Dirt By Amy Stewart

Los Angeles events

If you're in southern California, I hope to see you this weekend.  Check my website for more event details. Here's where I'll be:

UPDATE--TOWN HALL EVENT CANCELED

 

Thurs April 26 5:30 p.m.
Town Hall Los Angeles
(Registration required)
515 S. Flower Street (Clubhouse)
Los Angeles, CA

Sat April 28
LA Times Festival of Books--Vroman's Book Bus
(Registration required)
Also signing at Dutton's booth at 2 p.m.
Los Angeles, CA

Sat April 28 5 p.m.
Discussion & booksigning
Village Books
1049 Swarthmore
Pacific Palisades

Worms in the New York Times

Something for Earth Day. Read my op-ed piece on earthworms in the Sunday New York Times.

Another Marketplace Interview

Listen to it online here.

New York, New Hampshire, Boston

I'm headed to New York this week.  If you're in the area, please stop by, and tell your friends, too.  The complete event listing is here; some of these do require pre-registration, so check that out first.

Wed, April 18 5:30
Nature Conservancy
Discussion & Booksigning
Butler Sanctuary, Mt. Kisco, NY
Suggested donation $100.  Call 914 244-3271 to RSVP.

Thurs Apr 19, 11:00 am
New York Botanical Garden
200th St & Southern Blvd
Bronx, NY
Pre-registration:  $15 non-members, $13 members.  Call 718-817-8747.

Saturday, April 21  6 p.m.
Discussion & Booksigning hosted by New Hampshire State Florists Association
Best Western Executive Court Inn
13500 S Willow Street
Manchester, NH
Admission:  $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
To register, call Valerie at 603-738-5691

Sun Apr 22, 2:00 pm
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
125 Arborway
Jamaica Plain, MA (Boston area)

And the Nominees Are...

The 2007 Mouse & Trowel Awards, an award program just for garden blogs and websites, has announced its list of nominees.  I hope you'll get over there this week and cast a vote for GardenRant and your other favorite blogs. Will there be a red carpet? Goody bags?  We'll find out!

More Green Florists

I just had a note from the owners of BlumeBox, a company that makes these easy-to-recycle cardboard vases with a plastic liner.  They're pretty cute--somebody gave me some flowers in one of these boxes while I was on the book tour--but what really interested me was the fact that florists are getting in touch with them because they are concerned about the environmental impacts of their packaging material and vases. 

It's fascinating to me to see that in a relatively short time, florists have gone from saying that they hardly get any questions from customers about where their flowers were grown or what was sprayed on them, to now, when I am getting e-mails almost daily from florists who want to buy organic or environmentally friendly flowers for their shop. 

And as this note from the owners of BlumeBox proves, florists are already taking the concept of sustainability and applying it to the environmental impact of shipping, and the other products they use, like vases and other materials.  It is certainly true that for this industry to really go green, it will have to think about sustainability in a much broader way. 

For example, what about compact fluorescent lights?  What about more energy efficient refrigeration?  What about water use?  What about recycling or composting?  Look at the plastic sleeves the bouquets come in.  How about switching to the biodegradable versions that are cornstarch based but look just as good as Mylar?

What about switching to solar at warehouses and distribution centers?  What about more energy efficient vehicles for transporting flowers?  Or buying carbon credits to offset the pollution generated from shipping?

The point is that going green doesn't just apply to growers.  It also applies to wholesalers and distributors and retailers. And here's a great example of a company that manufactures vases- a part of the floral industry most people don't think much about-but even today are going green:

Recently we have fielded a number of calls regarding the environmental benefits of the new blumebud.  Like our entire product range, we keep the environmental benefits and carbon footprint at the top of the design requirements list.  Awareness for the carbon footprint of everything we do and consume is becoming more widely publicized, almost mainstream, and here at blumebox we think right-on!

 In response to the questions asked of our products, lets begin with the materials.  All blumeboxes are made from as much post consumer waste material as possible, and such that it allows us to maintain the structural integrity and visual design aspects of our products.  A major piece of the puzzle that is often overlooked is the energy consumed in the supply chain.  This is largely driven by the weight and volume of the goods.  All blumebox products are designed so that they can be supplied flat and simply popped or folded into place.  This removes a huge amount of cost and waste out of the supply chain.  Lets think of a typical florist pushing standard glass vases.   These vases are typically supplied in a box of 12.  Blumebox can ship 50 blumeboxes in a case about the same size as that used to ship those 12 vases.  Therefore, blumebox is already reducing the impact by 75%.  Consider the storage and handling costs of multiple cases, heating and lighting the buildings, the multiplied waste through loses from damaged or smashed vases and we’re really offering a great alternative.

 Our business model also eliminates the intermediary where possible, such as distribution warehouses and wholesalers.  Not only does this offer the consumer a cost saving, we are not promoting the additional energy consumption used to light, heat and handle good in the locations, and not to mention the extra transportation required.   

