Starting this week, we will be celebrating American Flowers Week from the Slow Flowers Society. Running through July 4th, this week is all about advocacy and awareness of the benefits and importance of domestic, locally-grown flowers.

Last year we participated in the 8th annual celebration of domestic cut flowers hosted by the Slow Flowers Society by creating a piece of couture with botanicals which was unveiled and published in the Slow Flowers Journal!

Collaborating with Natalie Collette of The Gardenist we created our beautiful bluebird modeled by Ryan Matthew and captured beautifully by Sally Green Photography — it was a dream team.

Our Inspiration

We wanted to honor the Eastern Bluebird, a songbird with beautiful plumage and tail feathers that also happens to be the state bird of New York. Our bluebird was an homage to the biodiversity and pollinators that now call Sweet Earth Co. home as a result of our eco-gardening practices.

The Floral Palette

We worked with florals sourced from other slow flower farmers along with some grown on the Sweet Earth Co. flower farm:

• Delphinium, bachelor’s button, and snapdragons from CamFlor Inc.

• Muscari from The Gardenist

• Local hyacinth from East Coast Wholesale

• Dried amaranth and miscanthus from Sweet Earth Co.

The Final Design

Model: Ryan Matthew of Studio RM

Makeup: Xenia D’Ambrosi of Sweet Earth Co. and Natalie Colette of The Gardenist

Photographer: Sally Semonite Green

Location: Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Pound Ridge, New York

While we love to look back at this fun project, we also like to look forward. We aim to continue using eco-gardening principles in all that we do, and teach others about how they can be sustainable, too.

Happy American Flowers Week, flower friends!