's always available topurchase immediately.
But it's a partnership eventhat goes all the way back to
the breeders and it goes back tothe initial input in such a way
that that may be a couple ofyears down line prospect, but
again, with open lines ofcommunication in these really
robust relationships frombreeders all the way through
consumers, we can create spacesand really push the envelope in
(19:36):
new and exciting things.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I think it's so exciting, I think, as a floral
designer, just having all thisavailability, even though, yes,
it might not be available allthe time.
But that's kind of what makesit special, too, for you to
offer to your customers and letthem know that, yeah, this is
special, this is only at thistime of year, or, you know, and
maybe you'll look forward to itnext year, and I do think you've
done a great job of, like yousaid, bonding the florists, the
(19:59):
floral community, to the growers.
You know, until what's going on, it's just a great relationship
and I think it's just reallyexciting, which does bring us to
our second guest that I wouldlike to introduce, and I would
like to introduce Meg Blancato.
She is the co-owner of NativePoppy, which is a flower shop
located in the San Diego area,and we're just always impressed
(20:21):
with what you're up to overthere at Native Poppy.
So, meg, if you could tell us alittle bit about the history,
how it began, a little bit aboutNative Poppy.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you, nina.
Thank you both, nina and Jules,for all your support.
You have been so amazing to us,so we really appreciate you
guys.
Yeah, so Native Poppy isactually coming up on its 10th
year.
My business partner, natalieGill, is the founder of Native
Poppy and she started in Januaryof 2014 as an event florist.
She always says that she didher first events on her
apartment floor and, after doingevents for about two years, she
(20:53):
had the opportunity to open thefirst brick and mortar, which
is when our paths crossed, and Iat the time had no formal
experience whatsoever.
My dad was actually in theplant and flower industry.
He owned a plant import exportcompany, so I had a real love of
plants and flowers.
But I was having a career changeand I came across Natalie and I
(21:17):
basically just pitched myselfand said I don't have a lot of
experience, but I'm a joy towork with and I'm very
hardworking and I'd really liketo work for you and with you.
And she said, great, let's doit.
And then we realized reallyquickly that we had a real
connection and synergy, not onlyas friends, but just.
We both had a fire for businessand flowers and could see the
(21:39):
potential of what this could be,and so we became business
partners in 2018, which has beenawesome and yeah.
So we now have threetechnically three locations in
San Diego two full blown retailshops, and then we have a studio
warehouse space that also has asmall express location in the
front, and we do a lot ofweddings and events, as well as
(22:01):
daily deliveries in San Diego.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's so exciting.
Where are the locations?
Are they close to each other?
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Relatively.
I mean, san Diego is prettylike stretched out.
So within San Diego we have onein North County which is in
Solana Beach, and then we haveone in South Park which was like
a very darling littleneighborhood near Balboa Park,
and then our studio warehousespace is in Mission Valley.
So the Mission Valley and SouthPark locations are in South
County and they're pretty closeto each other, and then Solana
Beach is about 25 minutes northof that.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
We really love the way you do retail.
You have really great stores.
Your stores are so open and funand lively and I'm curious,
like with your retail stores, doyou consider it kind of a
destination?
Do you want to be a destinationfor people in your community to
come in and see kind of what'snew?
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's something that Natalie andI are super passionate about is
making the shops a veryimmersive experience with scent
and touch and site.
And we have one of oursignatures is our native poppy
stem bar.
We actually have like a fullwall of flowers and bases that
people can come in and touch andfeel.
And it's funny because,starting off, natalie and I were
advised like not to do thatactually because your flowers
(23:11):
aren't in a cooler and then alsopeople are gonna be touching
them a bunch.
But you guys know, the moreyou're handling flowers, they're
gonna start to break apart alittle bit more.
But it's something that we justlove to be able to offer people
that, instead of a traditionalflower shop where everything is
behind the florist in a coolerand you're kind of just looking
that, this gives people theopportunity to literally come in
and pick up each flower andsmell it and touch it.
(23:34):
And they'll touch straw flowerand go, oh, this is so crunchy,
is this dry?
