During a recent visit to the Monroe Blooms Flower Show in Monroe, GA., I met Ashley Blackstone and Samantha Kramer from Wellspring Flower Farm. What stood out were their vibrant flower varieties and color palettes. In this episode, they discuss their farm's growth from a small plot on a horse farm to a flourishing 3-acre operation, with plans to expand further. We explore how they've optimized their space and resources, their success in serving florists across Monroe, Athens, and Atlanta, and their use of platforms like Rooted Farmers. This conversation is filled with insights on business growth, client engagement, and the creative use of farm space. A must-listen for anyone looking to expand their flower farming or floristry business!

Learn more about Ashley, Samantha, and Wellspring Flower Farm, plus all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

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Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

Last week when we released our episode with Henk Onings I mentioned at the end that we continued the conversation about Ranunculus, Anemones, and the Tulip bulb crop this year. So be sure to go and listen to Part 1 of our chat with Henk.

So to recap, my guest this week is Henk Onings and soon after graduating school he moved to Pompeii, Italy for a couple of years to learn the floral industry with the family business. Then the opportunity to start Onings America brought him to the United States where he developed a business selling and suppling lily bulbs to North America. 27 years later they have grown to so much more and I’m excited to share my conversation with Henk this week on The Flower Podcast.

It’s really good to chat about growing this special flowers and the time that it takes to hybridize, grow inventory, and then release new varieties of these Italian beauties.

Learn more about Henk, Onings America, and all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

You can listen to Part One with this Link.

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Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

This week’s guest was born in the Netherlands into a family that started their business in 1935 and now 3 generations later, soon to be 4 generations Onings Holland is known for distributing a wide range of flower bulbs, tubers, and seeds around the world.

My guest is Henk Onings and soon after graduating school he moved to Pompeii, Italy for a couple of years to learn the floral industry with the family business. Then the opportunity to start Onings America brought him to the United States where he developed a business selling and suppling lily bulbs to North America. 27 years later they have grown to so much more and I’m excited to share my conversation with Henk this week on The Flower Podcast.

We chat about how the bulb sales and production is often determined by big box stores. Lilies can be an important part of your flower production. It was also great to chat about freesia, a flower that I wish was grown by more local farmers. Next week we are going to release part 2 of our conversation. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts to receive it automatically.

Learn more about Henk, Onings America, and all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, Live’s, and video extras.

Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

This weeks my guests are Leandra Gollob and Daniel Mench of Cocolani Gardens located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Both were born and raised on the windward side of Oahu, where they’ve grown up with a love for all things nature. Together with this love and gratitude, they farm one-acre of lush tropical land with over 50 varieties of ginger and heliconia! Some species include sexy pink heliconia, kawauchi, stricta, tagami, torch gingers and an assortment of beehive gingers amongst many others. They strive to push the boundaries of tropical floristry by searching for uncommon species of flowers, and using novelty plants and fruits found locally in their arrangements. From seed to table, they personally manage the entire process to ensure their clients are provided with the best possible blooms for the events they produce.

Learn more about Leandra and Daniel and all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, Live’s, and video extras.

Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

We are starting off our new season with Julia Keel, co-owner of Full Keel Farm in north central Florida. Julia brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the table as she specializes in cultivating specialty cut flowers while navigating the unique challenges of a hot and humid climate. She’s passionate about teaching, has presented and lectured at national conferences, and truly embraces the challenge of adapting production methods to Florida’s climate.

This week, Julia shares techniques she uses like paper pot planters and releasing beneficial insects and other insights as a flower farmer that she hopes will help other growers in their own flower journey. Julia also shares about her expansion on their new property and we dive into growing spray larkspur, didiscus, and delphinium in her climate. Maybe a flower farm isn’t your first thought when you think of Florida but it’s a different kind of Florida fun and beauty and it all starts now on The Flower Podcast.

Learn more about Julia, Full Keel Farm, and all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, Live’s, and video extras.

Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

One of the most exciting trends that I believe is here to stay is flower trucks. These mobile floral shops bring fresh blooms directly to communities, markets, and special events, offering a fun and unique experience for customers. Flower trucks also present fantastic opportunities for aspiring florists and small business owners. With lower overhead costs compared to traditional storefronts, entrepreneurs can focus on sourcing high-quality blooms and building their brands on a scale that fits more comfortably within a new business budget.

I’m thrilled to introduce Mattie Bush-Martin, the creative force and founder behind Amelia’s Flowers. Inspired by her time in Paris, Mattie aimed to create a unique and artistic floral experience that Nashville had never seen before. In 2016, with just one truck, Mattie set out to bring this vision to life, and it quickly resonated with the local community.

Today, Amelia’s Flower Truck is a thriving company with three trucks, three brick-and-mortar stores in the Nashville area, one in North Carolina, and has expanded to nationwide delivery and subscription services.

Learn more about Mattie and Amelia's Flowers with all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, Live’s, and video extras.

Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

Welcome to The Flower Podcast, the podcast for anyone who grows or designs with flowers and even then, we talk about so much more. I'm your host, Scott Shepherd and I love chatting with guests about their stories, and uncover the beauty and challenges of working with flowers. I’m excited to share this special conversation this week.

Several months ago, LuAnn Dickson Founder and CEO of EveryStem Software asked to turn the microphone on me for her members. We had a great time chatting about how the podcast began and diving into several questions surrounding floral wholesalers, her members had questions about ordering, pricing, credits, and more. So, I hope you find this chat helpful too. We’ve edited the interview down, but I know it was a lot of fun talking shop and hopefully helping to understand how to maximize your relationships with some of your flower suppliers.

You can watch and listen to the entire conversation by visiting the YouTube channel of EveryStem Software.

Learn more about all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, Live’s, and video extras.

Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop

My guest this week is Heather Cain, owner of Petal Pink Flower Farm. From the urban life in San Francisco to the somewhat accidental purchase of a rundown farm in Eugene, Oregon, Heather shares about the family farm life, her incredible trip to Italy and seeing how they trialing the latest in Italian ranunculus. We are also discussing one of my personal favorite crops, hellebore, and much more. It’s a flower journey that takes us from Petal Pink Flower Farm to the greenhouses of beautiful Italy and it all begins right here on The Flower Podcast.

Today we chat about:

• Heather’s trip to Italy with other American growers to see the latest in ranunculus and anemones.
• We discussed growing Hellebores and what to look for when picking varieties. * We also chatted about Salpiglossis and growing it.
• Finding ways to create boundaries to help manage time.
• Why it’s a good idea to take some business courses to help you as you grow your business.

Learn more about Heather and all of our past guests by visiting TheFlowerPodcast.com

Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Gaana, and many more!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for access to all of our Zoom chats, tutorials, Live’s, and video extras.

Sponsors of The Flower Podcast

ASCFG

Farmer Bailey

Rooted Farmers

Real Flower Business

Accent Decor

The Gardeners Workshop