Tobey Nelson Events
Considering Origin as a Tool for Reconnection
I am the child of hippie artist parents who were vegetarians and recyclers long before it was vogue. My dad was a woodworker. My mom dabbled in silk painting and textile crafts. We lived next door to my grandmother who was an avid gardener and homemaker. At the end of our short road was a large park with two ponds. I spent my days playing with the neighborhood kids making mud pies and flower soup, catching tadpoles, climbing trees, helping grandma cook and can, and sometimes arrange flowers! Occasionally, I was “forced” to help in the gardens (I now “force” my own teenagers to work outside - such cruelty!). This childhood seemed so basic to me, but I see now how those basic connections to nature shaped the woman I am today. Watching my father design work for his clients and listening to conversations on art and design between my parents and their friends taught me an appreciation for the power of beauty. My own origin – my family and the location of our home – was the seed of my lifelong love affair and career with plants and flowers.
For many of us the origin of our floral impulse is the desire to connect with beauty and, in particular, the beauty of nature. I believe in beauty as I would believe in a "god". For me, time spent in nature can be as rejuvenating as a spiritual encounter - I come away refreshed, feeling grounded and restored. Time with nature can soothe and calm. A moment spent observing any of the myriad of her beautiful details can be as potent as prayer, especially if we can slow ourselves to truly savor them. The graceful arc of a stem, the delicate scallop of a leaf edge, the nuance of velvety color washing across a petal - the opportunity to be in awe of nature’s details abounds.
It is important to me that I honor nature in my work. One of the ways I do that is to connect with the origin of the materials I work with. Consideration of these origins is what has led to my passion for sustainable floristry. Like the construction of a lily bulb or an onion, there are many layers encompassing the heart of this concept.
Imagine the first person to pick a flower. The action must have been driven by the impulse to have a piece of that wild beauty for oneself, to have a snippet of the meadow to brighten one’s cave, to celebrate the most lovely offering from nature in the moment at hand. Nowadays, the flowers we have access to are a bit removed from that wild meadow. They are farmed around the world across many different seasons, in straight rows with netting to keep them erect, with chemicals and potions to preserve their perfection. While I appreciate the abundance of supply and selection, I have come to particularly treasure the branches and blossoms that come from a more gardenesque setting, that have been allowed “to fight” as I have heard Max Gill describe. They offer stems that curve, faces that may look at you, and they bring heaps of character to a design - the genuine personality of nature. Arrangements with these personalities are always the ones that bring the most comments from observers. This is why I keep a garden, and why I begin my sourcing task with small, nearby farms. I am always hoping for “something different” - whether that be an off-typical bloom or a cutting with quirk. These are the materials that best invoke the wild in an arrangement. They are also the ones that create the least impact upon our burdened planet. The carbon footprint of local vs. import is much reduced, and typically small farms are less inclined to use big-gun pesticides.
As romantic as all of this sounds, I recognize that it may not be practical on an industry- wide scale to go 100% local. While I celebrate and prioritize locally grown, I also want to be careful not to demonize imports. Lots of people live in cold hostile climates and still want to celebrate the beauty of a bloom in the dead of winter. Many florists make their honest living helping people satisfy this urge. In these instances, we need to remember that there are “good” and “bad” businesses on every side of the oceans and equator. Of course, I would encourage everyone to first source from California farms and greenhouse growers in the US. But just because a farm or supplier is not in our geography does not make it wrong. For instance, I live and work in North America. For me, South and Central American imports are clearly not local. Yet there are many operations in South and Central America that, despite their scale, are working toward the greater good by offering helpful programs such as childcare and medical assistance for their workers, who use IPM strategies instead of automatically employing the nastiest of pesticides, and who are implementing solar power systems for their operations that in turn provide clean energy to their communities. I believe that if we pay attention to the origin of the imports we use, and source from businesses like this, we can play a part in the betterment of our industry, and the lives of the people that work in it, around the world. It is as important to educate ourselves about the far-away farms we work with as the local farms.
When I need to source further afield to get what I need to make my clients happy, I look for certifications such as Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, Veriflora, and FloraVerde. Those certifications help me know that I have made a better than choice – one that carries a positive impact even alongside potential negatives (carbon footprint, pesticide use). As the mother of 2 hungry teenaged boys with a mortgage to pay, I can honestly admit that if I have a December wedding client that wants a particular bloom I can’t get or substitute locally, I will consciously source it from afar. I have to keep putting dinner on the table! But it is always important to me to take the time to make sourcing decisions that consider the families and environments where those blooms will be coming from.
Beyond our blooms, we must also consider our materials and hardgoods. We must consider the origin not just of our botanicals but of our mechanics as well. The biggest culprit in my eyes is floral foam. Why do we use something that is so toxic to the earth to arrange her bounty? What sort of celebration of nature is that? Foam is made from petroleum. It comes to us at great cost to the planet - starting with drilling for oil, then the manufacturing process with its poisonous off-gasses, and ending as garbage in landfills and as a microplastic ocean pollutant. When we consider the origin (and life cycle) of this material, how can we continue to use it in good conscience? If we are to truly celebrate nature, we must shift our practices to be environmentally friendly.
Humans have pillaged the earth and made indelible marks upon it. But some of us have also realized the epic, global consequences of our actions and are working to reverse the negative impact. I believe in making small changes where we can. Together our small actions will amount collectively to a powerful force for good and for change. The concept of “origin” is a helpful tool in guiding us to make better than choices.
Tobey Nelson is known for her commitment to sustainable floristry, and also for her direct way of communicating, her silliness, and for her proclivity to randomly adopt accents. She is a generous instructor who loves to share her knowledge. Tobey has a BS in Landscape Horticulture from Michigan State University circa 1993. She spent over 20 years as a professional horticulturist, running a landscape design & maintenance company. In 2010 she founded her floral business, now named Tobey Nelson Events + Design. Tobey is a wedding specialist who focused on working without floral foam and with locally grown flowers from the very beginning of her business. She is the founder of the Whidbey Flower Workshop, a multi-day retreat for floral pros held annually each spring, and dedicated to teaching Sustainable Floristry. Tobey has studied with Tomas deBruyne, Gregor Lersch, Hitomi Gilliam, Joseph Massie, Susan Mcleary, Francoise Weeks and many others along the way. When she's not playing with flowers (or cleaning the studio or answering emails or scheduling social media posts), she can be found in her garden, or spending time with her husband, sons and dog.