(airy bright music) - 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.

This is incredible.

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

This is, like, the best treasure hunt ever.

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it gonna go?

How's it gonna play out?

Woo!

We did it!

(upbeat music) That is mind-blowing.

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's headed.

- [Announcer] "Follow The Blooms" is made possible by: (pulsing wistful piano music) (slow-paced wistful piano music) - [Announcer] Slate Flosser, (bright music) 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.

(bright rhythmic music) - In this season finale episode, we find ourselves on the serene shores of Orcas Island during a music festival called Imagine Fest, an enchanting event which celebrates the harmony of nature and music.

And I have the honor of creating a flower installation appropriate for such an event with my ever-supportive fabulous friend, Lori.

Reuniting with us for this collaborative effort is Murph.

This time, he's on a mission to gather as much driftwood as he can from the island's picturesque beaches to construct a large structure to serve as a canvas for our blooms, which we will be harvesting from local island farms.

(bright rhythmic music continues) The goal is to gather a medley large enough to adorn Murph's structure, and learn what farm life is like on this beautiful island.

Once completed, this installation will draw festivarians down to the beach, allowing them to see and smell the vibrant flowers, taste the delicious fruits and veggies, and with the help of our friend, Juno, from the camera crew, experience interactive sound elements that respond to their touch.

Juno has ingeniously wired various vegetables to trigger soothing nature sounds, adding an auditory dimension that enriches the sensory journey.

Hey, Murph!

- [Murph] Hey, Katie.

How you doing?

- This place is amazing!

- This is one of my favorite places.

Yeah, this is like dream come true for me getting to do driftwood on Doe Bay.

Oh, my goodness.

(upbeat music) - Okay, this is Imagine Fest.

It's been going for seven years.

Incredible!

Everyone coming together to hear music, to share art.

You know, people like me who want to come and have a place to build ephemeral, amazing art that people can experience.

You could not get a better place, Doe Bay Beach Resort, and it's just one of the most magical places I have ever seen.

- It's a kind of unique place.

I always feign not believing in magic, but whenever people come to Doe Bay, I say, "You know, something magical, whatever that means, might happen to you."

And inevitably it does.

So yeah, this ground is pretty magical.

Yeah, so we're in the San Juan Islands, which is some of the most beautiful cruising islands in the world, really.

And we're about an hour north of Seattle.

- There's no roads to this place, so we're taking a ferry to get here.

And, you know, that's part of the adventure.

The whole thing from start to finish is all new.

Never done it before.

Ah, look at this.

This is looking way cool!

- Yeah, you know, I really like the idea of mixing in all these flavors, having some flowers, having some lights, having some driftwood.

And, you know, is it a portal?

Is it a meditation station?

I think it'll unravel itself.

We'll find out what it is as we build it, but, yeah.

- Murph's style, we just let it roll, right?

- Let the materials tell me what we're doing here.

I just show up.

I'm just a, joo, joo, yeah, put it together guy.

That's all I am.

- I love the idea of people coming in, in the evening, and actually wading through the experience, right?

- Yeah!

Part of this is I want people to feel called.

You know, they're gonna come in here all warm and gently on the earth, but then they just can't help themselves and they end up wading into the water.

And we're gonna try to capture that a little bit in the cathedral so that you can come in here, and it's gonna give you different places to look into here.

Shall we take the water entrance?

- Yeah!

Oh, let's do.

- We're just beginning.

- That sounds fun.

- Just beginning.

- So if we were mer-people?

- If we were mer-people.

- We would come, right?

- Yes, we would come up out of here.

And now we're just getting started, but there's gonna be a cathedral entrance here just calling you and you're gonna just want to be- - I can see it!

- You know, come out of the water.

- Yeah!

Okay, I like the just, I mean, the driftwood has so many natural, beautiful tones.

- [Murph] Sure!

- And then I'm thinking I'll just weave, kind of marble some flowers through.

'Cause you said you're gonna fill this with the smaller pieces.

- Oh, yeah, these are gonna be driftwood walls.

- Okay.

- There'll be peekaboo spots to see out, to let light filter in.

And if you stain glass that up.

Or are you thinking inside or outside?

Do you want the flowers?

- Well, you know what?

When I walked up, I thought it would be pretty cool to not see the flowers full force.

- [Murph] To make 'em less.

- [Katie] Until you come in.

- [Murph] Yeah!

- [Katie] Right?

- [Murph] That's how flowers work, right?

