THE FLOWER FARMERS: Inspiration and Advice from Expert Growers
Twenty-nine floral experts across North American share passion and know-how
May 6, 2025 -- Just in time for gardening season, The Flower Farmers delivers a
visually compelling collection of stories and flower-growing wisdom to inspire
gardeners and flower lovers alike. The creative lifestyle of flower farming is a
modern expression of the desire to connect with nature, get back to the land, and
sustain an authentic and sustainable livelihood. Readers are immersed in the
stories of 29 flower farms as they discover people and places where flowers are
planted, harvested, arranged and brought to market.
For The Flower Farmers, collaborators Debra Prinzing and Robin Avni have
collected profiles of specialty cut flower growers, farmer-florists, horticulturists
and floral designers who bring talent and innovation to domestic floral
agriculture.
Their book features a diversity of locations, from urban backyards and cutting
gardens to heritage farms and vintage greenhouses. Each flower farmer’s story
reflects a highly personal path to flowers. There’s a relatable diversity to the
people, locations, and enterprises featured in these pages, a testament to the
authors’ belief that growing flowers is a universal human act, one that’s accessible
and inclusive to all.
The path one takes to become a flower farming may be entrepreneurial,
environmental, or involve the desire to continue a family legacy. In their
introduction, Avni and Prinzing write, “We usually meet the flowers first; then we
consider the farmer whose hands grew those blooms. What we know begins with
the crops they grow; the uncommon, wistfully romantic botanicals that most of us
first encounter at the farmers’ market, or possibly at a roadside farm stand or
you-pick field. . . . When we know the farmer and learn about their journey to the
land, the farming lifestyle is even more alluring.”
The Flower Farmer is illustrated with photographs and portraits of the individuals,
their farms, greenhouses, flower fields, and cutting gardens. Each profile is
accompanied by a Featured Flower, diving deeper into a unique crop associated
with the farmer and includes cultural information, favorite varieties, sources, plus
growing, care, and harvesting tips. The farmers share sources and other insights
to inspire the reader to “garden like a flower farmer.”
The Flower Farmer opens with a foreword by respected floral icon Christina
Stembel, founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. In her essay, Stembel writes,
“Creating connections between friends and loved ones has been our bread and
butter for over a decade, and I am so excited for The Flower Farmers to create
those same connections, but between the people who love those flowers and the
incredible people who grow them.”
Sustainability expert Becky Feasby, owner of Prairie Girl Flowers, contributed an
epilogue to The Flower Farmers, writing, “As consumers increasingly prioritize
ethical and environmentally conscious choices, supporting local flower farming
emerges as a tangible way to mitigate climate change while nurturing vibrant and
resilient communities.”
Indeed, the narratives in The Flower Farmers express the immeasurable and
intangible ways each person who plants a flower seedling and tends to their soil is
helping to foster an atmosphere of sustainability on their patch of earth and for
the customers who buy their blooms.
Accolades for The Flower Farmers:
"If you've ever dreamed of being a flower farmer, this joyful book will show you
that dreams do come true. The Flower Farmers celebrates a rich tapestry of
creative and inventive free spirits who have built their lives around the soil, the
harvest, and their communities. It's a visual feast and a delightful dose of
inspiration."
-- Amy Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of Flower Confidential and The
Drunken Botanist
“In my work as a floral designer and educator, I am always inspired to design with
locally-grown flowers. And there's nothing more exciting than getting to know the
farmers who grow the beautiful flowers, and to know their stories, too. In The
Flower Farmers, I can dig deeper into those stories of floral entrepreneurs whose
paths are familiar to my own personal discovery of a flower-filled life.”
-- Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht, author of Flower Love and host of "The Big
Flower Fight" on Netflix
“Hope. Flowers so frequently represent our much-needed belief in hope.
Possibilities. The 29 hard-working and big-thinking flower farmers profiled in The
Flower Farmers: Inspiration & Advice from Expert Growers by Slow Flowers
founder, Debra Prinzing and her collaborator Robin Avni, offer readers a dazzling
abundance of hope and possibilities for how flower farmers and their innovative
businesses, large and small, new and long-established, in all corners of North
America, are growing our world better environmentally and economically,
socially and psychologically. From a great diversity of cultural and lived-
experience backgrounds, The Flower Farmers offers us all more
meaningful flowers and meaningful farms: more hope, possibility, connection,
and substance - blueprints for the stuff ‘that dreams [and our hopes for the
future] are made of.’”
-- Jennifer Jewell, Creator & Host of Cultivating Place, award-winning public radio
program and podcast
Book Specs:
The Flower Farmers
ISBN 9781419775697
$35.00
Hard back, 272 pages
Full color photography throughout
About the Authors:
Debra Prinzing: Debra is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and leading advocate for
domestic, local and seasonal flowers. Through her many Slow Flowers- branded
projects, she has convened a national conversation that stimulates consumers
and professionals alike to make conscious choices about their floral purchases.
Debra is the producer of SlowFlowers.com, the online directory to American
grown farms, florists, shops and studios who supply domestic and local flowers.
Each Wednesday, approximately 2,500 listeners tune into Debra's "Slow Flowers
Podcast," available for free downloads at slowflowerspodcast.com, or on iTunes
and via other podcast services.
Debra is editorial director and co-founder with Robin Avni of BLOOM Imprint, a
boutique publisher that identifies and develops creative book ideas by and about
members of the Slow Flowers Movement.
In 2016, the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farm-to-florist cooperative,
honored Debra with the first Growers Choice Award for her "outstanding
contributions to revitalizing the local floral community." She is a 2016 inductee to
the Garden Writers Association Hall of Fame and a 2019 inductee to Professional
Floral Communicators International. Debra has authored 12 books, including Slow
Flowers, The 50 Mile Bouquet, Where We Bloom, and, most recently, The Flower
Farmers (Abrams Books 2025).
Robin Avni: Robin works with authors and creatives to produce well-organized,
informative, and beautifully designed books and publications. She is a creative
veteran in the media + high-tech industries, including 15+ years in the media and
publishing industry and eight years at Microsoft in design and creative
management. Robin has successfully managed innovative, award-winning design
teams and high-profile projects as well as receiving numerous national design
awards and photo editing honors for her own work. She has produced 18 books,
including seven in collaboration with her BLOOM Imprint co-founder Debra
Prinzing.
Robin received a BA in journalism from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a
Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship at the University of Michigan, a grant
program awarded for outstanding achievement in journalism; she holds a Master
of Communication in Digital Media from a Master of Communication in Digital
Media from the University of Washington with a focus on visual communication.
Debra Prinzing
206-769-8211
debra@bloomimprint.com
debra@slowflowers.com
Website: slowflowerssociety.com
Instagram: @slowflowerssociety
Facebook: facebook.com/SlowFlowersSociety
Robin Avni
206-795-9311
robin@bloomimprint.com
Website: slowflowerssociety.com
Instagram: @slowflowerssociety
Facebook: facebook.com/SlowFlowersSociety