Seed collection for bouquets

We buy regional organic vegetables, cycle to work, choose our clothes consciously and focus on plastic-free products. But what does it look like when we want to say something to our loved ones through a flower or give ourselves a blooming treat? The conventional flower trade rarely uses regional and seasonal cut flowers. They usually come from the Netherlands, where they are grown in heated greenhouses or imported on a large scale from low-wage countries. The imported flowers come from Kenya, Zambia and Ethiopia or from Latin American plantations in Ecuador and Colombia. It is no secret that they are often produced there under questionable working conditions and with a high use of pesticides - just as it is no secret that the long transportation routes and high water consumption in the rather dry cultivation areas alone leave a large ecological footprint.

In our view, these are more than enough reasons to take a stand and ensure that only uncontaminated flowers end up in the vase in future. In 2013, the American author Debra Prinzing set the ball rolling for resource-conscious flower cultivation with the term "slow flowers". Like the global slow food movement, which focuses on regional agriculture, organic certification and the preservation of old varieties, the flower people involved in the "slow flower movement" (the official name of the association) also rely on offering cut flowers from the region. They base their sowing and cultivation plans strictly on the seasons, refrain from using artificial fertilizers and pesticides and often sell not only flowers for the vase or ready-made flower arrangements in their farm stores or at the flower stand directly in the field, but also seeds from their own harvest. We think this is good, right and worth supporting and therefore offer you seed collections from various flower nurseries here. Become your own Flowerfamer and cultivate lushly blooming, non-commercial summer flowers in your garden beds: for seasonal bouquets that directly decorate your table and home. Rare varieties of cosmea, damsel in the green or zinnia can be arranged into enchanting bouquets together with color-coordinated filler plants such as dill, ornamental tobacco or summer phlox.