american flowers week ~ June 28 to July 4 ~ Celebrating American Grown Flowers in all 50 States

American Flowers Week on display at Seattle’s Ballard Market, part of the Town & Country Markets chain.

It’s no exaggeration to say that American Flowers Week was a big success.

Beautiful! Pisarcik Greenhouse & Flower Farm in Pittsburg posted this red-white-and-blue floral image to celebrate American Flowers week

By one measure, the 2016 celebration exceeded last year’s by three times the engagement — from 410,000 impressions on Instagram and Twitter in 2015 to 1.3 million impressions for this year.

And that’s not counting the Facebook posts, the blogs and news articles, the promotions at grocery and the amazing support from the Slow Flowers Community.

A fun #americanflowersweek campaign from The Farmer’s Florist and Confetti Queen in Nashville.

We couldn’t be happier: A simple, week-long celebration of domestic and local flowers may seem simple, but it brought alot of attention to the American-grown cause. 

Johnny’s Seeds took to social media to promote #americanflowersweek

Thank you to everyone who participated:

Flower Farmers promoted their floral customers; Florists promoted their favorite farmers. Everyone benefitted by shining the light on the American Grown floral community.

• More than 1,000 Instagram and Twitter posts tagged #americanflowersweek
  
• More than 100 flower farmers and florists shared photos of their red-white-and-blue (and other colorful) AFW bouquets
• Two florists taught American Flowers Week design workshops in their communities
• Writers penned news articles and dozens of blog posts. Read The Oregonian’s Janet Eastman and Indianapolis Star’s Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp’s stories here.

LauraLee Symes of Sellwood Flower Co. in Portland posted this Instagram moment of her American Flowers Week workshop

Unbeknown to us, at least one Whole Foods store in the Baltimore created their on American Flowers Week promotion

• Florists and flower farmers added thousands of American Flowers Week stickers to their bouquets and bunches for CSAs, farmers market stalls and their retail outlets
• Grocery stores in Oregon, Washington and Maryland used signage and special displays to promote locally-grown flowers to their customers
• Four sponsors supported American Flowers Week by posting, blogging and promoting the campaign to their customers.
• Sixteen prizes were donated for our 50 States of American Grown Flowers drawing

A sweet, fragrant and beautiful time was had by all! As the momentum grows for American Flowers Week, we’re already collecting ideas for 2017. Your suggestions and ideas are welcome! Email info@slowflowers.com to share yours.

Before I sign off, I have to post my FAVORITE Flower Farmer Moments from American Flowers Week. They are simply beyond compare and you’ll love them:

Slow Flowers member Hedda Brorstrom of Full Bloom Farm near Sebastopol created the cutest American Flowers Week flower bra!

Slow Flowers member Dennis Westphall, one half of Jello Mold Farm, took inspiration from the film “American Beauty,” and posed ‘au naturele’ in a bath tub filled with Cafe au Lait dahlias. Wow.

The Pabody family of Triple Wren Farm created a fantastic Instagram mosaic to celebrate #americanflowersweek

P.S. With Canada Day occurring each year on July 1st, we’d like to launch #canadianflowersweek to help our Slowflowers.com members in Canada promote domestic flowers.