 The story of the blumebud is even better.  Because blumebuds are made locally we have eliminated the additional shipping from the offshore manufacturers.  Blumebud is also made from recycled paper and can be stored and shipped flat dramatically reducing the carbon footprint. Blumebuds are so compact that we estimate they will use less than 5% of the energy required to ship and store typical bud vases due to their folding design. We hope this answers some of your inquiries regarding the environmental benefits of blumebox.

Are you a florist or a wholesaler with a "green" story to tell? Drop me a note!

A Florist Rolls Out a Green Wedding Package

Earlier this week I heard from Christine Saunders, a florist in Orange County, California.  You can check out Christine's flower shop, The  Spiraled Stem, here, but what I really wanted to share with you is the press release that she issued today.  It speaks for itself. How cool is this? 

Since Flower Confidential was published, I'm hearing from more and more florists who want to do something like this.  It seems like 2007 is the year for the floral industry to look at going green in a big way.

Southern California Wedding and Event Floral Designer Launches a Sustainability Program to Help Clients Have a Green Wedding

  Anaheim Hills, CA - April 11, 2007 - The Spiraled Stem Floral Design has created a comprehensive approach to green its business practices and go beyond the expected for engaged couples who are planning a green wedding.

  The Spiraled Stem is the first wedding and event floral designer in
Southern California to become an affiliate of organicbouquet.com, whose flowers are grown and harvested using practices that aim to improve the quality of farm working conditions, minimize damage to ecosystems, conserve biodiversity, and enhance environmental quality for future generations.

  Sourcing organic and locally grown flowers for clients is an important
first step, but going green means much more to owner Christine Saunders. "A
wedding may last for only one day, but I decorate weddings all year, so the
impact my business has on the environment is greater than any one event".

  And when one considers that there are an average of 2.4 million weddings
performed annually in the United States, representing a $50-$70 billion
dollar industry, one can see the potential impact of the wedding industry
greening up its act.

  In addition to offering a selection of sustainably grown flowers, The
Spiraled Stem Floral Design uses soy candles, recycles all paper and plastic
packaging from flowers and vases, properly disposes of all flower trimmings,
and offers clients a container rebate so they can enjoy the flowers after
the event and return the container later, or pass it on to their local
florist. Since The Spiraled Stem uses the freshest of flowers and brings
them in a day or two in advance of the event, the flowers do not need to be
stored in a cooler, therefore reducing energy use.

  The Spiraled Stem Floral Design specializes in weddings and events and has
served Southern California since 2004. The Spiraled Stem's mission is to
surround you with flowers that are almost as beautiful as you are.  The
Spiraled Stem is a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants, and was
the official florist of the Bank of the West Beach Games in Huntington
Beach, CA in July 2006.

  The Spiraled Stem Floral Design.Unique as the Love You Share

Flower Confidential on Marketplace Money

A few weeks ago, I visited Marketplace's Tess Vigeland right in her own backyard and we recorded a segment on gardening for the show.  It's a finance show, so you'll hear a lot of talk about getting the most bang for your buck.  I've already gotten one e-mail from a listener asking me to please not be so "opinionated" and "harsh" on the subject of annuals.

Opinionated?  Who, me?

Marketplace Money from American Public Media

Gardening With Hens

My good friend Michele over at Sign of the Shovel and GardenRant asked me how on earth I keep the chickens from destroying the garden.  I thought this was a blog-worthy topic, so here you go:

1. Forget about annuals.  Anything that self-sows is history.  The girls love to scratch in the dirt, and when they do that, they uproot tiny seedlings and probably even eat some seeds.  The bright side?  They do the same thing to weeds.
3. Fence off the food crops.  If you love it, so do they.  Fortunately, a silly little 18-in tall wire fence works just fine.  Chickens are not very adventurous, and when I've put the girls into the vegetable patch just for fun, they have completely freaked out and tried to escape, ignoring the salad bar before them.
4. Brand new plants might get accidentally dug up.  Fence off a newly-planted area or fashion a little cage of chicken wire and cover new plants for a few weeks while they put down roots.
5. Don't plant anything poisonous, like monkshood, foxglove, oleander, etc.
6. Remember that different chickens have different tastes.  One might develop a taste for your geraniums, while others leave it alone.  In my garden, I've found some nibbles on heather, geraniums, yarrow (but just a few plants--not all of them) and Maximilian sunflower.
7. On the plus side, my girls love snails and slugs.  So I'm gradually moving all the plants that snails eat to the part of the garden they have access to.  Hello, dahlia!
8. So what does grow in the chicken garden?  Plenty.  Here's what grows in the part of the garden where my chickens free-range:

Lamb's ear
Catmint
Yarrow (especially the silvery "moonshine" varieties)
Anenome
Artichoke
Salvia
Perennial herbs, including rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage
Shasta daisies
Phlomis
Hellebore
Lady's  mantle
Roses
Artemisia
Butterfly bush
Alstroemeria
Feverfew

Cast Your Vote for GardenRant!

I'm not asking you to vote for this blog, which I can barely manage to keep up, and am usually posting to via cell phone, which is just pathetic.  But please, consider casting a vote in favor of GardenRant. Where do you cast your vote?  Right here.