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. I'm Lizzie.
Speaker 1: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, good morning everybody. Hi flower people, welcome back to the Flower Files. Long time, um, no listen. I guess you don't hear my voice. Been a little while, but in a good way. I've been preoccupied in some other things, but I have definitely still been behind the scenes. But today it is just me and mom on the podcast and you get to sit with us for 30 minutes or however long it may be.
Speaker 2:So hello flower friends. Welcome back to the Flower File, our podcast, where we dig into the dirt, the blooms and the behind-the-scenes life with flowers. I'm Liza, your flower farmer, educator and big believer in chasing beauty one bloom at a time, joined by… Lulu.
Speaker 1:Lizzie.
Speaker 2:Our designer, who literally does chase the blooms and always has. Today's episode is going to be short, sweet and sharp. This is a sharp one, literally. So today we're going to talk about clippers versus knives and basically what tool you should be using to cut your flowers, and why does it even matter? So, whether you're snipping stems in your garden, maybe you're harvesting for a bouquet, maybe you're prepping blooms for a floral installation, this one choice makes a huge difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I've heard multiple opinions on both sides for completely different reasons. A hundred percent. I don't think there's one good choice for one and one bad choice for the other. I think it's completely on preference A hundred percent, yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:I think we back up just a tiny little bit and we just start with the basics. I think we start with what happens when we cut the flower. So I want to talk a little bit about why the tool matters. And when you first start off and you cut the flowers, you're separating the stem from the plant, but that's not it. You're making a wound, and how you make the wound affects how long the flower will last, how much water will take up and even how it looks in a vase. So, for instance, if you're doing something and you cut yourself and it's something very, very sharp, you have a nice cut and your skin likes to come back together and it's a lot easier.
Speaker 2:But if you hit yourself, maybe with something that's not super sharp and it kind of tears, you have a harder time with repair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have like a lot of little wounds in a way, not one smooth one, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:So if you have a dull cut, you have a crushed stem and that can equal sad and droopy flowers. And this goes with saying you know, you already know, that the water has to be clean and you've taken off all of your leaves and all of those things. We are literally just talking about the cut at the bottom. So enter the contenders Ready. Okay, you've got the knife. And for those of you who are old enough to know who Crocodile Dundee was, all I can hear in my head is the knife.
Speaker 2:It's sleek, precise and favored by many of your traditional florists. Or the clippers, which are quick, convenient and commonly seen in the hands of farmers and field workers.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I feel like and when I say clippers I don't mean like pruners- no, not like the really thick, like hard-handled, not like a Felco or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Not something that you would see on the hip of a landscaper. These are floral clippers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, unless you are cutting woody stems, then you don't need thicker clippers, but for flowers specifically. That's what we're talking about.
Speaker 2:And there's, if you hop on Amazon and you type in floral clippers but for flowers specifically, that's what we're talking about and there's, if you hop on Amazon and you type in floral clippers, there's 399 pairs and there's 3099 pairs. So it really does matter, and Liz is the master at making sure things are sharp in this barn.
Speaker 1:Well, I feel like we, we rotate, like I have a joke. Every year I break out a new pair, every wedding season, but even though this wedding season might look a little bit different for me, but, um, I always try to start. Why does this wedding? Season look different for you, lizzie because I have two little twin babies coming along. I think right now I'm by the time this podcast goes up, I'll be 29 weeks and I'm already measuring at 35 with the two little 20s. If it was compared to a single 10.
Speaker 2:So, instead of you standing at the counter, you're sitting. Yeah, instead of you working 10, 12 hours, I keep cutting you off at eight.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, my body is definitely telling me.
Speaker 2:You're breathing. It's telling me otherwise.
Speaker 1:So if you hear me breathing in a weird way, it's because they're politely crushing my lungs. But they'll be here anytime soon and then life will definitely have a big shift.
Speaker 2:It will definitely be a little different.
Speaker 1:And then I'll have one strapped on the front and one strapped on the back and then we'll keep doing flower stuff. But no, it'll be a good start, um, but I always try to start with a new, fresh set of floral clippers every year and then try to try. I do, I take care of them throughout the year, because when you cut in the field, compared to cutting something that's sticky from the wholesaler, it makes a difference. When you have to process, it makes a huge difference. So if you try and clearly I'm a clipper person, I cannot do the whole knife thing, but we'll get into that in a second but we have the special sponges to help clean. We have like a sharpening stone, we have a sharpening plate knife kind of thing, um, and that's incredibly helpful. And then we have microfiber oh my gosh, micro micro this baby brain of mine. Oh my god, micro fiber towels, um, that we have in the barn that aren't like clean, clean, but we'll use them to like throw them in the washer.
Speaker 2:They're not.