And I'm like, no, that's how itactually blooms fresh that way.
And they're like that's amazing.
It's just like it's such animmersive experience, which is
really fun.
And then we also do artinstallations.
Quarterly we have an amazinginstallation artist named Ashley
Renwart and she makes theseamazing installations that come
in and hang from the ceilingsand everything.
(23:55):
So it really is meant to belike and it's so special.
Honestly, my first love is theflower shops.
It really that's like where Imy journey with Anita Poppy
started and I just love beingthere so much and it's day in
and day out.
I've had been with the companyfor almost eight years.
When I'm in the shops, peoplecome in and they just say, oh my
gosh, this is so magical.
(24:16):
Or I've never experiencedanything like this or in that
like is just an incrediblecompliment that we're able to
give people this moment of magicand joy when they come into our
shop.
So, yes, very, very much so.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I think you're an inspiration to the industry.
I mean, I was a florist for 20years and when I first
discovered you I thought, man, Iwish I could go back in time
and I wish my shop looked likethat, because in the old days it
was kind of just a place for,like, the delivery driver to
come through and, like you said,everything was in the back and
that was just all I knew.
So it's all I knew.
But I just love your energy andthe modernness that you bring.
(24:54):
Just everything the pictures Isee.
It just looks beautiful andinviting.
I want to go and you know, buthow exciting for a consumer who
doesn't even have the passion,like I do, for flowers, you know
, to go and experience that andget them to really connect to
the flowers.
I just, I just think it'sfabulous.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And do you get people that come in regularly Like, do
they come back and just seewhat's new?
And I imagine that's why you doyour installations to get
people coming in.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
We definitely have someregulars that just come in often
for because we're within ourflower shops, we also have a
lovely gift shop, so we do haveflowers and gifts.
We get people that regularlyare coming in to get candles and
cards and such.
But then we also havesubscribers.
We have like a subscriptionservice, a flower subscription
service called the WildflowerClub, and so some of our
subscribers they pick up or theycan receive delivery.
(25:40):
But our pickups who come inevery week or every other week,
it's so fun because we, ourflorists, really build a
connection with them and theycome in and they love to see you
know what's new that week andand so, yes, we have a lot of
people that come in veryfrequently and that's really
special.
We also have a lot of dogfriends.
We we offer, like, dog dogtreats and we have certain dogs
that will pull their owners intothe shops because when they're
(26:03):
on their walks and they knowit's pretty cute.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That's a good marketing strategy.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
We're really like animal lovers that then it does
tie, because often they'll likeoh, I'm in, I'll pick something
up.
So it's a win-win, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Well, and you know, I think one of the things that's
interesting about Meg andNatalie as well is is their
designs and their talent andtheir stores are an embodiment
of their personalities and it'sapproachable and engaging and
beautiful and it reallyencapsulates who they are as
people and that that embodimentcomes through in what they put
(26:37):
out and I think for consumersand for their customers, that's
part of their allure and their,their, their intrigue, which is
is really a great thing.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Thank you, cameron, that's super nice.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Another thing that you're really good at is social
media.
You guys have a fantasticsocial media presence and I
assume that I'm sure that wasthat was on purpose and for such
a short period of time.
You have a huge following,thank you.
How did that kind of transpireand how much time and effort do
you put into your social media?
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yeah, well, thank you , yeah, it's.
You know, it's really fun andsocial media has changed so much
over the past few years.
But, yeah, I.
So, natalie, actually, when Ijoined the company, she had one
Instagram that was native Poppyand it was event focus, right.
And then when we started theshops, she said I think we need
to start a shop account and itwas going to be like native
(27:29):
Poppy events, native Poppy shop.
And there was all this likeconfusion and discourse about
like what was the real nativePoppy or what have you.
And so we had a business mentorin front of the time who was
like he just need to, it justneeds to be one native Poppy.
And then that you're going tobecome native like Natalie Gill,
founder of native Poppy.
People can follow you fromwhere far stuff they want.
So we did that.
And when that happened, nataliesaid will you run the Instagram
(27:52):
?
