Welcome everyone to the Flower Files podcast sponsored by Wildly Native Flower Farm. Here everyone is welcome to talk with fellow flower lovers, including real perspectives from the farm, the flowers and me, the florist.
Speaker 2:From the messy day-to-day operations down to the details and even business perspectives, this podcast has a little bit of everything. To keep it real, we know that life can get crazy and we don't always have the time to spend on what we love, so we are here to help you take a little time to indulge in nature. I'm Liza Goetz.
Speaker 1:I'm Lizzie Frey, and we are the team that makes this podcast. Every once in a while, we have a couple guests. This business thing and what we are working with is called life.
Speaker 2:Join us as we walk you through how to think outside the box, talk from the farmer's perspective, have honest conversations about florals and how to run well life so listen in.
Speaker 1:You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify in the podcast section and any of your other podcast platforms. You can also find us online at wildlynativeflowerfarmcom and, in an easy way, you can look in the show notes and all of the information will be right there for easy access for you guys well, hello there, flower friends, welcome back to the Flower Files, our podcast, where we dig into all things flowers literally from growing to designing to selling.
Speaker 2:I'm Liza and today we're going to be stepping off the farm a little bit and run into the wild literally. So I feel like there's a misconception about what we do because of the name of our business. So we're Wildly Native Flower Farm and oftentimes people will say to me oh, it must be so nice to just throw flowers into the field and then go pick them. That's not technically what we do. Technically we grow very specifically and with plans and very specific intent. But today I want to chat a little bit about folks who actually do walk out into the wild to go forage for wildflowers. This is an age-old practice that connects us to nature. I feel like it gives us access to really unique blooms that we can't always find and it can add really organic, untamed beauty to floral designs. So today I want to chat about the ethics and legality of foraging. You have to know, if you're allowed to, the best wildflowers to look for and a couple tricks and tips about them to make sure you're actually getting what you think you're picking, make sure you have the right tools and techniques aka don't use plastic and how to use those wildflowers and arrangements. So, whether you're a flower farmer, a florist or just a wildflower lover, this episode will give you the confidence and responsibility to beautifully forage. So let's get wild, okay. So the first thing I want to really start off with and talk about is the ethics and legality of foraging. So before we see this beautiful field on a natural walk and we go, oh my gosh, I just want to pick all of them, I want to make sure that we're not walking out of there with armfuls of flowers and we're foraging responsibly. So first of all, make sure you know the laws. It's actually illegal to pick wildflowers in protected areas, so national parks, state parks and even some private lands you want to make sure you're not picking them there. You want to check local regulations before you start foraging. You want to check local regulations before you start foraging. So if you've checked all of that and you know that you're in a safe place to forage maybe alongside the road or in a specific area that you know is safe you want to then follow the 1 in 20 rule. So if you see a wildflower species growing, make sure there are at least 20 plants in that area. Before picking any, why? Well, you want to make sure that you're not picking them and then wiping the crop out so that it's not there next year. So it ensures that the plant population stays healthy enough and, for your garden lovers, stays healthy enough.
Speaker 2:And for your garden lovers, never take the whole plant. You want to snip off a couple stems or blooms. You don't want to uproot the plant. Or, if you're collecting seeds, you want to collect seeds responsibly. Don't go through there and wipe out all of the seeds again, because you don't want to take all of that species out and you want to leave no trace. You want to respect nature. Don't damage the habitat and be mindful of wildlife that depend on these plants.
Speaker 2:Forging can be absolutely amazing and it's a great way to connect with nature, but you need to do it in a way that really ensures wildflowers continue to thrive for generations to come. If we're not careful and we take too much, or we take too many of the seeds, or we dig the whole plant out, that's not foraging. That's kind of like stealing. So just make sure you're doing it respectfully. Okay, so let's talk about the best wildflowers to forage for, and there are some amazing wildflowers that you can forage responsibly.
Speaker 2:The flowers you find depend on your region and it's going to depend on where you are in the world and what the season is and what you're actually looking for, but there's a couple common ones that work beautifully in arrangements. I think the first one that comes to mind when anybody says foraging is Queen Anne's Lace. Queen Anne's Lace is wild carrot it's that white flower. It looks like lace. It has the red dot in the center. Flower it looks like lace. It has the red dot in the center. It's got this really delicate lacy white bloom and it adds a really romantic and airy touch. The trick with that is knowing what Queen Anne's lace is and what it's not, because there are some other flowers that look very similar to Queen Anne's Lace and can actually burn you.
