Monetizing Slow Flowers

By Debra Prinzing

I’ve been riding a holiday high since the Fourth of July, and it’s not because of the fantastic fireworks displays. It is because when I logged into Keyhole, the social media tracking program I use, and checked the numbers for #americanflowersweek, I discovered that the hashtag had generated more than 1.3 million impressions in a 30-day period – all but a few hundred thousand of which appeared during the seven-day span of my Slowflowers.com campaign “American Flowers Week.” I’m pretty right-brained, but sometimes it’s nice that the metrics verify one’s “feelings” of success.

What began as the title of a book, Slow Flowers: Four Seasons of Locally Grown Bouquets from the Garden, Meadow and Farm, has become a moneymaking “platform” and my “brand.” No one is more surprised by this turn of events than me. American Flowers Week, a social media and advocacy campaign coinciding with Independence Day, is one of three channels that I’ve begun to monetize. The other two include the Slow Flowers Podcast (launched in July 2013 at debraprinzing.com) and Slowflowers.com, the free nationwide directory of American (and now Canadian) flowers and the florists, farms, and studios who supply those blooms.

Coming to America: An Aussie at the GWA Pasadena Symposium

Andrea overlooking LA

by Andrea Whitely

It was a conversation I would have several times. “So how is it that you are here in Pasadena?” one lady asked me. “I’m here for this.” I replied. “Really?” she exclaimed, “All the way from Australia?!” And so it went. To be a First Timer at a GWA Symposium is one thing but to be a First Timer from Western Australia is quite another.

GWA members strolling through a private garden in the Pasadena area

How hard could it be, right? I’ve had a successful radio program, I‘ve done loads of public speaking gigs, launched books, travelled the world, run multimillion dollar businesses. Get in there girl, I thought to myself. So after settling in at The Hilton I headed over to the Pasadena Conference Center where I received a bag of welcome goodies and a pocket badge with a large blue cloth sticker saying “First Timer.” There was no hiding the fact that I was the new kid on the block here.

GWA at Cultivate ’16

GWA members gather at Cultivate ’16 for a Connect Meeting

by Ann McCormick

A birthday cake made with ‘SunPatiens’ impatiens

Thanks to a generous offer by AmericanHort, over two dozen GWA members enjoyed free registration to Cultivate ’16 in Columbus, Ohio. I was delighted to be one of those able to attend this event, billed as “the largest all-industry trade show in North America.”

My first impression matched the descriptions I heard from others who had previously attended. Exhibitors covered every aspect of the horticultural world – from plant breeders, to greenhouse suppliers, to retail nurseries and everything imaginable in between. I was warned that they exhibit floor was large and I should be prepared for lots of walking. They were right. Wearing comfortable track shoes and sporting a just-purchased rolling briefcase stocked with a notepad and a thick stack of business cards, I hit the trade floor.

Moving Yourself Forward: Garden Geeks, Communications Careers, and Masterminds

by C.L. Fornari

Recently I got an email from another GWA member who was lamenting that she wasn’t capitalizing on all available opportunities to share her work. I commiserated that we all feel like we could and should be doing more. I went on in my reply to say that one way we can do better at moving forward, is by being a part of a mastermind group.

Simply put, a mastermind group is a gathering of two or more people who share the same goals and agree to meet frequently to help each other out and spur each other on. You might band together with garden communicators who all need to update their websites or blogs. A group of photographers might form to explore new software or file sorting systems. A group of unpublished writers might unite with the goal of writing book proposals and sharing information about query letters or editorial contacts.

Region VII Members Enjoy Oshawa Peony Festival

by Lorraine Hunter

A plethora of peonies greeted Region VII members at the 12th Annual Oshawa Peony Festival on June 12. With more than 300 varieties in colors ranging from pure white to pink, yellow, coral, rose and deep red, the outdoor collection of herbaceous and Itoh hybrid peonies at the Oshawa Valley Botanical Garden was truly impressive. The indoor judged display of hundreds of cut blooms was equally as charming.

