I'm Katie Lila I make art displays out of fresh cut flowers.

Wow, this is looking so fabulous.

Flowers really are nature's art and I love using them as my medium.

So fun.

Like these little fantasy flower worlds that people can interact with.

Oh my gosh, this is stunning.

I want this for my bedroom wall.

It's hard to be around flowers without smiling.

I love looking at something and being like, oh, how can we make that into something that could be in a flower installation?

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it going to go?

How's it going to play out?

We did it.

My install team is amazing.

They just jump in action and fill in all the weird requests.

So come follow the blooms with us.

You never know where the adventure is headed.

Follow the Blooms is made possible by (gentle piano music) Slate Flosser.

A daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser.

The other toothbrush.

There is an annual art fest coming up.

that, 75 selected artists get to come and be in this thing.

And somehow I got a spot at the entryway to make a design, that welcomes everybody.

And I've been creating this little number to figure out what I really want to do.

clearly, this thing is falling over.

Just a mock up, right?

It's just a little model, but, I want to show Anna this and let her know of my ideas.

I'm going to use reclaimed items for the vessels, and I want to get some artists in on these little letters.

It's peony season.

We got to get some peonies in there, I'm feeling it.

I hope Anna's feeling it.

All right, buddy, let's go do this thing.

This event is at the Museum of Arts and Culture, which is called the Mac.

In Spokane.

It's a highlight, one of my highlights, for sure.

And the community all comes together on these beautiful grounds.

it is an outstanding museum and, just a great gathering place.

Couldn't be more excited to be involved.

Anna, thank you for having me.

I'm so excited to get, figuring this out.

You know, I'm hopeful that this is going to come together.

I made a little collage idea for you to see.

I know you said there's local artists that might be interested in collaborating, so I wondered, where we might have an artist collaborate here.

The letters.

I mean, they could, you know, pop something into the letters around the flowers when you put them in.

And then I mean, it's peony season, which is beautiful.

Right.

So there's a cutting garden called Stratton's that's not too far away.

Yeah.

And they just grow thousands and thousands of peonies.

Yeah.

Okay.

That sounds great.

I love this idea.

It's going to be so different.

Yeah.

What I found is that there really is great stuff out there, right?

You don't have to buy something new.

We can, find something that's already there and repurpose it.

I do love to challenge myself to do that.

Right?

What can we use that we have?

Right.

And, And then create something stunning out of it, Anna.

Loved the concept.

Hooray!

My funky little mock up was impressive enough.

Now I've gotta go hit the thrift shops, figure out what we're gonna put these flowers in.

That's gonna be the trick.

But I love thrifting.

It never lets me down.

I think we're gonna find it I loved hearing when Anna was saying, all of the artists, they tried to get different mediums, right?

So wood and glass and jewelry and, paint and clay and just every medium of art is represented at the festival.

(upbeat music) We live in a fast paced society.

One and done, you know, buy it and throw it away.

And I, I don't think it's good for us.

I think we've got to get back to just longevity.

Use it up, wear it out.

Make it do or do without.

Right.

There's so much stuff.

And surely we can take the stuff we already have and repurpose it to be something new.

I think you love thrifting or you don't.

And I came from both.

My grandpa Elmo was this awesome.

Thrifter.

He would, you know, do the swap meets and the yard sales, and my mom is the opposite.

She's like, I want to go in.

I want to get what I need.

I want it to be exactly what I want.

Right?

So I came from these two worlds, and I really leaned into my grandpa's world, which was What can you go find with $1?

Sandi!

Hey.

How are ya?

Fancy meeting you here.

I know I live here, don't I?

Well, okay.

So I'm on the hunt.

I'm always on the hunt for something, but we're doing this display for Mac, the art fest.

Okay.

And I'm.

I'm just trying to visualize, like, something to put the flowers in.

It's peony season.

Okay.

And so I want bright colors and something that holds a lot of water because it's going to be out in the hot sun for three days.

Oh.

You know, so I'm just on the hunt.

I love the kind of vintage vibe with the bright colors.

So I'm just feeling, you know.

What about, like these bright colors up here.

Is that something like that would work?

Yeah, those are cool.