- Yeah.

Yeah!

- [Both] Pfft!

(Katie laughs) - Yeah.

Right on.

Fireworks.

- Yes.

Do you like that?

- Absolutely!

- Okay!

- Yeah, because then it's like, we don't even know.

We're just getting drawn up.

"What is this thing?"

And then you get drawn in and then all of a sudden flowers, mosses.

(cheerful bluegrass music) - Murph, I'm loving this bench.

It feels really natural to have people sitting there.

- Yeah!

I love the idea of sitting here.

'Cause, you know, before we knew what we're building, which we still don't know.

- Yeah!

(laughs) - I'm not gonna lie.

- Still coming to us.

- I thought, you know, it's a music festival.

- Yeah!

- The voice of the ocean is right here.

And I had pictured this kind of speaker that you could sit in and it would, like, bring the sound of the ocean to you.

While we're sitting here, I feel like Mother Ocean just threw this log up here, so that way people could sit here and be present to her.

- [Katie] Yeah!

- So yeah, we're gonna bring a peaked roof in out there now.

So that way- - [Katie] Oh, I love that!

- Kinda like when you're, yeah, when you're in a mountain cabin, there's the peak roof so that you can see the sun over the mountains.

I can't cut that out anymore.

So yeah, we'll have peaked roof action.

Foo!

- Yeah!

- Invitation to the water, to the mountains.

(Katie laughs) - Okay!

I really could sit here all day, Murph.

It is amazing.

- And yet we got a lot of work to do.

- We got a lot of work to do.

- I don't even know where you're gonna get the flowers.

I mean, I hear you, but, you know, in my mind, flowers are a mystery.

(Katie laughs) But I'll get the wood.

- Yeah, you do the wood.

I got the flowers.

- [Murph] All right!

(slow-paced bright music) - [Katie] I'm excited to see that the driftwood beach hut is taking shape, and I can now imagine it evolving into a magical place people here at the festival will be able to come and enjoy all weekend long.

(wistful music) While Juno and Murph continue to build, I'm off to collect the flowers.

First stop, Alexis Bouchard of Flower Moon Floral.

She's not only an amazing artist, but a flower grower as well.

Alexis and I sat down and had a great chat about the many plant varieties she grows, including some beautiful greenery and some branches from her fruit trees to add to our display alongside the flowers.

She also shared with me what it's like to farm on an island.

- I feel pretty blessed.

You know, this is pretty sacred land and it's a really beautiful spot.

And so I've really been just trying to listen to the land and work with the land and not really impose my vision onto the land.

So just being aware of that.

- I feel like everything you're saying is what we all want to do, but it's magnified on the island, right?

'Cause you're like, the ocean is literally right there, right?

- [Alexis] Yeah.

Yeah.

- And then you can't just reach out and get things that were brought in.

Okay, so you've got all the greens harvested.

Thank you.

- Yep!

Yeah, you're welcome.

- And then we get to harvest the flowers, right?

- Yeah!

I thought we could do that together.

- [Katie] Let's do it!

- [Alexis] All right.

- That's my favorite part.

Yeah, I love this one.

Look how gorgeous.

- Yeah?

And would you- I mean, the birds, then it'll kind of become part of the- - I know!

I kind of, I really actually love seeing the different stages of it.

And that brown is so pretty, right?

- I might need your help.

- Yeah!

(laughs) - You're gonna have to come.

- This is a two man sunflower!

Two woman.

- [Alexis] Two woman.

- Two woman sunflower.

(Katie laughs) Look at that thing.

That's amazing.

(mellow upbeat music) Look at that!

It's so fun.

And this one?

- [Alexis] Yeah, that's the teddy bear.

- Teddy bear?

- [Alexis] Teddy bear!

- It actually looks like that.

So furry and fabulous.

- [Alexis] How many do you want?

- I think because we'll have two sides, right, coming up on like the opening, the cathedral shape door.

- Yeah?

- [Katie] So yeah, I think this one would be awesome.

- [Alexis] Okay.

- I don't know.

I think they will call to me.

- [Alexis] Yeah!

- They'll find their place, right?

- [Alexis] I have a couple more too.

So I have three there and then two there.

Yeah, they're really cool.

- They're too fun.

I have a funky shape.

We have to... - [Alexis] Oh, they're awesome.

I love them.

- I don't know if they're gonna do like this thing, or like that.

That thing or they'll do something.

(laughs) - [Alexis] Yeah!

