TFB

BEYOND LABELS, TRENDS, AND GOOD INTENTIONS

Sustainability in floristry is often described through shorthand.

Foam free. Locally sourced. Seasonal. Organic. Reusable vessels.

None of those ideas are wrong. But when they’re treated as labels rather than systems, they stop telling the full story. They flatten what is actually a series of decisions made over months and years, not just at the design table.

Real sustainability is not a single choice.

It’s a pattern of practice.

FROM LANGUAGE TO PRACTICE

In the floral industry, sustainability is often framed by what’s avoided.

No foam. Fewer imports. Reduced waste.

Those things matter. But they don’t explain how flowers are grown, how soil is treated, or what happens before a stem is ever cut.

In practice, sustainability begins long before design.

It starts in the field.

HOW FLOWERS ARE ACTUALLY GROWN

In our case, sustainability means regenerative farming.

We do not use chemical sprays, including fungicides and pesticides. On rare occasions, we rely on gentle interventions like mint essential oil or homemade preparations informed by Korean natural farming practices.

Our goal is not sterility.

It’s balance.

Regenerative farming describes how a farm functions over time. We are no-till. Always. We feed the soil rather than extract from it. We use high-quality compost and vermicomposting to build fertility that improves year after year.

Cover crops are part of that system, even though our limited growing space means they aren’t used as often as we’d like. Sustainability doesn’t eliminate constraints. It works honestly within them.

We grow to give back.

ARE FLOWERS A WASTE?

Flowers are often described as wasteful because they’re cut and eventually fade.

That framing misses something essential.

Flower crops play a critical role in supporting pollinators. Bees rely on diverse, continuous food sources throughout the growing season. Many cut flower varieties bloom for long periods, providing sustained forage that food crops alone can’t offer.

Flowers sprayed with chemicals harm bees.

Flowers grown regeneratively support the systems that pollinate our food.

Most of our production focuses on cut and come again varieties. These plants are meant to be harvested repeatedly. Cutting is not an endpoint. It’s what allows the plant to produce again.

Abundance requires intervention.

When flowers are grown and cut within a circular system, there is no waste. Plant matter returns to the soil. Pollinators are fed. More blooms follow.

The act of cutting makes space for more life.

DESIGN IS PART OF THE SYSTEM

Sustainability doesn’t stop at the field.

It continues in how arrangements are built, what materials are used, and what happens after an event ends. Using reusable mechanics, working with water, composting organic material, and designing with seasonality instead of against it are all part of the same loop.

None of these choices exist in isolation.

They reinforce each other.

WHY CHOICE STILL MATTERS

Sustainable floristry isn’t about doing everything perfectly.

It’s about choosing systems that create more than they consume.

When people choose locally grown flowers, they aren’t just selecting a look. They’re supporting farms that regenerate soil, feed pollinators, and operate within real ecological limits. They’re reinforcing a system where beauty is part of a cycle, not a dead end.

Sustainability isn’t a label applied at the end.

It’s a structure built from the beginning.

And flowers, when grown this way, are not waste.

They are evidence of a system working.