And at the time I was like,yeah, sure, no idea what I'm
doing, but let's do it.
And so I mean she had like suchan amazing eye.
And then we just like learned alot together and followed
trends and what have you.
And then there's certain thingsthat have been well received.
That kind of would catapult usa little bit as far as a big
(28:16):
surge in followers.
But just recently we actuallyhad a real go viral and it hit
it's at 1.6 million views now,which is wild because our other
highest real we've ever had islike 40,000.
So that was crazy and with itwe had a huge jump in following
because things had honestly kindof started to plateau a little
bit just because in the shiftwith the algorithm and
(28:37):
everything it was very differentand so that was huge for us,
which was really really cool,and that's honestly just luck of
the drop.
My marketing assistant, liz, isthe one who did it and like it
was amazing and she's, we werejust like everybody's, like why
do you think?
We're?
Like?
We have no idea.
You know, it's like you put abunch of things out there and
certain things hit and certainthings don't.
So what was the fabulous?
Speaker 1 (28:57):
reel.
What was it?
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Oh, I mean, it was lovely.
It was a wedding that we did atthe Ritz Carlton in Santa
Barbara and it's just abeautiful rainbow garden wedding
and the reel is six seconds butit's just it's like very
captivating and people loved it.
So, but yeah, so, as far aslike our, you know there is some
(29:18):
, some method to our madness asfar as like what we do on social
media, but the goal is reallyto like inspire with beauty.
You know we try to.
We try to represent all thedifferent parts of the company.
We try to talk about the shopsand events and our subscription
service and our e-courses andour celebration of life menu and
all these different things thatwe offer, so that people coming
(29:38):
to Instagram specifically cankind of scroll and get a taste
very quickly of like everythingwe do.
But ultimately it's about likeis it beautiful?
Does it spark joy?
Is it on brand?
You know, like, we try and wetry to like have fun with it too
.
You know we did a Barbie reelbecause we're like all on fire
for the Barbie movie.
If you haven't seen it, youhave to.
But we did a Barbie reel whereeverybody we had our team make
(30:01):
Barbie flowers and you know like, so we also just try to have
fun with it.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And you I'm speaking of, like the retail side.
You I love the way you displayyour gifts.
You do a really good job ofkind of displaying the different
merchandise that you have, thatyou offer what works best for
you.
What do you find that you sella lot of, besides flowers?
Do you sell it with flowers?
You sell it separately, or howdoes that work for you?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Yeah, great question.
So we have an amazing giftbuyer for a company, erin.
She is just really talented atfinding new gifts and she's also
really passionate aboutsourcing from a diverse group of
vendors BIPOC vendors, queervendors just really bringing in
a really diverse vendor artistcollective, which is so cool.
(30:45):
And so she sources all thesegifts and then she works with
our merchandiser, who's actuallythe same woman who does our
installations, ashley Renward,and she comes in and does like a
quarterly floor set where we goahead and we redo everything,
which is really fun and she'sincredible and they work so well
, you know, as a yin and yangtogether to really create the
(31:06):
magic of the gift side.
We do bundles on our menu, so wedo.
You can order gifts and flowerslike together, you know, and we
make some of our productsin-house.
So we have a lot of nativepoppy exclusive things.
We have candles and body creamsand even a exclusive chocolate
bar collaboration, which isreally fun.
So we have a bunch of giftsthat are exclusive to us that
(31:27):
you can buy with flowers.
You can also just order giftsand have them delivered locally
in San Diego.
You can have buy our gifts andhave them shipped, and so there
is a lot of synergy there andgifts are definitely a big part
of the company.
About what?
Speaker 1 (31:39):
percentage.
Do you think like just a guest?
It's about 25%.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
So it's certainly still majority flowers, but it
is.
It's a significant portion isgifts and a big part of that are
like probably our best sellersare candles, vases and cards For
a flower shop.
Those three are just alwayslike.
Vases make sense, right, anyvases for flowers.
Cards, because often you'regifting the flowers and those
are such an easy buy.
(32:03):
And then candles, becauseeverybody loves a candle we make
.
