A Coffee Break with Gather Flora LA

Did you see? Gather Flora opened up its LA branch last month and we could not be more excited to have access to local Southern CA blooms and further support in the local flower movement! This week Tiffany stopped by the LA stall for a coffee break chat with Peter Jantzen, Gather Flora LA Market Manager, to discuss the beginnings of Gather Flora, their values, and the So Cal local flower movement. While at the stall, Tiffany was inspired to design an arrangement using all the colorful local product available. See Tiffany’s design and a recap of their convo below:

Bronze fennel, penstemmon, purple agrostemma, California bluebells from Golden Heron farm play with calendula from Pepperwood farm!

Tiffany: “What made Gather Flora want to open up a LA branch?”

Peter: “One of Gather Flora's central missions is propelling the transition to a more environmentally sustainable floral industry. Southern California produces more cut flowers than any other region in the US, and LA florists play huge roles is setting national -- even global -- trends. We felt it was important to have a presence in LA as soon as it was possible. Big shout out to Hannah Melde of the incredible Golden Heron who played a huge role in getting the groundwork laid and making it as easy as possible for us to step in. We're just starting out, but already we're hearing from florists and designers that we've made shopping locally more feasible. We're proud that our presence translates to more locally, and transparently, sourced flowers being used day-to-day in LA floristry, and we can't wait to see how trendsetting LA florists are able to push forward the beauty of our farms' local, seasonal, sustainable blooms throughout the country.”

Tiffany: What is the biggest obstacle for the local flower movement in LA?

Peter: “We believe it's the challenge of cohering the volume, selection, and ease-of-sourcing across a small local grower network. There's LOTS of amazing growers, and lots of amazing product both in volume and variety. The problem is that on an individual basis, it takes florists, designers, and farms a lot of effort to source locally. A lot of this effort is, quite frankly, unpaid labor that passionate farms and florists eat the cost of themselves. That's where Gather Flora comes in. The core of everything is our online platform that helps growers make their product visable and available and it organizes and simplifies the order process for florsts. It does wonders in our effort to help the community overcome that hurdle. The physical location at the LA Flower Mart is the icing on the cake, where florists entirely new to the local flowers movement can stumble across dozens of farms' worth of local beauty can be found in one place.”

Tiffany: “What has been the biggest success so far?”

Peter: “Honestly, growers getting to experience just how much appreciation there is from designers and florists for what they grow! In order to shift to a more local floral supply chain growers are going to need to feel in their bones that it's worth their time and money and energy to grow more. The smiles on their faces when they get to hear from folks who are thrilled to be able to access their fresh, exciting flowers is a success on its own and a step toward having even more local flowers available.”

Tiffany: “How did you get started with Gather Flora?”

Peter: “I’ve always loved growing but have never done it professionally and perrenials and natives have always caught my eye. Hannah and I have known each other for a long time and I knew about Gather Flora in its very early stages. Last summer is when Gather Flora got ramped up enough to start seeking out staff members and I was at a point in my life where I was looking to move from my hometown in Kansas. I moved out here for this role and couldn't be more happy about it. There are lots of practical challenges that are not very flashy but there are lots of beautiful people and beautiful plants to be around that brings me a lot of joy.”

Tiffany: “What motivated Gather Flora to get started?”

Peter: “We (Gather Flora) are all connected collectively and motivated by unique beauty that you get with a flower that doesn’t have to travel a long distance [the quality of the vase life is as good as it can get...they are cared for well, they are harvested to order, transported with care, stay in water etc.], and by trying to create an alternative path for the supply chain of flowers to transition into a much more eco friendly way of doing business. Some of that is appreciation of the seasons but a lot of is lowering the carbon footprint. We are also motivated by our community both by economics (the revenue that comes from the floral community goes right back to their community for planting out more flowers and incorporating better practices) and then of course just the fun creative community...the florists and growers who become connected with one another. The long term viability and excitement of the industry is what we are trying to support and help create some change.”

Tiffany: “Would you say that California has a pretty big local growing pop vs other states?”

Peter: “Yes that is correct although over the last 15 years it seems like there are a quite a number of major metros around the US that have picked up on the slow flowers movement and have built out that community. It’s part of what feels like ripe in the moment for partnership. The fact that there is a growing number of people who are growing locally and florists who are also aware of sourcing locally and we are just trying to make that process easier and more efficient. Part of the not so flashy side of things is a web platform with a really efficient back end thats just trying to do logistics for people. We listened carefully to what we heard from florists about why they weren’t sourcing locally and selection, available quantities for events, and the need to go to so many different farms to fufill an order were the major reasons.”