- I'm like, "Are these up for grabs or are they?"

- Oh, yeah, yeah!

- Look how cool they are.

- You want this whole thing?

You could have the whole thing.

- Yes!

Are you kidding me?

- No!

- I think this could be like- - You want this down?

- At the pinnacle, right?

The top of the arch.

- [Alexis] Ooh!

Nice!

- [Katie] Right?

I feel like it could be, yeah, the crowning moment.

- [Alexis] I love it.

- [Katie] On something.

- Yeah!

Well, do we wanna get cosmos here or you wanna go down, get the dahlias?

- Let's grab dahlias.

Yes.

- Yeah!

- I think the dahlias, they're usually relatively hardy for- - [Alexis] Oh, yeah.

- [Katie] Big install, you know?

Art stuff.

- Yeah!

We have a lot of these orange ones, so I thought these would be really, like, fun.

- Great pop!

- And do you want them cut kind of short or long?

- You know, we don't need them too long.

- Okay.

- But let's give us some length just so in case.

- Okay!

- 'Cause I'm not certain on the design yet.

- Okay!

- So that way we can play with it.

- Are you creating this, this afternoon?

- Yeah, we'll start.

Murph, he's building the forest.

- [Alexis] Structure.

Yeah.

- [Katie] The structure on the beach as we speak.

- [Alexis] Yeah?

- [Katie] Went and saw him this morning and it's coming along beautifully with all the driftwood.

- [Alexis] Yeah!

- Look at this one.

I love this orach.

- [Alexis] Yeah!

- Right next to the... These orange, right?

Look at that color combo.

- [Alexis] Yeah.

- Ooh, baby!

That is fire.

Dynamite!

It looks, it reminds me of like a tambourine or like a little gypsy's clothes, right?

Like choo-choo-choo-choo-choo.

(laughs) I wanna capture that we're at the changing of the season.

And so everything's not at its peak vibrance, right?

It's changing color.

It's getting these textures and these lovely browns are coming in.

And I think that's important to capture, right?

- It's dropping its seeds, so it's producing seed to- - Yeah!

- You know?

Grow the next year's harvest.

- That's true!

These ones that are changing color are definitely dropping.

Okay, dahlias, you know, they've taken over the flower world.

They are the star of the show for sure right now, and they're just so stunning.

And if you get up close, you can actually see the petals sparkle.

They have a little glimmer to them.

It's fascinating!

When they get the sun on them, they really do sparkle.

It's like nature glitter.

I think these are going to look beautiful against that driftwood.

Mm!

Alexis, you have far surpassed my wildest island dreams.

So!

(laughs) This is incredible.

- Well, thank you.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity.

It's really awesome.

- Yeah!

- Yeah.

- Yeah, let's get these in the car.

Alexis's farm was incredible.

You know, I knew about the sunflowers and the dahlias, which are always a showstopper.

But then we found all these interesting, fun things.

You know, the artichoke and then the pears and apples, leaving that hanging fruit on the branches.

(mellow cheerful music) Okay, I'm headed out to another farm.

Gonna meet George and can't wait to see what he's got.

George!

George, you know, you drive up into this hidden treasure, this homestead from way back when, and then behind his gorgeous old home is this farm.

And, you know, it's in these lovely little rows.

You can tell it's so well-tended.

And George is great about sharing what he loves, sharing how he's done it, sharing what he's learned.

Oh!

Hey, George!

- [George] Hi, Katie!

- [Katie] Look at this place!

This is phenomenal!

- Welcome!

- Wow!

Okay, George, these are my very favorite.

Oh, who's this?

- [George] That's Rosie.

- [Katie] Hey, Rosie!

Oh!

Oh!

- [George] She's ready to play.

- [Katie] She's excited.

(laughs) These are my favorite.

- [George] Japanese anemone.

- [Katie] Anemany?

- [George] Anemone.

(Katie laughs) - Try to say that five times fast.

Look at this.

- Black-eyed Susans.

Going strong.

- Yeah, those are looking great.

- The Madame Butterfly.

Snapdragons.

Asters and- - So many colors.

- [George] Statice.

- Yeah!

You've been doing this for 30 years?

- I moved up here from Seattle.

- Yeah!

- In 1993.

- Okay!

- I was working there in nurseries and garden stores.

And I worked at that herb farm, a famous farm-to-table restaurant, kind of early on in the game.

- Okay!

- And watch out for plums here.

