The Slow Flowers Summit, a premier event in the floriculture industry, is set to take place from June 23-25, 2024, in the scenic setting of Banff, Alberta, Canada. This annual gathering is a celebration of sustainable floral practices, bringing together thought leaders, creative professionals, and pioneering voices dedicated to the Slow Flowers movement while expanding floral knowledge altogether. The event aims to inspire curiosity, challenge conventional practices, and promote ethical and eco-friendly floral design.
An Overview of the Slow Flowers Summit - One of the Most Exciting Floral Events
The Slow Flowers Summit was founded by Debra Prinzing, a renowned advocate for sustainable floral design. Debra Prinzing is the creator of the Slow Flowers Society, an organization that promotes locally grown flowers and supports florists committed to sustainable practices. With a background in journalism and a passion for gardening, Debra has authored several books and contributed to leading gardening and lifestyle publications.
Her vision for the Summit is to create a live, interactive gathering that fosters a community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about sustainability in the floral industry. But why should you attend the Summit? Here are a few reasons to book your tickets and get ready to have the mid-year floral time of your life!
Why Attend the Slow Flowers Summit?
Attending the Slow Flowers Summit offers numerous benefits starting with the fact you can learn from top industry experts about the latest trends and techniques in sustainable floral design.
This event will allow you to connect with fellow floral enthusiasts, farmers, and designers who share your commitment to eco-friendly practices while participating in inviting sessions and design demonstrations that allow you to practice new skills. Lastly, who wouldn't want to live an experience like this in a marvelous landscape with spectacular views? By registering for the Summit, you'll experience the natural beauty of Banff, Alberta, while engaging in activities that highlight the region's flora and fauna as well.
Event Schedule
The Summit's schedule is packed with educational sessions, design demonstrations, and networking opportunities. Here’s a glimpse of the planned activities:
- June 23rd: Arrival and welcome reception of all attendees.
- June 24th: Full day of design demonstrations by a group of selected and renowned speakers, floral workshops, and interactive sessions.
- June 25th: Additional workshops, panel discussions, and a closing keynote.
To know more details about registration visit the Slow Flowers Summit's website.
Featured Speakers of the Event
The Summit boasts an impressive lineup of speakers, each bringing their unique expertise and knowledge to make this event even more memorable.
Melanie Harrington
Melanie Harrington is the owner of Dahlia May Flower Farm, founded in 2014. She was awarded 'Young Entrepreneur of the Year' in 2018 by the Quinte Business Achievement Awards, and Dahlia May was named 'Agri-Business of the Year' by the same in 2019.
Specializing in cultivating and offering fresh flowers, Dahlia May is situated on Melanie's family's third-generation farm. Her horticultural background and her willingness to share her personal story are combined with her hard work. Her ability to persevere and take risks allows her to continue building community while transforming her rural property into a destination for flower enthusiasts and a hub for those looking for locally grown blooms.
Janis Harris
At Harris Flower Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, Janis Harris is starting her 17th growing season of cultivating not only flowers but also a legacy of natural beauty. Growing up surrounded by flowers and vegetable farms, she initially went into optics, but her passion for flowers and growing them drew her back. With assistance from her spouse, parents, kids, and the flower farm staff, Janis is now a full-time flower farmer. She approaches every season with a combination of wisdom and a never-ending sense of amazement. In addition to offering wedding and event design services, Harris Flower Farm sells its flowers in several farmer's markets and through on-farm retail and delivery services.
Heather Henson
Heather Henson is a floral artist from Boreal Blooms, specializing in dried floral designs. Based in Cold Lake, Alberta, Heather grows specialty cut flowers and designs for weddings. Her session will focus on creating stunning dried flower arrangements, perfect for those interested in sustainable and long-lasting floral designs.
Lourdes Still
A mantra Lourdes Still keeps close to her heart is 'Growing joy and creating magic is right at our fingertips'. She hopes to inspire others with her work at Masagana Flower Farm & Studio by interacting with plants and flowers as natural dye sources. She juggles the roles of a flower grower, a natural dyer, and an experiential tourism guide at her farm in southeast Manitoba.
In her flagship offering, the Tinta Experience, Lourdes started as a self-taught flower grower, natural dyer, and tourism operator but has since learned and trained from industry leaders. Her curiosity continues to lead her entrepreneurial journey. It has expanded her work outside the farming community to explore ways to diversify her farm operations in the short growing season of Manitoba.
Hitomi Gilliam
Hitomi Gilliam AIFD is a Japanese Canadian Flower Artist. She has guest-designed and taught extensively throughout North America and around the world – England, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Australia, New Zealand, Oman, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Hitomi began her career in the Green Profession as a farmer-florist. She currently works with her son, Colin Gilliam, in an Education-based business, DESIGN358, founded in 2008. They currently host design workshops educational events, and video education through Hitomi’s YouTube channel and Hitomi Gilliam's website.
Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed
Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed is a botanist, herbalist, educator, and artist, and is co-owner of ALCLA Native Plants a native plant nursery based in Treaty 7 Territory, near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She holds a BSc in Botany from the University of Calgary and an MSc in Herbal Medicine from Middlesex University, London, UK. She has been working with native plants for 15 years and her expertise includes identification, sustainable collection, cultivation, and ethnobotany.
In 2016 she founded Latifa’s Herbs, which primarily serves to educate the public on the edible and medicinal uses of wild plant species in both Alberta and British Columbia.
Cynthia Zamaria
Cynthia Zamaria is a home and garden creative. With a belief that home is a beautiful work in progress, she invites you into hers and shares rolling inspiration as a content creator, writer, and presenter. Cynthia's soulful signature style which blends treasures and trash, big box and boutique, old and new, indoors and out is regularly featured in leading lifestyle media, and is the author of House + Flower published by Bloom Imprint.
Jaimie Reeves
Jaimie Reeves has been working with flowers her entire life. Her love of nature and floral design began early as she spent her childhood helping out and eventually working as a florist in her family-owned garden center. She soon turned her passion for creative floral design into her own full-time business in 2013, beginning as a retail flower and plant shop providing design services, and now focuses solely on weddings and other big events through her design studio, Inscape Floral.
Jaimie co-founded and continues to run The Local Flower Collective; since its inception in 2018, the Collective has been mandated to support local flower farmers and provide Toronto-area florists with access to uncommon, and chemically untreated flowers that are (most importantly) grown within two hours of Toronto.
Moira MacKinnon
Love & Fantasy Flowers started in 2017 when Moira MacKinnon and her partner had the opportunity to take over her grandparents' suburban home in Edmonton, Alberta. As the business grew, so did their growing space as they expanded gardens on a farm just west of Edmonton. Her commitment to Sustainable Farming and Design has taken her from St. Louis to New York City in pursuit of learning from some of the industry leaders.
For her, flowers have a unique power to bring people and communities together. Moira is a founding member of the Cooperative Flower Network of Edmonton, Alberta.
More About Debra Prinzing, the Founder of the Flow Flowers Summit
Debra is the producer of SlowFlowers.com, the online directory for farms, florists, shops, and studios that supply domestic and local flowers in the U.S. and Canada. She is the creator of American Flowers Week, launched during the July 4th week in 2015 with more than 5.0 million social media impressions in 2017. Debra has authored more than 12 books, including Slow Flowers and The 50 Mile Bouquet.
Debra is the editorial director and co-founder with Robin Avni of BLOOM Imprint, a boutique publisher that identifies and develops creative book ideas by and about members of the Slow Flowers Movement.
To learn more about this amazing event, head to Slow Flowers Summit's website.
Photos by @slowflowerssumit.
