Tom Karwin, On Gardening: Flowers from field to vase

Editor’s note: This week we reached into the archives for a classic Tom Karwin column which was published in 2012.

People, like bees, are attracted to flowers, always for beauty (and occasionally for food).

We enjoy flowers in our gardens, but we want them indoors, as well. Americans buy some 10 million cut flowers a day. About 80 percent are grown outside of the United States and brought in by air, in a stunningly efficient transition from field to vase.

Amy Stewart told the story of the global flower industry in “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful” (Algonquin Books, 2008). Her fascinating book explores “the startling intersection of nature and technology, or sentiment and commerce.”

According to one reviewer, “Flower Confidential” reveals so much about the technology and chemistry of the flower biz that it “may compel us to return to something purer, more local.”

Stewart’s fellow garden writer, Debra Prinzing, responds to that vision in “The 50 Mile Bouquet: Seasonal, Local and Sustainable Flowers” (St. Lynn’s Press, 2012).

Prinzing clearly favors emerging alternatives to the $40 billion floriculture industry, which focuses on uniformity and durability. In her view, “factory flowers” may seem close to perfect, but they offer little or no scent, a maximum of preservatives and pesticides, and by the time they reach your vase, a relatively short life. She writes that they “have lost the fleeting, ephemeral quality of an old-fashioned, just-picked bouquet.”

The alternative she applauds is the nascent industry for producing cut flowers that are sustainably grown and locally sold. “The 50 Mile Bouquet” profiles a series of small-scale organic flower businesses, mostly on the West Coast and operated mostly by couples that are inspired by nature and particularly by flowers.

Prinzing explores floral design, featuring imaginative individuals who advocate “green” floral design. Their arranging supplies do not include green foam, the main ingredient of which is a known carcinogen, formaldehyde.

The final chapters address the role of florals in celebrations and festivities, and resources for flower growers and arrangers.

The book is a feast for all who enjoy having flowers in their lives and in their gardens. It is the product of a flower lover and gifted writer (and president of the Garden Writers of America, no less). This beautiful book also includes fine photographs by David E. Perry, whose pictures capture the book’s spirit and the commitment of many flower growers and floral designers that we come to know.

Tom Karwin can be reached at gardening@karwin.com.

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