They're heavily laden and falling.

- [Katie] Yeah!

Oh!

- Yellow jacket's favorite, favorite haunt.

- Favorite haunt.

But man, they're gorgeous.

Their color is amazing.

- [George] Yeah.

- [Katie] Okay, so you're working at?

- The herb farm.

- The herb farm.

- A little frustrated in that small scale and the urban setting of Seattle, so began to look out and about and my heart landed on Orcas.

It sort of had been steered that way for a long time and came up here after searching for some land and found this spot, which is an old homestead farm.

- [Katie] Now you stayed with it for 30 years.

What kept you at farming?

- Well, it's kind of an addiction.

It's hard to stop farming.

(Katie laughs) - The farming addiction.

That's a pretty good addiction to have.

- We have to linger here for the scent of the sweet peas.

- Oh, man!

- Which are- - Oh, let me smell these.

- Going strong.

- Smell these.

- [George] Will bowl you over.

- You can.

Oh, they're so strong.

- I come and stand here sometimes just to get a little fresh breeze.

They're so free, right?

- Yeah!

George, his whole farm just blew me out of the water.

It was so beautiful.

Really fun to chat with him.

And, you know, we went for the flowers which were in abundance, you know?

And then he's throwing in lavender, he's throwing in plums, he's throwing in apples.

He's just throwing in everything.

Very, very generous.

So far, it feels like I'm getting some great material for this design.

I have one more farm to visit.

We're gonna meet up with Lisa at the Doe Bay Farm.

Lisa, thank you for having me here!

- Yeah, thanks for coming!

- To the Doe Bay Garden!

And you are the woman in charge around here, right?

- Yeah!

- [Katie] So here, everything in the garden supports the resort, right?

- Yeah!

- Doe Bay Resort.

- So the food is first and foremost for the cafe.

So the chefs tell me what they want.

Usually in the fall, we'll go through the seed catalogs and we'll kind of go over what they use the most and that.

(upbeat music) - When I bought Doe Bay, which is a little over 20 years ago now, I had heard that it had the best organic farm on the island.

And I was slow to be convinced how much better things taste when they're just out of the ground.

But I have sat at the Doe Bay Cafe at least 10, probably closer to 20 times and eaten something and said, "That is the best salad that I've ever had.

That's the best cucumber I've ever had."

And it always just amazes me.

- Thank you for introducing us to the amazing growers on Orcas Island.

- Oh, yeah!

Absolutely!

There's a lot of talent, a lot of really cool people around here.

- Yeah!

So we went and visited everybody today.

Met Alexis and George, and we've got the majority of flowers we need.

- [Lisa] Yeah!

- I know you've got some here.

- Okay!

- But really we're after your gourds, right?

- Cool!

Yep, the gourds.

- The gourds.

Yeah.

What do you got growing?

- Oh, all kinds of stuff right now.

We've got some zucchini that we'll pick.

Some fun little peppers.

We've got some apples, some pears, Asian pears and European pears.

- [Katie] Talk about farm-to-table.

- Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

- You know, that's what we wanna do with the flowers is field-to-art, right?

- Oh, yeah.

Yep.

- Yeah, take it right from the source and then let it- - [Lisa] Yeah!

- Let it play together, right?

Yeah.

Very cool!

Let's check out your, what you got growing.

- Cool.

(groovy upbeat music) - [Katie] I'm on the hunt.

A hunt for the butternut.

- [Lisa] These are the mini butternuts, so these only get about a pound and a half, two pounds.

- [Katie] Oh, those are so fun.

- So they're like a little single serving size.

- Okay!

So this thing's ready to eat?

- That?

Close, yeah.

- Okay.

Pretty close?

- It'll need to ripen up, but for our installation, it'll hold up well.

- Yeah, it'd be great for the install.

- [Lisa] Yes!

These are some delicata squash.

- [Katie] Oh, yeah!

That's cool.

Delicata?

- [Lisa] Yeah!

- Do you cook it up the same and just?

- Yeah.

Well, when these ripen, these ones aren't quite ripe, but when they ripen, they'll be bright yellow with the green ribbon.

So we need to find a taste element, yeah?

- Yes!

- [Lisa] So we do have a lot of edible flowers.

We have nasturtiums and we have calendulas.

A lot of really pretty ones.

- [Katie] I've never tried these.

- Yeah!

(Katie laughs) Nasturtiums have kind of a radishy flavor.

- Okay.