Like I said, we make our ownin-house.
They're exclusive to us and sopeople get really excited about
our candles and often want toscoop a bunch of those up.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So that's so exciting .
Well, cameron, we would love tohear about some of the things
you guys do.
I'm so curious to hear moreabout the field to vase tours
that you guys do.
It's on my bucket list.
I haven't made it yet, but itlooks like something that's just
absolutely enchanting, so I'dlove for you to tell us more
about that program and what youdo with that.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
And it's actually fortuitous to be here with Meg
because she was involved in oneof our recent field-to-base
dinner tours.
So, certified American Grownone of the things that we do is
really bring the floral farmconnection to life.
By doing so, what we havecreated is a field-to-base
dinner series, and it's anannual tour whereby we pick four
(32:55):
to five locations around thecountry on an annual basis, work
with farms and invite consumers, influencers, floral designers,
florists what have you Folks tocome on and experience what
exactly it means and where yourproduct is coming from.
You know, we find that actuallysanding in the middle of a
greenhouse or in a field takeson a totally different
(33:18):
perspective in terms of how youlook at the products that you
put on your tables or on yourdesks and the beauty that you
enjoy in terms of floral andfoliage, and so the
field-to-base dinner tour is anopportunity to do just that, and
we work with farms, as Imentioned, in different parts of
the country, and then verytalented designers who are
(33:39):
committed to the American Grownmovement and sourcing local and
really providing uniqueexperiences that are the
embodiment of what is beinggrown in that area or on that
farm.
So in 2023, as an example we'vehad.
We just concluded our fourthevent and we really are all over
(34:01):
the place.
We kicked off the year with Megas our designer and native,
poppy and the team there as ourdesigners, at the Flower Fields
in Carlsbad, california.
Really a celebration ofrenunculus overlooking the
Pacific Ocean, and it wasabsolutely stunning, big, long,
as you might imagine, kind oflike a farm-to-table event where
(34:22):
we partner with local chefs andthat complement the feast for
the eyes that Meg and the teamcreated and the farmers grew,
and so it was a wonderful,wonderful evening.
We then carried that forwardand had an event in Seville,
florida, at Firm Trust, soreally focused on foliage,
(34:43):
because that's an important partof what our designers have in
their palates to work with.
We also had an event in Homer,alaska.
A lot of folks don't realize,but beautiful peonies are farmed
in Alaska.
At no other time in the worldare peonies available other than
sourcing them out of Alaska.
(35:04):
There's about 200American-grown peony farmers up
there today.
So that was in July, and justfinished up this last weekend in
Virginia with folks at HarmonyHarvest who were doing a
beautiful, beautiful job, and soit's a celebration.
It is truly what it comes downto.
It's a celebration of allthings that are happening on the
(35:27):
farms and drawing and deepeningthat, as I mentioned before,
that relationship and thatconnection point with where
things are coming from and whereyour oral and foliage is
actually grown and that thepeople who are growing it are
accessible and you have theopportunity to stand there,
experience it, take it all inand then celebrate together a
(35:48):
wonderful meal but truly a feastfor the eyes and the senses
that has been created by ourfarms and floral designers.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Nice.
When are the next ones?
What do you have coming up?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Well, that is a teaser that we're not quite
ready to announce yet for 2024.
As you might imagine, there's alot of work that goes into
identifying a calendar of what'snext and we have a wonderful,
wonderful following around thecountry and we have folks that
actually will travel from coastto coast to attend different
(36:21):
events, which we're very excitedabout.
But we're not quite ready toannounce 2024 yet.
But if you could check in ourwebsite and subscribe to our
email blasts and follow us onsocial media, it's going to be
announced here very, very soon.
We're excited for some of thethings that we're working on.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
We will keep that in mind.
It was a travel schedule fornext year.
And Meg, how did you?
How?
You must have had fun playingand doing the last one, but was
your experience life as aflorist doing that event?
Speaker 4 (36:50):
I did.
Yeah, I can't remember.