Hunt Country Gardens & Growers Tours

GWA members gather to begin their tour of the Ladew Topiary Gadens

by Teri Speight

Every time I think about the Hunt Country Gardens and Growers Tour, which served as the Region II Education meeting, I cannot help but smile. We started the morning off at Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Maryland. Kirk Brown did a terrific job of getting us excited about upcoming GWA events. After he finished Proven Winners treated us to some fabulous plant offerings, just the beginning of a truly memorable day.

Attendees were charmed by the cottage garden at Ladew Topiary Gardens

Kirk then introduced us to Barbara Barnoff, Director of Visitor Services and Volunteers at Ladew. She shared with us recent changes and exciting plans for the Butterfly House and the Meadow slated for this season. This was definitely something that was of interest to the group. We were anxious to begin our guided tour.

After a continental breakfast, we were off and running on a guided tour of Ladew Topiary Gardens. Our first stop, of course, was the garden containing the topiary figures of The Hunt. Our tour guide told us a little of the history, including how one of the topiary dogs was crushed by a visitor sitting on it!

Triple X Writing: How One Author Fills in the Blanks

by Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

As a former reporter for daily newspapers, I know what it’s like to write on deadline. I’ve read about the topic, researched it, and completed interviews. I know the story I want to tell, I’m on a roll and the words are pouring out. The last thing I want is to stop that creative process because I can’t think of a word, quote, or detail.

I confess I’m not a horticulturist. I just play one in print. When I’m writing my weekly garden column, a magazine feature, answering readers’ questions, or building a PowerPoint presentation, I frequently have to look up the scientific name of a plant. I always include the scientific names because I think it helps readers locate just what they are looking for. 

Mysteries, Lore, and More: Spring Region III Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky

We had a great group attending the Region III meeting

by Carol Michel

Can you imagine visiting a botanical garden, a mystery writer’s garden, a retail nursery full of tropical plants, an arboretum / research forest, and a cemetery arboretum in just 24 hours? If you attended the GWA Region III meeting in June, you not only imagined it, you actually did it. There were highlights at each stop.

• Yew Dell Botanical Gardens featured an outstanding collection of plants and a castle to go with the plants.
• Brian’s Botanicals gave us all a chance to find the perfect tropical plants for our Midwest gardens.
• At Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, we gathered in a LEED Platinum building before heading out to see the vegetable garden and a traveling display entitled Vanishing Acts: Trees Under Threat.
• At the historic Cave Hill Cemetery, we viewed a collection of unique and interesting trees, some of which are the largest of their species.

Networking Saves the Day: How One Author Located Hard-to-Find Ingredients

by Ellen Zachos

Writing is a solitary profession. Gardening often is too. That’s one of the reasons I love GWA and the friends and colleagues I’ve met as a member. Not only does GWA provide a network of accomplished professionals, but it’s also a social group, full of friendly, interesting people who are willing to go the extra mile to help out a fellow member.

The fresh purslane for this cocktail was shipped from Indiana to New Mexico

This past fall, as I worked on my most recent book, I had reason to appreciate this aspect of the vast network that is GWA. Because the subject of my book is intensely seasonal (The Wildcrafted Cocktail) there were several instances in which I needed to test a recipe with a plant that was no longer available where I lived.

When I needed to distill rose water from fresh, organic rose petals in November, I figured I was out of luck. Then I thought, hey, I know some garden communicators who live in warmer parts of the country…maybe their roses are still blooming. Within a half hour of posting my request on Facebook, Ann McCormick answered and said she thought she could gather enough for me before an impending storm touched ground in Fort Worth. I gave her my FedEx number and the next day I had a ziplock bag full of lovely pink ‘Old Blush’ rose petals, fragrant, fresh, and ready to be distilled. Ann refused compensation for her time and effort; all she asked was that I write this blog post!

Let Me Introduce…Making an Introduction Work For You

By C.L. Fornari

If you’re a speaker, you’ve been introduced to many audiences. Some of those introductions have undoubtedly been short and sweet while others have been long and rambling, non-existent, or (worst of all) inaccurate.

Sadly, program chairs might take information off your website that appeals to them personally. In doing so they might be ignoring your credentials, the audience’s interests, or the topic you’re presenting. Others might read your entire resume, so that the audience is on the edge of slumber when you take the stage. Yet these incidents can be avoided.