Amy Stewart Visits So Cal

Three of us from Avante Gardens treked up to Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena to attend Amy Stewart's presentation of her New York Times Best Seller, Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers. 

We were actually in for two treats - the first was just being in Vroman's itself. It's not like Orange County is the other end of the earth from Pasadena, but having only a few minutes to browse the inviting atmosphere of this independent book store made us all wish we'd visited this place sooner and allotted much more time. We'll definitely make a point to revisit Vroman's - soon!

We met up with Frank Quintanilla of Golden Rose in Rosemead, who brought the copy of Flower Confidential his wife had purchased at Vroman's for his Valentine's Day gift. (Great wife. :) ) 

I first learned of Amy Stewart's interest in the floral industry from reading an Op Ed piece she penned for the New York Times last Mother's Day titled "Pick Your Poison".  She described the poor working conditions and the use of pesticides on a commercial rose farm in Ecuador and urged consumers to request flowers that were from socially and environmentally responsible growers. Stewart told readers 

Try this experiment: Call your florist and say that you'd like a dozen pesticide-free roses delivered to your mother. Explain that you also want an assurance that the woman who picked them wasn't forced to work unpaid overtime or take her children to work to help her meet her quotas. 

The day I read those words my answer would have been a weak 'I'm not sure but I think so' - but within a few days, after requesting farm data from our rose importers, I was able to affirm that our growers were using best industry practices. Whew! It's good to get asked poignant questions once in a while.

The floral industry never takes kindly to negative articles, especially during a major holiday, and this Op-Ed was no exception. There was industry-wide fear that Stewart's upcoming book would be an indictment of the flower world, tainting the lover's gift of choice forever.

But by following Stewart's blog, there began to emerge the story of a writer passionate about her subject and eager to tell the stories of not only flower growers, but breeders, importers, brokers and retailers. Her posts about florists doing cool things,  shopping to send flowers while avoiding online order gatherers, and inspiring a renewed interest in flower giving in one of her readers all pointed to a more balanced - dare I say positive - industry portrait.

Stewart's Valetine's Day Op Ed in the NYTimes, "Local Color", lamenting the decline of neighborhood florists in United States and affirming our value to our communities, was music to all professional florists' ears. :) In a world where national marketers deride local flower shops, it was great to read someone extolling our virtues. 

Last night, Stewart's passion about her subject shone throughout her readings and lecture. Her warm personal style and attention to detail teased out many glimpses of the story of commercial flowers rarely heard by non-industry folk. We florists were particularly interested in her comparison of independent flower shops to independent booksellers, both striving to carve out niches in a world increasingly filled with big box retailers and online options. Neither of us would welcome joining 'butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers' as references to days gone by.

Unable to compete on price, we both seek ways to distinguish our unique products, knowledge, personal services and skill sets from our much larger competitors. And the funny thing is that major companies benefit from the passions we bring to our specialities - in both segments.

Reading Stewart's glowing praises from book reviewers across the US, I note the repeated use of the word 'lust'.  Well, you only have to hear her describe lily pollination to get why that word so totally describes her approach to flowers. 

So....we took her a bouquet and came home thankful that Amy Stewart chose to write her enthralling story about the floral industry. Thanks, Amy.
      

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