Like fun colors are very vintage.

In fact, you've got a couple different decades.

You've got something from, like, the 50s here.

These are more like 60s colors, the bright greens and the orange, some browns.

Oh, that could be really fun.

And the thing about these, people all connect with these.

Yes.

They all bring back memories.

I mean, we all had, you know, our moms, grandmas had had some storage containers.

Whether it was you know, the the popcorn bowl or the cookie storage or even, like, the little, you know like a little favorite cup, you know, turquoise ... Yeah.

And you're like, no, that's my color.

Yes.

Right.

Right.

Did your family do that?

Yes they did.

Yeah.

We don't touch the orange cup.

Yes, exactly.

That was my one of my brother's cups.

Yeah.

This one.

Oh, gosh.

So many memories.

Yes.

Okay, take this out to the neighbors or whatever, and then listen to it close.

Yeah, she press it.

Bits of popcorn balls.

Yes.

Right.

You know, movie night where someone had left it.

Oh, someone left it.

It's a great story, right?

Remember that time we left the Tupperware on the oven?

And I love using reclaimed items in my flower work.

Because I feel like, it's kind of like you're saying, you're showing people the flowers in a new light, right?

You move it around, you change up the vessel, you add texture, dimension, you know, and then all of a sudden, the flowers look new.

You█ve seen that peony a thousand times.Yeah, yeah And I'm like, oh, I never thought about using, you know, my vintage containers.

Exactly, exactly.

Food storage.

Yeah.

There you go.

Flower storage.

Yeah I like that.

All right, Sandy, I'm taking all of these and about double that.

Oh, sweet.

Yes.

I will get them all set up for you.

Hurray.

I think the vintage containers are just this telltale sign of, you know, that wasn't that many generations ago.

1 or 2.

They were built to last, and they have lasted.

Right.

That's incredible.

This idea of building something that has staying power.

Really looking forward to meeting Christine.

She's been a farmer that's been on my “to meet list” for quite some time.

And just heading out to her peony fields when they're in peak bloom.

And the star of this show is going to be the peonies.

They are incredible.

They're big and luscious.

And, you know, I want to say juicy, like, they just have color and this delicious scent and, showstoppers.

Right?

They're the glory girls.

(happy music) So welcome to Stratton's Cutting Garden.

It's obviously peony time right now.

Look at this place.

Yeah.

Oh.

You know, My friend told me that I had to get out here during peony season.

I've been trying for years.

So I was delighted when the Mac Art Fest was perfect timing for the peonies.

And I know you were like, I hope they're going to be open.

Yeah, but we lucked out, right?

Yeah.

The art fest We've got these really fun shelves we're building and then these, we found these, vintage food containers, and we're going to kind of make a pop art with a 60s feel.

But I just think the flowers will be this perfect accent.

And there's going to be letters from each of the artists that are in the fair.

They're at the festival and then the flowers will be like the culmination of it, right?

So I just want to do tons of peonies, fill up all the containers and make it a celebration.

There should be fun.

When you say letters from the artists Is it like a literal letter that they're designing?

Or is it a written letter?

That's a great question.

Yeah.

So it will say Mac Art Fest.

So ten letters.

Yeah.

So kind of like a vintage postcard feel where each letter is a different, you know, theme.

And they'll each have one of the artists work on it, and we're just trying to get the colors all to go.

But this pink, is the impetus, right?

We have to jump off of this amazing pink.

Okay, so I know your mom and dad had this idea.

But then how did you get back into it?

Yeah.

You said you didn't do much work when you were little.

Well, I thought, I was doing a lot right?

So it started out as just four varieties dried.

And then, when we left home, there was no one harvesting anything, and, people started asking to come pick up, and my parents started adding varieties.

And so it became this 200 plus different things that are picked by individuals.

When you say four varieties dried, what does that mean?

We planted peonies babies breath, German status and one other.

And so we harvested them, dried them and then took them up to Spokane to wholesalers.

So it wasn't like this at all.

Okay.

And then you were selling the dried flowers.

Yep originally.

That was the deal.

So they they offered me the farm.

And where were you at that point in your life?

I was in Portland My background is in IT.

And process improvement.

Process improvement and IT.