Speaker 2:Okay. So if you're foraging for Queen Anne's Lace and you're positive you have Queen Anne's Lace, totally fine. But there are some that are similar and you want to make sure that you are not picking these because they will actually burn you. So hemlock can cause all kinds of issues, so poison hemlock looks identical to Queen Anne's lace. It's actually really nasty, so it's toxic to humans and animals and it can result in external blisters from skin contact and life-threatening respiratory failure if inhaled or ingested. So not only is the plant dangerous but it's also easily mistaken for a non-toxic lookalike the Queen Anne's Lace. So it's very similar, but the umbels, the little flowers that collect all together actually are formed a little bit differently. So poison hemlock stem is smooth and hollow and has red or purple blotches on it, and queen anne's lace is a hairy stem which is green and can have a slightly purple hue at the base, but it doesn't have all of the blotching. So the biggest difference between those two is the fuzziness of the stem Bottom line.
Speaker 2:If you're not sure, don't cut it, just don't cut it. And one of the biggest things I've also learned forging here on our farm, there's many times where I'm like, wow, that flower is so pretty, I'm going to cut it and I'm going to see how it works. There's a lot of wildflowers that when you cut them they don't rehydrate. You cut them and they're done. So make sure you're testing things before you actually go and plan to use them. See how well they last. See how long they last in Oasis or if they last in just fresh water, if they work well with other flowers.
Speaker 2:The next one on my list is Black-Eyed Susans, and they are a beautiful pop of yellow that pairs amazingly with almost anything. It's Maryland state flower, but if you pick it in Maryland you can get in trouble, because it is legal, because it is our state flower. But the reason I bring that up when I talk about getting along with other flowers and vases, black-eyed Susans are a dirty flower. They actually turn the water very quickly to a yucky color in the vase. So there are certain flowers that just are not clean, and black eyed Susan is one of them.
Speaker 2:Black eyed Susans have a ton of varieties too, so there's annuals, there's perennials, there's really super huge ones. So there's Rudbeckia maxima. There's also a trilobo, which is a little teeny, tiny guy. So if you're foraging you're going to find the more common variety, which is a perennial. But I find, on those wild flowers, many times it's hard to get a stem and they are loved by pollinators and beetles and all kinds of things. Whenever I've seen them in the wild, I really, really struggle with them being the quality that I want. So make sure you're double checking for insects as well, because there could be all kinds of little caterpillars in the black centers that you don't see initially, because they blend right in.
Speaker 2:One of my absolute favorites to forage for and we're lucky here on the farm it grows all over the place. For us is goldenrod. Goldenrod is often confused with ragweed in the fall. Goldenrod has this bright, beautiful, just amazing set of flowers. It adds height. It's bright yellow glow to late summer, early fall blooms and there's a lot of different species. So goldenrod will be around for a while, but a lot of people look at it and they think it is something that's going to cause hay fever or allergies or something like that, and it's actually not that. So goldenrod is beautiful, an amazing pollinator as well, but if it's not cared for correctly or if it's harvested too heavily, we've had issues with it coming back. So this is when you really want to make sure that, while you may see a ton of it in places, make sure if you are foraging you're only taking what the correct proportion is Okay.
Speaker 2:So here's another one that's a great one to forage for and that's wild bergamot, also known as bee balm. They have these really pretty little purple flowers that they have a really unique shape and scent. They kind of hang, they're clustered. They smell really good. My biggest issue with wild bergamot is it seems to like it closer to the edge of the woods where it's a little bit damper, and that's also a favorite place for where poison ivy grows. So I personally am super allergic to poison ivy. So anytime I see wild bergamot I'm always super careful. I don't actually forage for it. I make sure I grow it on the farm, because that is just that's too risky for me. I feel like Queen Anne's Lace, black-eyed Susans and Goldenrod all like so much sun that the poison ivy, while it can still grow in those spaces, it really seems to flourish, at least where we are where that wild bergamot grows. So make sure you know your surroundings and make sure you know your plants. You've got poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac. You have so many other things Multiflora rose. You have Russian olive, myelominut vine. You have all of these other things that are going to be growing close to and probably around your wildflower. So make sure you know what you're reaching into, walking through or just accidentally brushing my last one here, I think one of my favorite things to forage for, and I do this again a lot on our farm and I feel like I see a lot of other florists talking about grabbing seeds and grasses and seed pods.
