Thoughts on My Advance Copy of Floret Farm's 'A Year in Flowers'

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I’ve been buying flower seeds and dahlia tubers from Floret Farms for the past several years, and I pre-ordered Erin’s first book, Cut Flower Garden, before I even read the synopsis, because I knew that I wanted to learn whatever author & farmer-florist Erin Benzkein had to share. I’ve since read it half a dozen times cover to cover. When I was offered an advance copy of her latest book, A Year in Flowers (available February 11th), I was absolutely ecstatic! Erin, along with other farmer-florists, have completely revolutionized the way people view the potential of flowers, and they’ve helped to prove that there is an ever-growing, intensely high demand for beautiful, freshly picked flowers grown locally and seasonally by familiar faces.

Further changing the landscape of small-scale flower farming, Erin has helped make flower farming more accessible, more understandable, and more fool-proof than ever before, by sharing her hard-won knowledge, tips & tricks from more than a decade of growing stunning blooms like Dahlias, Ranunculus, Sweet Peas, Poppies, and just about every other botanical that can possibly be grown on her 25+ acre farm in Skagit Valley via her blog, FloretFlowers.com. While her first award winning book, Cut Flower Garden, featured tips on growing and cultivating various varieties of flowers, her latest book, A Year in Flowers, shares all of her best tips and tricks for arranging and displaying flowers grown in your own garden, or sourced elsewhere.

A Year in Flowers by Floret Farms' Erin Benzakein Floral Arranging Bouquet Making Ikebana

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A Year in Flowers teaches readers everything they need to know in order to make stunning bouquets for any occasion using seasonal blooms and things many people already own. Complete with lists and specific details on which brands of shears she uses (ARS Japan, which are perfect for small hands), how to source the perfect vases, where to buy her favorite eco-friendly, hand-dyed ribbons, and how to maximize the life of displayed flowers. She also gives tips on how to create the perfect floral workspace, complete with advice on how she turned her garage into her flower styling workshop, plus how to group colors, textures, lengths, and shapes of branches, blooms, buds, and other botanical elements to create the perfect harmony of colors.

Erin Benzakein takes A Year in Flowers one step further than most other flower arranging books I’ve read by breaking down techniques by flower type, season, and she even provides ample instructions on how to create bouquets for events like weddings, centerpieces for dinner parties, flower crowns, and so many more using nature’s bounty sourced from the world around us. Gone are the days when flower arranging books encouraged people to order flowers from abroad during the middle of winter – A Year in Flowers teaches readers to abandon the notion that there are only so many flowers worthy of displaying, and teaches readers to use whatever they find around them that inspires them to create something beautiful and unique with their own two hands.

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This is an essential read for any flower lover, whether you occasionally pick up flowers from the farmers market, or you have an entire plot or garden fully dedicated to the art of growing flowers. I absolutely adored Cut Flower Garden, because its advice helped me make the most of my small garden to maximize its growing potential, and now A Year in Flowers teaches me what to do with everything I’ve grown, and I couldn’t be more grateful to Erin for passing along all of her wisdom.

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To order your very own signed copy of A Year in Flowers, click here to visit her website, and be sure to follow her on IG @FloretFlowers. Congratulations Floret Farm team, this is your very best work yet! Thank you so much for sharing all of this beauty and joy with the world, I’m so happy for you and all that you’ve achieved!