Tiffany: “I did that one time...took me all day. It was like an 8 hour sourcing day and I was like ‘Wow this is not ideal’. “

Peter: “Exactly. We all have to balance our values with what we can make work in our professional lives. We know that lots of people care and we want to make it approachable to shift their style of purchasing on the florists end. On the growers end, the demand is there, and we want to help facilitate that connection and make it convenient for florists which helps show the farms that they are making a good decision and they can build out. The long term goal is a virtuous cycle where you get more demand that attracts more growers that attracts more demand etc.”

Dancing purple agrostemma from Golden Heron farm.

Peter: “What attracted you to the local flower movement?”

Tiffany: “Working with Studio Mondine has really opened up my eyes to the local market. Last year, especially, I started sourcing locally but as you said in LA, it’s very disjointed — one person here, one person there, and then you drive so far to pick up one bunch. I never regretted it, but from a time commitment standpoint, it was a lot, so I would only do it if I could fit it into my schedule. At the time, I was also working a full time job and so balancing it into my schedule was difficult. A lot of what you said rings true for me. Right before Gather Flora was established in SF I was doing a wedding up in Sacramento and I remember driving all the way up to Petaluma and back for local tuberose. I really wanted it and it was such good quality and you couldn’t find it anywhere else, so it was worth it to me. But it took us the entire day. Now that Gather Flora is at the SF market and we can place orders and pick up directly with you, it’s so nice to both support local farms and growers and be able to source quality local product that we can incorporate in our designs instead of having to source imported flowers. With our larger weddings, it can be difficult to have a completely local order but what I’m learning is there’s always ways to supplement your order with local flowers and that’s a priority for us.”

Peter: “Yep that makes sense. One of the things we are trying to explore is in what circumstances is it not yet at least understood to be workable from the florist perspective to fill a full local order. We have a lot of volume and selection after just one year in San Francisco and we want to bring the same set of opportunities here.”

Tiffany: “There are a lot of locally grown products that come through our other wholesalers, but don’t always know if they are locally grown. That’s the other piece of it — that what is imported and what is locally grown is not always distinct or called out, and we have found it challenging to find that information readily available. There should almost be a “locally grown section” for the other wholesalers at the market too. It is definitely a balance for florists when sourcing locally because some of the products that our clients want, or that enhance our design, we can’t necessarily source locally because it’s not grown here or not seasonally available in California. But again, I think with better awareness and knowledge, we can propose products that we know we would be able to get locally or are seasonal so we are not always defaulting to getting imported florals.”

Peter: “Yes, having product knowledge is key and florists have a lot of product knowledge but they are not as familiar with the origins. Thats part of what we are trying to bring some awareness to that hits on an important point. We carry through the farmers identity in the stall in the form of a colored rubber band and that is not only a way to ensure we are paying the right people for the product itself but on our receipts here it shows the farm name and online similarly. We are never trying to brand over the farm of origin both for their visibly and also because that source chain transparency is what I would generically call the category of ‘knowing where your stuff came from’ and then making choices around that. And yes I do there is a limit to what can be grown seasonally or locally and I don’t think thats going to change.

Tiffany: “How does the local flower movement in LA differ from Northern CA?”

Peter: “One of the differences between So cal and Nor cal is water and we have restraints here that we want to be contentious of but keeping the information traveling with the product allows florists to make choices. Over time there is a feedback cycle that helps the community show what they care about. There’s something of a democratized, decentralized way of voting with your pocket book that helps us express the values that are otherwise abstract.”

Tiffany: “Whats the best way to encourage the use of local flowers amongst florists, wholesalers, and clients?”

Peter: “Head-to-head the flowers speak for themselves. They're so much more vivacious and exciting in a way our buyers tell us they've never been able to access before. Not to mention great vase life. But it's true that the there aren't yet enough local flowers to meet everyones needs, so we encourage folks to start small if it's new to them. If a client wants a particular out-of-season item and it's a dealbreaker for them, get local greens to compliment it. If you have a palette and some flexibility, check out what's available locally and find something inspiring to build around. And take the opportunity when you're working with clients to simply let them know there are local options. Options that support local growers economically, that reflect the region's specific ecology and are unique because of that, linked to the place. Options that are harvested fresh, create almost no waste, and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the arrangements that are meant to bring the increadible beauty of nature to their event or into their home. Our flowers stop seasoned florists in their tracks with joy, delight, and surprise. We know they have the potential to do so for their clients to - we just have to give folks at home that chance.”