Speaker 2:So much in the fall, because they're kind of everywhere. Fall is an amazing time to forage for just really unique organic shapes, sizes and colors. So technically it's not a flower but their seed heads like foxtail, milkweed pods. They all add incredible textures. And all of the grasses there's so many different ways. And all of the grasses there's so many different ways. There's explosion grass and bunny tail grass that you can have things that hang. There's all kinds of stuff. It's incredible. So forging really allows us to use seasonal, local elements and designs that we may not find at a flower farm or a wholesaler. Plus, the price is kind of nice. Lotus pods are another product style of pod. That is absolutely incredible. There's cones as well. So all kinds of pine cones. There are so many different textures, colors and elements that you can grab from the wild that really make your arrangement stand out All right.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about the tools and the techniques for wildflower foraging. So you know a couple of the things. I just wanted to touch on a few of those, but let's talk about the best techniques for foraging. And I mentioned cones because in the summer the loblolly pines where we are, they drop the best cones. They're nice, big, full and they're open and we'll go out with crates and we'll just go through it and we'll forage and we'll collect all of these pine cones. But I learned my lesson last year.
Speaker 2:I have never had chiggers worse in my life than when we were walking through all of those pine needles. It was super dry. The girls that had jeans on with socks there were five of us. Two of us ended up with chiggers, three didn't. So the two of us were in a similar section and we were closer to the section where it was the woods and then the field. So we had walked through some taller grasses because we found like the mother load of pine cones and we collect them then because, first of all, they'll be dried out, secondly, they're nice and open. But third, the squirrels haven't gotten to them and chewed them by then. And then we have them and we're not out in the freezing weather trying to collect them later. Yeah, worst thing, worst chiggers of my life. Chiggers are no joke. They actually are worse than poison ivy, which is saying something.
Speaker 2:But anyway, make sure you have the correct containers. So you're going to want to have sharp clippers or your floral snips. You want to have a nice clean cut, and that goes for any time you're cutting any floral, but it keeps them healthy and makes processing so much easier. If you are foraging and you are in a space where you have to walk a pretty good distance, you're not going to want to carry buckets of water with you. So the best thing to do is to have a basket or a nice cloth bag. If you have plastic, the plastic can trap moisture and actually can make the flowers wilt faster. It's almost like a little greenhouse if it's too hot if you're laying them in there. So if you use a breathable basket or a canvas bag or something like that, it makes it a little bit easier for you to get them out of where you're harvesting them and then to get them to water. If you're foraging and you're far from home foraging and you're far from home, so you would forage in a basket or your cloth bag and then you would carry it back to your vehicle or to your house and then you would put it in water. So you want to keep everything fresh that way.
Speaker 2:I definitely highly recommend gloves. You're not going to be as familiar with these flowers, with their environment and what could be crawling in on or around them. So you're going to want to really be careful of thorns, anything that could cause you irritation, other little pollinators, somebody that you accidentally bump and they get upset and sting you. So I highly recommend gloves, because, yes, I'm looking at you thistle and wild roses and nettles and all of those things. And the best time of day you're going to want to harvest early in the morning, when the flowers are super hydrated and they're kind of crisp, and that's the rule of thumb straight across the board. Actually, late afternoon the blooms are going to wilt super quickly and it's not going to be worth your time. So how do you use them once you've gotten them? So you use your wildflowers Once you bring them home, it's time to incorporate them with other flowers.
Speaker 2:You can pair them with farm-grown blooms. Wildflowers really add that natural, untamed look. It's really what we're known for. We are that natural, wild style and you can pair them with your more structured flowers like roses or dahlias or lisianthus, of course, but it just adds for a completely different feel. But make sure they are conditioned properly.
Speaker 2:You would remove their lower leaves. Place those stems in cool water and let them hydrate for several hours before arranging with them, just like you would with anything else that you would bring in, and you're going to really be able to find that natural, flowing design. Their natural shape is going to guide the arrangement and they're not going to fit in that basketball rounded, super tight style. It's not how they work. But don't forget, some of your wildflowers are going to have shorter vase lives than your farm grown flowers. So know your customer, know your application and make sure people understand that it's going to be a totally different style of vase arrangement. You kind of blink and it's like whoops have to pull those out. So okay, so real quick. I just want to go back through here.
Speaker 2:So here's my top foraging takeaways you want to forage responsibly, so follow those laws. Never over pick and leave your habitats undisturbed. Work really well in arrangements. Make sure you have the right tools and harvesting techniques to keep them fresh, because it is a little different and you're going to want to really embrace that natural, organic feel of wildflowers in your design. It's so rewarding to bring back that little extra shazam of color or anything like that and know that you have connected with the land. So that's my favorite things about foraging for wildflowers. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with a fellow flower lover, leave a review and I would love to hear from you. Have you foraged for wildflowers before? What are some of your stories? I'm sure there's more than one of us out there who have gotten chiggers or poison ivy or ticks or any of those things, and I'd love to know what some of your favorite finds are. So tag me on Instagram, send me a message and until next time, happy foraging and happy growing. Bye, guys.