Speaker 1:They're not sterile as they come out of the package yeah, but yeah they, they may have been cleaned with, uh you know, or used with Windex every now and then, or the dry erase board, but we can still clear off the goop with them. So just try to keep up with it all, and then you know when your clippers are done, when your bottom black band snaps. They've been used a lot because it's rubber, it's plastic.
Speaker 2:There's a band at the bottom that holds the clippers together.
Speaker 1:Yes, you don't stab yourself, so you can actually put them like in your pocket, and if they're really sharp, they can still stab you when they're closed.
Speaker 2:So well, and that brings up a uh, a huge point in what we select. The tips of our clippers are not pointed, they're rounded.
Speaker 1:No, the amount of times that I still have yet to possibly lose a toe in here, because you know, I don't wear closed toed shoes all the time OSHA approval. I know so I'll wear my Berks, or, you know, like I still wear Crocs, but like it would be the one time where it would go through the hole and stab into my foot and blah, blah, blah. So I never try and catch them, I just let them.
Speaker 2:And Lizzie, you don't do blood well.
Speaker 1:No, I don't. I will admit that very clearly on here. I do not do blood, I am not a.
Speaker 2:There is no nurse stance whatsoever.
Speaker 1:No no not not at all. I'm. I'm not built for that. That's why I'm doing flowers. I'm not, you know, making millions and being a surgeon, because I can't do it. Props, props, people that can handle it, because I'm not built for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you put together a flower crown or some of those really fancy, fine designs that you do. That is like flower surgery, so don't even.
Speaker 1:I mean, in a way, if you're thinking about putting things together and taking things apart, I will agree with that, but like the juices are just different, I can't even watch Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh my God, not Fifty Shades of Grey. What am I talking about? No, not that it's a medical show. I totally just exposed myself the first versus knife.
Speaker 2:Okay, we are not talking about cutting out of bondage, just clarifying Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh my god you guys are getting a clear experience and listening like time to what it's like. I can't think all of the brain cells in my brain and I can't wait to get them back.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, my brain went gray and for some reason I saw 15.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, well, the shade of the blade of the clippers is gray, maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whatever that medical show is gray, maybe I don't know. Yeah, whatever, that medical show is, oh my god. Okay. So let's talk about knives and then we'll talk about clippers. So okay, people who use knives. They've been around forever in the floral world, especially in retail shops and design studios. I think the top reason why is because that clean, angled cut with a sharp knife minimizes stem damage. But I think there's a couple reasons why you cut on an angle. First of all, you cut at an angle so that the stems have a larger surface area for uptake of water Totally makes sense. I also think when you're doing design work, a sharp stem to slide through whatever you're setting up makes it much easier. And also, if you're using Oasis or any type of material, an angled cut is much easier to pierce whatever it is and to stay in place. And that's where it's really important to have that angled cut so that you have that surface area, because water flow is already restricted. It's already tricky.
Speaker 1:And another thing I really want to start speaking about. Water is also like spraying flowers after they're arraigned with water, so that, because they can still drink water through their petals and their stems, because they're cells, they need water. So yeah, it's a process.
Speaker 2:Absolutely is Absolutely, and I think florists love them for conditioning after the harvest. I also think it kind of looks a little badass when you whip out a floral knife and slice through a stem with one smooth motion. But that's the that's for me personally. That's where the line is drawn, because I don't have the practice. I've always been a clipper person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, always.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't have the feel and I've tried to use the knives a couple times and I end up cutting the pad of my thumb.
Speaker 1:Yeah so then I go back to clippers when you cut your nails. Yeah, and you get like chips out of your fingers.
Speaker 2:Like I, just like I, just I. It doesn't work for me. It takes practice one slip and there go your fingers. And not ideal when you're trying to crank out a centerpiece on a wedding deadline and on that note.
Speaker 2:I cannot, for the life of me, remember where I heard the story. But in the floral world there's a lot of handwork, there's a lot of detail. There's a lot of handwork, there's a lot of detail, there's a lot of pieces, and that takes time, and time is money, and there's some high-end florists where it's super intense. You've got this install, you've got like a great big truck that comes in with all the pieces.
Speaker 1:A lot of people do it almost all on site Yep, which I think is wild to me. They, they build it right, then, and there so it's a whole crew.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of pressure. You've got to get it done. You've got to know your stuff. I've actually heard head designers stop like, stop production. Will yell like everybody stop if they hear somebody put down a knife or clippers. Because you should never put your clippers down or your knife down, it should always. You should just keep going Like I don't know about you, but I don't want to work in that kind of like crazy high pressure.
