In this episode you’ll get to know one of the talented and dedicated farm members of the Philadelphia Floral Guild. Elise Hanks owns and operates Terra Luna Herbals , a microfarm located in the very urban Norris Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. Elise has been working in flowers for over a decade, both in florist shops and at farms. In fact, she was an employee at my flower farm all the way back in 2012 so this conversation and the way we work together now as peers feels beautifully full circ...
Aug 01, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 14
This episode is all about quality control in the local flower supply chain. To share some insight on this topic, Katy Beene, market manager for the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market joins us. Founded in 2011, the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market is really a frontrunner in the local wholesale cooperative model that has inspired so many flower collectives like the Philadelphia Floral Guild. With 18 growers, thousands of florist customers, and an annual sales volume topping 2.5 million, the SWGM is ...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Today we are hearing the story of how Jessica Cummings built her floral event business, We Are Wildflowers . Jess has had a unique approach to growing her business slowly through friendships and now does 80+ weddings a year with a merry band of floral freelancing friends. The We Are Wildflowers crew is committed to sustainable floristry that highlights locally-grown stems and uses zero floral foam. Lots of great tips for event design workflow in this episode! Jess is also a musician and finds be...
Apr 09, 2025•59 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Attention Florists! We’re back with another episode on how to sell local flowers, this time with a closer look at building a retail customer base who understands what local is and helps you tell the story of the stems. Unlike events, retail is all about building a relationship that lasts for life. A handful of dedicated customers evangelizing about how awesome your business are what you need. Not droves of social media followers. Guest Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, has...
Feb 21, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a lively chat about how to "sell local". As a florist working exclusively with locally grown stems for the past 17 years, Ellen has valuable insights into how to find the right customers and get their buy-in. In this episode, the conversation is focused on selling local to event clients, namely weddings and corporate. Come back again soon to listen to the next episode coming out, which will be about how to sell l...
Jan 26, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In this episode, I’m chatting with Grace McDonald from Flower Clvb, a fun little floral studio in West Philly. Grace is a builder of strong community and an advocate for the earth. She's put a unique spin on educating the next generation about flowers and nature. This episode is packed full of gems to apply to your own business! Be sure to check out Grace's Instagram feed @flowerclvb . It’s a great spot to see all-local designs and get inspiration. This podcast is brought to you by the Philadelp...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In this episode, I’m chatting with Rose Oland from Mullica Hill Floral Co , a florist shop that has been in business for 37 years. Rose and her mom who founded the shop are dedicated to supporting local flower farms and approaching floristry with sustainability at the forefront. Rose’s perspective of the industry is unique in that she literally grew up in the flower shop and has seen just about everything in the past three decades, including how the industry has shifted from guarded competitiven...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Today we're chatting with Emalee Lally, owner of Bird Seed Florals . Emalee has been a stalwart supporter of the Philadelphia Floral Guild since day one. Her design style and story are unique, including her attitude towards being an eternal novice. Three years in the biz, she’s still stretching her designer legs and has found being a beginner has some serious perks. Like coming up with a really clever way to enhance designs in pin frogs! Get a look at her singular design style on Instagram @bird...
Apr 13, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 7
We’re back on air with a conversation about selling flowers wholesale. This episode is geared more towards flower farmers, but might be a fun peek behind the scenes for florists as well. Many of you are already familiar with today’s guest, Scott Shepherd . Scott is the host of The Flower Podcast . If you haven’t checked out that podcast yet, be sure you do. Scott has such a unique position in our industry. He studied horticulture in college and has been a producer of specialty stems like hellebo...
Apr 03, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a five part series focused on key drivers of flower math for floral shops. An informative listen for both florists and growers! We wrap up the Flower Math series today with Part 5: Being Team Players. Being profitable as a small business, be it a floral shop or a flower farm, is a struggle. We all work with a very perishable product and have risky sales channels. What kinds of honest conversations can gorwers and...
Mar 14, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a five part series focused on key drivers of flower math for floral shops. An informative listen for both florists and growers! Fees add up! In Part 4 of the Flower Math series, we expose this often unseen sinkhole for profit. Growers have to charge delivery fees and often collectives and wholesalers charge handling fees. Florists have to absorb all of these fees. We go into how florists should be thinking about ...
Jan 15, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a five part series focused on key drivers of flower math for floral shops. An informative listen for both florists and growers! In Part 3 of the Flower Math series, we discuss quality and how that can impact flower pricing. What is "quality" to a florist? There's baseline quality that should be observed with all flower sales. But then there variable factors like product mix, stem length, stage of harvest, amount ...
Jan 15, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a five part series focused on key drivers of flower math for floral shops. An informative listen for both florists and growers! In Part 2 of the Flower Math series, we dive into product shrink and how it can be devastating to a flower shop's bottom line. A staggering 45% of wholesale flowers never get sold, instead ending up in the trash as a total loss. We discuss best practices at both the farm and in the shop ...
Jan 15, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Ellen Frost , owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a five part series focused on key drivers of flower math for floral shops. An informative listen for both florists and growers! In Part 1 of the Flower Math series, we dive into price per stem and how what a grower is charging a florist wholesale gets amplified through the mark up process. The price per stem has a huge impact on the profitability of both a flower shop and a farm. How do florists consider price pe...
Jan 15, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Welcome to Floral Guild Radio, where each episode explores another aspect of sustainable floristry and producing flowers commercially. This podcast captures the voices and stories of seasoned and beginner florists and farmers. Why Floral Guild radio? Firstly, this podcast is brought to you by the Philadelphia Floral Guild, a collective of flower farms in the mid-Atlantic region of the US selling together to local florists. And secondly, a guild is, by definition, an association of local artisans...
Jan 15, 2024•3 min
