Spoiler alert: As far as I can tell, there isn’t a Floral History Month! Where’s the petition to start one? I’ll sign! But I did just read that today is National Floral Design Day and that feels perfect for all I have to share about my flower filled February.

I feel like I had just about the busiest February on record, and as you read this, I’m likely off on another floral adventure. To start things off, I hosted members of The Tidewater Flower Collective at my studio for a way overdue get together. Of course, there was a seed and plant swap, but we also learned how to make gorgeous pressed flower picture frames from Briana of So Many Flowers!

Bitty Blooms, So Many Flowers, Bluebird Holly Farm, Jade Rabbit Flowers, The Petal Patisserie, Fleetwood Botanical, Bone’s Bees and Blooms, Mermaid City Flowers, Lakeside Blooms, The Flower Farm at Young’s Mill, Vuono Acres

Next, I visited the Portsmouth Colored Community Library Museum’s new exhibit-Forged in Hampton Roads: A History of Black Labor. I’m proud to be among those featured and I highly encourage you to visit if you can, the exhibit will be open till October.

Following my museum visit, I headed to the first SOWTH conference in Atlanta where I spent time with my Black Flower Farmer family and gave a presentation on flower farming alongside my homies The Cottens. I also had the privilege of hearing the wonderful Farmer Cee of Green Heffa Farms give the most colorful and inspiring keynote I’d heard in a while!

After the conference ended, I met up with my longtime online friend, fellow Brooklyn, Caribbean, and Tech Girl MJ at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. We arrived the day before the opening of the orchid show and were treated to the delight that is massive displays of flowers flanked by disco balls. Can’t be mad at that! Did you know that I’m an orchid girl? I’m one of those people that manage to keep them reblooming year after year in place after place. Don’t ask me what the secret is because I’m not sure I know!

Anyway, MJ and I ran into Stephanie of MysticPine Farm, at the botanical garden, kismet! It was especially timely because I’m exploring and pushing deeper into herbal and aromatics for floristry going forward. She was there with her cousin, a horticultural therapist, and we all stopped and chatted for a good long while in the way that plant people do and I left that whole interaction feeling incredibly joyful. I love spending time with garden people, and spending time with Black women in horticulture during Black History Month was everything I didn’t know I needed!

The next day, I had the profound honor of being given a tour of historic Oakland Cemetery by my friend Abra Lee, who happens to be the director of horticulture there! Abra is a gardener and historian and I can’t wait for her book to come out! In the meantime, you can catch her as the co-host of one of my favorite podcasts, Cultivating Place. After Oakland, we visited ADAMA and as we made our way to the (incredible fine art beading) exhibit we saw the cutest pink container building, and were immediately drawn to it, because plants. And that’s how we discovered Pink Pothos ATL, a Black woman owned houseplant shop and plant service! Please do check Lakeisha out if you’re ever in ATL and shop her store online!

As you can imagine, my heart and mind were so full in the best possible way after a week in Atlanta, so of course, I headed to New Orleans. Stay tuned for what ended up being the most inspiring holistic workshop experience I’ve ever been to. And have a great weekend!

Floral History Month

Viv La Woz