Before you got on, I wastelling Nita and Jules that I
was really excited that, likeyou said, that it was you as the
another guest on this podcast,because I did have a really
positive experience with Fieldto Vase and it really affected
me and our business subsequentlybecause of my experience with
it.
So I think Anna reached out inlike February or something for
(37:12):
the event in April Fulldisclosure.
The last six months for mepersonally, and then therefore
again business, have been wild.
It's business is busy.
I have two young kids who Iadore and childcare is nuts.
It's just been an adventure.
So I got this email and mybusiness partner, natalie, just
had her first baby and so shewas out on mat leave and I got
(37:35):
this email saying do you want todo this?
And I was like looking at itand I was like I just I don't
know if I can take this on.
I knew it was going to be mebecause Nat was out.
Nat is usually like in chargeof events, but I was like
reading the information on itand I was like, well, this seems
really cool.
And I got married at theCarlsbad Flower Field, so it's
like that's amazing that it's atCarlsbad Flower Field, that
field's meant to be, you know.
So I was like I'll, I'm goingto meet with Anna and see what's
(37:55):
up.
And so I met with Anna andshe's like so great.
And then just the mission of itis amazing and everything was.
I was like this sounds reallycool, let's do this.
So then I had these like funmeetings every week with with
Cameron and Anna and our eventplanner, and they're just such a
great group of people and so itwas like really fun to plan
that.
And then they said, oh, you getto pick the table top and you
(38:15):
get.
And I was like, oh, this isjust so fun, you know.
And so then when we went to dothe event you know, we get there
and it is really stunning theycut out this whole portion of
the flower fields and you're inthis just sea of renonculos,
which are absolutely one of myfavorite flowers anyway, and
then you're looking at the oceanand everything, and I got to
use American grown product,milano's provided, you know they
(38:35):
gave me their availability listand I picked things out of that
and, like Cameron said, it wasvery much so a celebration of
renonculos.
We were renoncula heavy andeverything.
So it was really cool and theeducation part of it honestly
blew my mind.
What Cameron was talking aboutat the beginning of this episode
, about the flip in productionin the US from about 20 years
(38:57):
ago to now, I had no idea andI've been in this industry, I
had been this in shape of timefor seven years and I knew, I
knew it had like shifted, but Ididn't know so drastic.
And so you know we do.
We buy from a wholesaler herein San Diego who's amazing, who
sources from all over the worldand their product is amazing,
and at the same time betweenthis field to base experience
(39:19):
and you know my our businessbook club is reading Yvonne
Schooniard's Let my People GoSurfing.
He's the founder of Patagoniaand he talks about the
environmental impact of business.
So both of these things kind ofcame together at the same time
and I just got very on fire forlike buying locally, buying
American grown, and so we havebeen shifting how, how we
(39:40):
purchase for native poppy to itused to be 100% not 100%
imported, but 100% through awholesaler, which a lot of it
was imported, and we've beenshifting over as much as we can
to work.
We now work with four localfarms in San Diego to supply a
huge percentage of our weeklyflowers.
And then we have our ownmicroflower farm actually,
native poppy does it's a raisedbed flower farm.
(40:02):
We have 52 raised beds on atennis court.
We have a lead farmer who'sincredible built all of them,
filled them with soil, irrigatedthem and grows flowers there,
and so there's five farms,including our own, that we're
now sourcing from and we arestill also, like you were saying
, there's a time and place andthere's a place for everybody.
Right, we're still orderingfrom our wholesaler and, at the
same time, we're trying to shiftthat ratio to be more balanced.
(40:25):
And the thing about it, like youguys were saying, is it's it is
amazing to have thisrelationship with these farmers
that are literally out theregrowing, harvesting and bringing
them to the shop.
That's like very special andthe seasonality of it, the
fragility of the fact that likewell, this, you know, these, the
loja, are only going to beavailable for the next 10 days,
(40:45):
or whatever it's like.
What an amazing gift andfleeting, right, we just like
appreciate them now.
It's such a beautifulexperience and just what an
impact it makes to these farmersthat we're able to buy from
them in bulk and, you know,therefore, supply our community
with these.
Like Cameron said, sometimesthe flowers are literally
harvested that morning.