Speaker 1:No, if anything, it would be interesting to watch how they function, yeah, and how they do things differently. But I don't, that's not like a. I don't want's not like a. I don't know my bucket list, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm good, no, I am okay so I think if you're taught and I think that's something that sets us apart is we're a flower farm, so we're using clippers out in the field, so for us it's very natural to just bring them in and still continue to work, bring them in and still continue to work with them, because I can't imagine trying to have a handful of flowers like straw flower and snaps, I feel like, because they're a little thinner, it could be any flower, but they're, they're very fleshy yeah, so usually, when I'll just talk about snaps, um, you have to strip the stem of all the leaves and sometimes, if we're lucky, we don't have like slimy snaps.
Speaker 1:I think it just depends on how much rain you've had and everything.
Speaker 1:Um, sometimes you have to stand there and like actually pick off all the leaves, or like one fell swoop you can just strip the stem and you're done, you're clean, and there's like mounds of snaps, like and the leaves all up, though like they're stuck to her legs yeah, the middle of the aisle we're like, oh my god, um, but because of clippers I've had to cut and have my middle finger, my ring finger and my pinky hold like 10 or 15 stems and then still have my pointer finger and my thumb and my right hand to cut hold strip and then add it to the pile in my hand.
Speaker 1:So it's a rhythm yeah, it's a process and, like you, you learn, like with your hands, and it's a becomes muscle memory. Yeah, it's practice. And like straw flower is another one. I take off all of the leaves with straw flower just because the water gets so gross if you don't take it off.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's. Straw flower is an amazing flower, but when it starts to droop, the leaves are the first thing that show any type of stress, and if they're not on there, you're not going to see the stress of the straw flower. Yeah, you can wire them up, I mean, and then they look as fresh and perfect as when you first cut them and then they start to dry.
Speaker 1:So I feel like there's a, like mom said, there's a process, there's a big process with it. I feel like iris is another good one where you can do multiples. But even with iris they have two or three different layers, sets of layers of leaves, like, and you want to get them as close as possible without ripping off the top. So it's a. It's a lot like you got to be able to use your hands and I can't imagine trying to Juggle a knife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hold and cut, and not cut yourself because of the rubber band on the bottom of the clippers, at least the ones that we have. You know we can hook that like put the band over at least I do on my pinky hold the bundle, keep walking, carry a bucket, like so it's, and then you're not shoving it in your pocket, like that's the other thing.
Speaker 2:What do you? Where do you put a knife?
Speaker 1:yeah, and then if you turn, it can fall out of your pocket and you don't know where your clippers went. Like it's just a. Cutting is a is a process, like no pun intended, but it it's a, it's an event, it happens. The girls are starting to do tulips now and it's a lot.
Speaker 2:It's absolutely an event, for sure. So let's talk about clippers. Is it clippers for the win? So clippers, floral snips, pruners, shears whatever you want to call them they are the go-to for flower farmers. A very, very good friend of mine named Mr Mark. He had shears. He didn't have clippers, he had shears and his flower clippers were long and sharp and wow, they were scary, very scary. I'll never forget, like when he would go and cut something I'd be like oh, and I would just like take like two steps over because they were long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were so long, but he also loved to go out and cut his lavender. Yeah, so that just so. I don't know, I've always been a clipper person, yeah, but.
Speaker 1:You just got to keep them clean and sharp, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when you're out in the field, literally we're cutting hundreds of stems at a time. We're not cutting 10, 20, 30, we're cutting hundreds. You need something that's going to be safe, fast, durable and, quite honestly, I love that it has a spring. Yeah, because it's just you just keep going. Yeah, you know, zinnias, for instance, you have to check every single one before you cut. You've got to tap them and see if they shake, and see if they're sturdy.
Speaker 1:I feel like peonies are another one too. Yes, like if we're lucky and it's not like kind of cool and then it's super hot, like what I've done before, because they don't open when it's only 40-something, 50-something, 60, whatever, 40 something, 50, something, 60, whatever you know. We can put literally like the piles of peonies, like 20, 15 to 20 stems, and lay them on the black fabric, in the shade of course, and not a dirty area, but we can cut them, lay them and then pick them up along the way because those buckets get so heavy. They get so heavy, oh my land.
Speaker 2:They definitely do, and I feel like a really good pair of clippers lets you zip through zinnias, chomp through celosia and breeze through branches of eucalyptus Like that alliteration you can have the eucalyptus. Yeah, they're also ergonomic, like, if you think about it, they fit well in your hand. I feel like it's a lot less risky for any of our beginners because we have a lot of interns. We have a lot of folks who are like I want to work in a flower farm because they think it's pretty.
Speaker 2:I'll come cut with you in the morning it's like no, it's wet and it's crack of dawn and it's hot and there's bugs Like.
