A Calling to be a Gardener

I have done several featured posts on Floret Farms out in Washington state. Erin and Chris Benzakein are the purest essence of what a flower farm should be. To visit their estate out West would be a pilgrimage for me. The beauty of what they have brought to their acreage is astounding as I have followed them over the last 4 years. But their real truth is what they offer to the community - it is boundless. From their seeds and hybridizing endless varieties of new species. Their incredible abundance of training and mini courses have been essential to me as I continue to learn about seeds, dahlia tubers, and flower care. Their partnerships and community they have nurtured; not just locally but with important cohorts around the world to save endangered plant species. There is always a shout out for the great work someone else is doing. I am buying books from recommended farmers to support them and educate myself. Floret is a gift that keeps on giving to the Flower world.

 

In the past year they have been expanding their YouTube Channel into documentary work. Last year was a shattering short Gardening in A War Zone that told a haunting story of a small gardener there Alla Olkhovska, who relies on a small plot of land in bombed area of Ukraine to sustain her very poor family. It is heartbreaking to see her harvest the smallest of seed packets and mail them out to feed her ailing elders. I have to assume that the film gave her some assistance that was severely needed as well as telling a compelling story.

Just released this week is a 3-part docu- series The Beautiful Pursuit. I was in tears watching the first episode Called by Flowers. Again, it is not about Erin, but it is a scrapbook of notable gardeners around the world sharing different versions of a shared story. How a simple garden plot, sometimes created out of accident, has transformed lives by the cycle of life the flowers bring year to year. Some are therapeutic, others are based in community, others bring simple joys that ripple. If you are one of my dear circle that relish this time of year, the possibility of renewal in Spring, this film will bring a guttural response more than any Oscar winning film will. It is like watching 30 minutes of flower overload with stunning visuals and colors that we all set out to achieve in our own spaces. We all have our stories of the serenity that our hands in the dirt bring us. There are obstacles and disappointments, always. But in these turbulent time (speaking for myself at least) there is magic in those small seeds and the tiny green shoots emerging. As the film states "Flowers are Hope, Flowers are Humanity."