We make it and somebody takesit out and it's in their door or
(41:05):
in their home Within that sameday, and that's.
That's just an incredible thing.
So the field to base experiencefor me was that first step in
that direction, and so I'm verygrateful in that respect, aside
from just the beauty of theevent itself.
It was really beautiful, verywindy.
Karen and Anna tried to warn meabout the wind and I did not
(41:27):
understand.
I do now and now I'm preparingfor the wind, but it was a
beautiful event.
But the education piece wasjust really inspiring.
So, yeah, I'm a big fan, bigfan.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Well, and you know it's Meg keeps.
Meg has referenced Anna, ourcolleague, anna Callans, at
Certified American Grown.
She is phenomenal and shedeserves a lot, a lot of credit
and so she needs to get a littlelittle props, a little shout
out in this process, because shedoes make so many things happen
.
But you know, one of the thingsthat I think was was really cool
(42:00):
and what I enjoy as as aconsumer for lack of a better
term in this, in this communityand in this space.
Yes, I have a role in the floralspace as well, but I'm not a
designer and I'm not a farmer.
I have the privilege of workingwith folks that are and and
learning from them.
But the collaboration and soMeg mentions the wind and and
(42:24):
she and her team had createdthese beautiful designs that the
farmers had done and then thewind comes up and things are
tipping over and and things areflowing water's going different
places, but you know, whathappened that I think is is
really kind of an embodiment ofwhat Field of Ace also creates
is the community rallied andeverybody's hands went together
(42:47):
very, very quickly to ensurethat the event came together,
that the beauty that wasprovided was honored and
respected, and the event cametogether in a really great way.
So, as odd as that may sound,it was another way of coming
together and and another way ofbuilding community and building
relationships, and that'sanother special piece of what
(43:09):
we're constantly trying to do.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
So I want to hear more about this micro farm on a
tennis court.
What?
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You guys already got your hands in everything over
there Sounds really intriguing.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
In fact, we have an article coming up about how to
create a micro of micro farm,because you're not the only
florist who has who has startedkind of creating their own
little micro farm for growingcertain things at certain times
of year.
So to tell us a little bitabout how that came about.
And on a tennis court, yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:37):
So it's, it's not a lease in laws house.
And they, they said we don'tuse our task court anymore, you
can take it and do it the wayyou will.
And so we actually started itin a very casual way about five
years ago and we had built acouple beds and we kind of
dabbled in such, but nothing,not not a lot, came of it.
And then it was during thepandemic that our lead flower
(44:01):
farmer, margaret, who's been alongtime friend of Natalie's and
the company, you know she was avegetable farmer and she was
looking for a job and we said doyou want to take over our firm?
And she was like I've nevergrown flowers before.
I don't, you know what I'mdoing.
And we're like great, you canlearn on our dime, you know,
like let's do this.
And so she did.
And I mean she's incredible.
(44:22):
Like I said, she built I thinkat the time there was maybe like
six beds, maybe eight, and shegot it up to 52 that she
literally built herself, filledwith dirt, irrigated, everything
, and she also, you know, we wereally emphasize sustainable and
pesticide free farmingpractices.
I can't say organic, becausewe're not organic certified, but
we're very intentional abouthow we grow our flowers and also
(44:46):
just Margaret's so passionateabout doing everything she can
to put good things back into theearth, and these are all
virtually large containers but,like she told us recently that
we found a couple baby frogsliving in one of the containers
and she said you guys have noidea what this means.
This means it's success becausewe are creating a little
(45:08):
ecological environment that isso healthy that animals want to
live in it.
You know, like she's like thisis amazing.
Not only waters are animals,amphibious animals, who need a
lot of like water and stuff.
You know, like she said, thisis a maze and that we're
amadeline are like cool, great,tiny frogs.
So that's been really cool.
And then she, like I said it soit's, 2020 is when it started,
(45:30):
and this year her harvests areout of control, like we have.
We, like I said, we work withfour other flower farmers.
We're all so talented and I'vebeen doing this for a very long
time and Margaret is likeholding her own every time her
stuff comes in from the farm.