Yeah.

Right along with ... Right.

But I was wanted to farm, so, of course I jumped on it, but there was a bit of hesitance because it was flowers.

Some people love, I love flowers, but the idea I wanted something more practical to farm food as well.

Yeah.

And so it took me a good year of being back.

I've been back eight years now to really realize what it provides for people.

Just it's really it can be therapy.

And it connects people.

So I've really grown to love it in a way that I didn't think that I could have.

Now, I'd rather do this and grow food.

Interesting!

And playing in the dirt, working with my hands.

It's preferable to machinery.

You know that too, right?

That's wonderful.

I think it's always so fascinating when life takes us in these full circle things.

Right.

You started here.

You went out, you came back and then you found your own, your own purpose in it, your own connection to the farming and the flowers.

You know, that's pretty incredible.

Wow.

These flowers have seen a lot.

They have.

Can't wait to see them at the festival.

All right.

Fantastic.

How's it coming, girls?

Good one.

How do we do?

Oh, these look totally awesome.

Look how cute they are.

Sheila took art from ten different artists at the festival and made these awesome decals for our letters.

and she, right this is so fun.

And so she connected with different artists that are featured at this year's art fest.

And she got some of their work.

But these are so cute.

I love it.

Amazing.

All right, we got to get moving on to flowers.

Who's ready?

(upbeat music) All right, girls, I think we're just going to make some mound shapes on each of these, and we'll keep them pretty, like, structural.

Kind of like the similar style as the containers themselves.

So we're not going to go high.

We're going to go more rounded.

I think if we take each of them and do, try to mix up the tight and, you know, the more open buds and the more tight buds.

So then as the art fest goes on, they'll have some stuff opening, and then we're really not going to use any of the leaves unless they're right up close on top.

Okay.

And we'll just get rid of anything that's below the waterline, that'll just make our water murky and we'll just give it a snip and we're going to want it to drink.

So as long as the container.

And again, I'm just taking it to the edge of my, table.

And so really I'm thinking, like, not higher than that.

Oh, look at that one.

All of so good.

And you can since these will need to drink for so long, let's make sure we cut them on the angle just to give them a little bit of a larger surface area to drink from.

(music) Ladies, look at this.

They fill up the whole table.

Looks like a sea of peonies, right?

I'm excited because I think everybody's going to think they're fake.

And then when they come up, they're going to feel them and smell them.

They█ll be like, “oh, yeah!” They are going to be a amazed.

So I'm excited for that I think these are ready.

We can just pop them in the cooler.

And, it's go time, right?

Yay!

Yeah!

Whoo!

This is looking awesome.

All right, Yay!

Let's go.

(up-beat music) I've got these these awesome shelves envisioned.

Steve that I met at the Lilac Parade is an awesome carpenter.

He's going to build those for me.

Steve, you're going to love this yellow.

Ha ha.

Ha ha.

Oh, boy.

What do you think?

That's great.

My whole garage has been neon, right?

My neighbors are like, what's happening in there?

So, are there some yellow clothes at your house now?

Yeah.

There's yellow toenails, clothes, showers, garages, everything is yellow.

So I think we'll kind of spot there, and then we'll have a middle one here, and I'll get the long ones out so we can.

Is this like this one shorter, like that right?

Yeah.

I think that's going to be cool right here.

Because, look, this is where the people come up They█ll have the check in, and then they'll just cruise right around here before they go into the fest.

I like it already.

It's fun working with Steve.

He actually reminds me a lot of my grandpa Elmo.

He gets that same twinkle in his eye when he talks about thrifting and reclaiming things.

And he's this older guy that's doing really cool things, and I like that he's thinking of sustainability.

Right?

Like, what am I giving to this next generation?

And then I've got another generation coming up right behind me.

And what am I doing for them?

This stuff will be yellow forever yellow, right?

Yeah I think that is okay.

Watch the end, Yep.

Okay.

Yeah.

this one is going this way.

We'll have these crates and the boxes and cubes, and then we're going to have the letters from the artists, and we're going to have the peonies in the food containers.

One of these guys.

Right?

Yeah.

That's that.

Yeah.

You think we could do that?

Way cool!