Speaker 2:I don't know what you thought it was, and there's cicada killers and rabbits and frogs and cats that want to eat the frogs and yeah, they're easy to throw in your back pocket or if you're one of those apron people you've got a harvest apron you can kind of tuck them in there. You can throw them in the gator little holder, like it's just. I don't worry about people getting cut as much, although I do warn every single soul that I hand a pair of new clippers to. These are new please be careful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they will cut the hell out of you, I joke with everybody, and I've definitely done it a couple times, just with being quick and trying to like get through arrangements and stuff like that. Or processing, like when you're cutting you have a bundle of flowers, they, you know. That's what I was saying. I always joke with people saying that when they're new here they're christened by getting cut by their clippers. Oh yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you know you have stems that are lined up on the table or if you're processing or doing something else, you you're holding the bottom of the stems and you're cutting towards your hand, like I've almost cut my wrist a couple times. You know, right in the good spot I've cut like my pinky once or twice.
Speaker 2:I've cut my nail off a couple times Again, just because she has some really great curse words when those things happen too. Yeah again, just because she has some really great curse words when those things happen too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it'll bleed and it'll be fine and we'll figure it out. But wrap her up with a band-aid, yeah, but no, it's. It's to me.
Speaker 2:Being that fast and trying to keep up, I can't imagine having a knife I think the key with the clippers is keeping them clean and sharp, because dull clippers really can crush a stem, just like a bad knife can. Yeah, but they've got to be sharp and and we all, I mean we have a very open line of communication here and we'll we'll be like your clippers or need to be sharpened or you need a new pair, like it's just a.
Speaker 1:You can see it, yeah you can literally see it or something. So, yeah, and you can start to feel them in in, like in the spring, like, not like the season spring, but like in the spring of the clippers, how fast they like cut, like, how fat like. Do you have to grip hard for them to cut? Do you have to, and what kind of soil?
Speaker 2:what kind of soil are you in, too makes a huge difference, because when we're pulling tulips and there's a little bit of sand in there, then you get the grit in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we tend to sharpen a little more often and I'm always did you clean your clippers? Did you clean your like?
Speaker 1:especially in the summer. Clean your clippers Clean your like dip them, wash them and you can tell with, like certain stems too, like tulips, like if your clippers aren't sharp enough, they're not going to get through them, they're just going to slip, yep, like right through yeah, it's going to be messy, messy, messy, messy.
Speaker 2:So so a couple tips for flower longevity. Just wanted to just a couple tips. So no matter if you're a knife or a clipper or I will say there have so fun fact at a wedding set up and Amber can verify this because I know she's done it too there have been a couple times where we're in that last final push and everything's been cleaned up and somebody will come to us and be like we need you to last minute and if everything's cleaned up, maybe I've already put my clippers in the bag. Not against biting, yeah, yeah, we have all done that and been like oh my god, I got to get this done.
Speaker 2:The clippers are way over there.
Speaker 1:I'm just kind of like yeah, yeah, yeah, snap and go and hope for the best, yeah, that is like snap Right there yeah. Yeah, or hope that the stems are flimsy enough to where you can like saw your nail through it or something. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the amount of green that I have turned my nails, oh, it's just awful, awful, awful. So but a couple tips Always use a clean tool. Bacteria is definitely, definitely our enemy. Make a fresh cut before arranging, even if you just harvested, cut at an angle. More surface area equals more water uptake and, if you can, if you have a really sensitive stem, cut underwater, if it's possible. So I don't, I can't think of anything that we do that for a lot of people do that with tulips, but we're also cutting right off of the bulb.
Speaker 1:We're not cutting like from the wholesaler, consistently right, so I feel like that's. That's different. I've seen a lot of people say that zinnia is like warm water, so when you cut them you can put them into a bucket of warm ish. Not like hot boiling water, but like lukewarm yeah, yeah, and then they'll the last longer. They're not a huge fan of the cold no, we don't put them in the cooler we I try not to um.
Speaker 1:If it's overnight or something, yeah. If it's like a day or two, okay, but if they're, if it's multiple days, like four or five, and we're keeping them from like thursday to monday or something, they they get brown spots and they're very unhappy, so all right.
Speaker 2:So team clippers or team knife? I'd love to know what you guys are using and why, so come hang out on our instagram at wildly native and tell me your favorite tool. We'll be sharing a reel later this week showing our go-to harvest setup and how I clean my clippers for flower longevity, and we're going to ask Lizzie to do a demo on how to sharpen clippers. And if this episode helped you, inspired you or made you rethink your trusty garden sheer, share it with a flower friend, and that's how we grow our blooming community. So until next time, keep your clippers sharp, your blooms thriving and keep growing. This is the Flower File, signing off with muddy boots and a happy heart.
Speaker 1:We'll see you guys. Have a good day.