You know, the team is justblown away.
So it's very cool and it's very, it's very, very special to be
(45:50):
able to to grow those and what'sour favorite thing about it is
that she finds all thesevarieties and colors and like,
basically gives Natalie and Imenu things and we go, oh, we
want that one, that one, thatone, and then she's able to grow
these things for us but areharder to to get and you know.
So it's very cool, very fun.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Oh, that's so exciting.
I'm motivated, I want to gowhen I go make one myself.
I just need to find a very goodstore.
I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (46:18):
It's a lot of work.
It really is.
You know, that's the one thingpeople that haven't farmed at
all is that it's a lot of work,very rewarding and very
important and a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
Meg, I was curious about your dried flower
selection.
I was recently doing someresearch on dried flowers
because I'm doing an upcomingarticle.
I mean you guys just doeverything.
I mean now I know you have amicro farm.
It just it just impresses me.
But I did see that you'recarrying a line of dried flowers
that you are shippingnationwide and we know it's been
trending and I just love seeingyou jump on all these things
(46:52):
that are trending and you knowtaking advantage of them.
But can you tell us a littlebit about that.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
It's super fun and it issomething that we haven't gotten
into.
Whether or not we're going toship fresh flowers nationwide,
that's a whole other game as itsown you know challenges, but we
do ship dried flowers becausethey don't need a water source
and it's a really nice way thatwe're able to share a little bit
of need of poppy's floralartistry with people, because we
(47:18):
, like I mentioned previously,you can ship gifts nationwide,
but we get a lot of people thatsay, oh, I'm hoping to get your
flowers, and so it's a nice wayto be able to do that.
So we do offer dried flowerswrapped in paper.
We also offer dried flowercrowns.
There's a few different thingsand we have a few different
colorways of our wraps and twodifferent sizes.
And then what's fun about thedried wraps, too, is that we do
a limited edition, seasonal runof things.
(47:39):
So we just did a rainbow wrapfor Pride.
We're 25 percent of theproceeds went to the LGBTQ
community here in or thecommunity center here in San
Diego.
And then we do a limitededition fall dried wrap.
We do a holiday dried wrap.
We should do one forValentine's Day and Mother's Day
, where we do like a one batchrun of something because all the
other ones are available.
(48:00):
Year round and then it's kind offun for from an exclusivity
standpoint, and we'll do like aValentine's one every year, but
they're a little different everyyear.
And dried flowers are also justnice.
I mean, I love fresh, but Ialso love dried because they
really are just basicallymaintenance free.
They literally don't need water.
You put them in a vase and theyvirtually last forever.
And that's amazing.
And for people especially who,like, either don't have the time
(48:22):
or the desire to be switchingout water, you know, whatever
it's a, it's a nice way to stillbe able to bring flowers in,
because they're real flowers,they're just dried and sometimes
preserved, but it's stillbringing nature into your home
in a capacity where you don'thave to worry about the
longevity of it.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
Well, there's so much better than they used to be too
.
I saw on your website whatyou're offering and the colors
are just beautiful.
I mean, I think when we used tothink of dried flowers, you
just think of that.
You know, just light color,very dried, crispy kind of.
But now you know they're ableto preserve them and keep color
and keep shape and keep textureand I just think it's really
neat.
But just wanted to say I justthink that's great business and
(48:59):
just love seeing all that you'redoing with your business and
it's an inspiration for floristfor sure.
So I hope you're out therelistening florist, because a
native puffy is one to watch,thank you for sure, and then
camera also.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
You have some other events that you do throughout
the year.
I had the pleasure of attendingone last year at the First
Ladies Luncheon.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
Sure, sure, as I mentioned, to Certified American
Grow.
Not only do we have ourpromotional efforts, but we
really work on fosteringrelationships to advocate and
focus on policy developments andcreating spaces to be able to
do that, and one of the thingsthat we are very honored and
privileged to be a part of on aregular basis is working with
(49:39):
the Congressional Club inWashington DC to annually put
together all of the floral andthe design and have it focused
on American grown for the FirstLadies Luncheon.