I love how you get all of these different elements happening you know, with the lines, like, I didn't really think about the crates having this straight feel, which is really playing well against the wall with the yellow.

I like it.

What do you think would you change anything?

I love it.

Yay!

Go, team!

I think all we have to do is screw it together.

Let's do it.

All right, I'll get some tools.

When I met you at the lilac luncheon, and you started telling me about these projects you've built.

You got that twinkle in your eye when you started talking about building and the reclaimed wood you had found and all of these, fun things.

And then when I came to your garage and saw your supply, you know, your treasure, your loot.

Right?

I do have some loot.

I thought I was like, oh, yes, this is going to be a really fun project.

you came from... you built houses, right?

Yeah.

I'm a retired contractor.

Mostly remodeling.

I built a few houses Even some of the houses we built, we used, logs from the forest we were in and stuff like that for entrances and so forth.

Yeah.

So, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

All of this stuff would have ended up in the landfill.

So I've built things for, you know, like the flower club.

I'll have something in Christmas Tree Elegance again.

When I was asking you about the shelving, you said, said, oh, I can make these crates.

these are all made from, cabinetry, right?

Just bits and pieces of leftover cabinets It's pretty incredible to see what can be made from what everyone else was throwing away.

I'm actually grateful to alot of the companies locally that put that stuff out on the curb and let crafters take it, I'm going to start putting some of our food containers in here.

And figure out where we want to put the flowers so I know how to design them.

All right.

Sounds good.

Oh, it's the day.

Here we are.

Okay.

Do you want to just, take them straight from Yeah.

Over to the installation.

Okay, Look out!

Okay.

Lucy, will you pull up the picture so we remember where everything goes?

Oh.

Oh, good.

It feels like everyone's bringing their A-game.

They know this is a showcase of artistry It's really this cool energy.

Lots of just camaraderie happening.

Oh, that one looks incredible.

Oh, I love that turquoise one so much.

Okay, I do remember where we had these beauties.

Pretty sure.

There.

Ish.

I'm so excited to see everyone's faces when they see ‘em.

Me too!

That's my favorite is watching people come and enjoy.

Should we place the letters then place the flowers?

Okay, here's the m. M right here.

Look at that M, guys.

Oh, that looks incredible.

That's so awesome.

Right!

Oh, I love that so much.

Here█s the A Ooh this F turned out so cool with the dragon, black.

Look at that with the yellow.

Pop those on there.

Oh, this is looking fire.

Love it.

Definitely want something here.

Right.

Do we spread it all out.

Okay, look, Here's, like, option one.

I kind of maybe think that.

Right?

We spread it out.

Yeah, because then we can put flowers throughout it.

Let's try this and see.

I personally like the M in the box, but I don't think it's a big deal either way.

And I'm looking at, Yeah.

M needs to go in the box.

Okay Hey, this is looking amazing.

Oh, this looks great.

Sheila, great to see you, too.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Hi.

You're welcome.

What do you think?

I love it.

I think it looks fantastic.

It was really fun to see the letters come together.

Yeah.

Yeah it was fun to do it.

It was it was interesting to lay it out and so I always love those vintage postcards.

And I just thought that it would be such a fun way to present the artist's art.

Yes, each letter representing an artist.

I'm excited to go hunt them out.

in the Festival.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're all here It really turned out perfect.

I think it couldn't have gone better.

Sheila.

So great.

Well, I'm so glad it all worked out.

Yeah.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Hey.

Well, we'll come over and visit you.

Okay?

Thanks Taking the contrast of this, something that's built to last and something that's just for the moment.

It's this gorgeous combination of community coming together to live this moment and then when it's done, they take these mementos that become these beautiful artifacts, reminding them of this moment that happened.

Right.

And then it just becomes part of their everyday life.

I feel honored to be part of this community.

I've met amazing people.

I feel like the whole thing was just a massive success.

So fun and, exciting and playful with this deep sense of community.

What an honor.

Follow the Blooms is made possible by (gentle piano music) Slate Flosser.

A daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser.

The other toothbrush.

For more information about this and other episodes, or links to follow My Flower Adventures on social media.

Visit flowers for people.co (upbeat music)