This is the the hallmark eventfor the Congressional Club on an
annual basis, whereby the FirstLady is honored, and bipartisan
club.
It's really again about thatcommunity and about coming
(50:01):
together to raise funds for theclub, for the First Lady and in
this case, in thisadministration, the second
gentleman and the leadership ofthe club's areas of emphasis,
and so work has been done toraise funds for cancer awareness
, for veterans affairs, forother things that are really
(50:24):
relevant to to the Americanpopulace as a component to the
work that they do.
But it provides us with thespace and the opportunity to
support their efforts and toagain deepen relationships in
such a way that we can providethe education, like we were
sharing earlier today that Megmentioned that, that we were
talking about.
That really elevates the theimportance of what is happening
(50:47):
on our US farms.
We're part of a global community, but what is happening here at
home is is very, verysignificant and in the sense of
what we're doing in WashingtonDC and in advocacy and making
sure that our homegrown farmscan persist for generations to
come, we need to have therelationships to do so.
(51:08):
So the First Lady's Luncheon isan annual event that we're
honored and privileged to beinvited back to and have the
opportunity to engage in.
We just finished up a wonderfulevent in partnership with the
Congressional Wine Caucus andwith the California Wine
Institute in celebrating wineand flowers and complimenting
some of the work that they'redoing Two wonderful, beautiful
(51:30):
things that go together that areproduced here domestically.
Why not celebrate thoseopportunities?
And so we recognize that thatwhat's happening in cutflower
and foliage farmers across thecountry here is a large part of
a larger component ofagriculture here in the United
States, and and we want tosupport folks who are providing
(51:52):
food and fiber, beauty andcomfort for us in all aspects.
So we're excited about some ofthe things that we get to do.
Spend a lot of time inWashington DC, as you might
imagine, we have an annualfly-in where farmers actually
come boots on the ground, so tospeak, walking Capitol Hill and
having really substantivemeetings and being able to to
(52:12):
share firsthand experiences andfirsthand how things impact
decisions that are being made inWashington DC and in other
parts of government, how thingsare impacting their businesses
and their families andcommunities in such a way that
we, we hope, to build moresupport and greater efforts
(52:32):
going forward.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
Very nice, and, meg, what's going to be on your
horizon in the future?
What are your future plans?
World domination.
Speaker 4 (52:43):
Maybe 2024, 2023.
There's no world dominationplan.
We have a lot of fun stuff thatcomes up for fall and holiday.
We have just a lot of like Imentioned, like limited edition
dried flowers for fall, and thenwe do a lot of fun wreaths and
garlands for holiday.
Something else that was reallyexciting and we're circling back
around on another campaign for,is our e-courses.
(53:03):
We actually launched twoe-courses this year or last year
yeah, last year gosh, time goesfast for you know it's
flowering 101 and flower crownmaking, and they're really
geared towards either floristswho are just getting into the
industry, who, like want somebackground information and a
good starting off place, orflorists who are looking to
(53:25):
break out of a maybe a moretraditional style and get into
kind of wild garden stylearranging.
It's also great for people whojust love flowers or have you,
and so that's something thatwe're working on bringing to the
forefront again, as well.
As our in-person workshops areback, which is exciting.
We brought those back just thislast spring for the first time
since the pandemic, and peopleare very excited to be able to
(53:47):
be with us in person andlearning in person and those are
really fun.
So we have a lot of workshopscoming up this fall.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Well, we are so excited to see new things that
you guys are going to create.
I'm sure it's going to be great, and thank you both for joining
us.
We really enjoy talking to youboth and appreciate you taking
some time and sharing with ouraudience what makes you guys
awesome.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
You're so kind.
Thank you so much, reallyappreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (54:13):
Thank you too.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
Take care Since 1897 in Chicago, florist review has
served the floral industry.
We're thrilled to have this newpodcast medium to help expand
the conversation in our monthlyprint publications.
Visit our website,floristreviewcom to subscribe.
(54:34):
We greatly appreciate yoursupport and please join us for
the next episode of the flowerhour with florist review.
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