- And the calendulas, they're pretty mild.

They don't really have much of a flavor, but they're really pretty.

- Oh, you have so many of these.

How fun!

- Yeah, so these are the nasturtiums, the vining ones, and these actually all seeded themselves.

- [Katie] Yeah!

- These little ones are zinnias, but these here are the nasturtiums.

- [Katie] Yeah!

- So there's all these bright, bright yellow ones.

- So bright!

Fun!

You're just saying I can munch these?

- [Lisa] Yeah!

Yeah, you can just jump right in there.

- It's definitely, like you said, little peppery.

- Yeah, yeah.

Kind of like a radishy.

- Yeah, radish, peppery.

Ooh, that's yummy!

- Yeah.

The leaves are obviously edible as well.

- [Katie] How fun!

- So they're kind of fun for a garnish 'cause they have these pretty little lily pad leaves.

- Yeah, those are gorgeous.

- Yeah.

- How fun!

I think people will love to munch these.

- Yeah, they look kind of tropical.

- You're right.

They do.

They do kind of look like an orchid.

Yeah.

Super cute.

I'm popping one in you.

- Oh?

Oh, yes.

Thank you.

- Fancy.

Okay!

Awesome!

If you guys harvest those, we'll have enough to share.

- Yeah!

Oh, yeah.

We'll fill some bowls in the morning and have them ready for the install tomorrow.

- [Katie] Okay.

Thank you so much, Lisa!

- [Lisa] Yeah, thank you.

- All right, my plan is to take all of these components and make it about the five senses, right?

How can we feel, hear, touch, smell, taste, all the things.

(upbeat music) It's finally time to get these beautiful flowers up on the structure and get the vegetables to Juno so he can wire them for the sound.

Juno has been behind the scenes on our "Follow The Blooms" team since the beginning, and now we are putting more of his skills to work for this episode.

On top of being a camera operator, Juno is a skilled electronic musician, an all around creative when it comes to thinking outside the box.

Just what we needed to incorporate the two remaining sensory elements to the installation.

Sound and touch.

I'm excited to see what he's been cooking up and how he plans on using these lovely gourds I got from Lisa.

- So this is the audiovisual portion of what this installation is gonna be.

- Ah!

- So this will be the lighting for it.

We have these lanterns.

- Ooh!

Those are beautiful.

- So these lanterns will be hooked up to this tiny computer.

- [Katie] That's a computer?

- That is a tiny computer.

- So cool!

- Programmed with a bunch of sounds and field recordings and code to change lights.

This is what's gonna power the whole thing.

- Okay.

- So all of these will be hooked up.

And so this, this mess of wires, we have each of these is dedicated to a certain bank of sounds and field recordings.

These are gonna be plugged into different pieces of produce like zucchini.

- What?

- And gourds and pumpkins and cucumbers.

So the water content of each produce item will dictate what sounds are being played and in what way those sounds will be played.

And then as people are interacting with the sculpture and the portal, as they're touching the produce, that further enhances how those sounds are gonna be played and how those sounds are gonna morph over time.

- Because, like, their body?

Their?

- The water content of the body and the electricity that's within the body also kind of further enhances how the electricity is being picked up and recorded and played back.

So it'll be a constantly evolving cacophony of sounds.

- But it would never be the same twice.

- It will never be the same.

No, every- - It will always be- - Every experience that people will have in there will be completely unique to themselves and their own personal bodies.

- [Katie] Okay!

- So we'll plug it in.

(Katie gasps) (birds singing) - What?

- It's already changing.

Yeah.

- Yeah, like right when you touch it, you hear the bird sound.

- [Juno] And the lights change.

- And the lights change!

That's so freaking cool!

(laughs) - So we're off to a strong start.

- Look at that!

You see that?

That's so- And when you did it, it was, it changes to white!

Alexis!

Hey!

Look!

Look what your flowers did!

Hi.

- Oh!

- Thanks for coming over.

How fun is that?

- This is magical.

Look what you made!

- [Katie] What we all made, right?

(upbeat jazz music) - I wasn't expecting something quite so beautiful.

This is really, like, you really captured the place.

- [Katie] Mm!

- That's really nice.

- Yay!

(wistful guitar music) As the sun sets on the shores of Orcas Island, I'm surrounded by laughter, music, and rhythmic dancing here at Imagine Fest.

I feel overcome with a profound sense of gratitude.

This installation, a feast for the senses, and a testament to the bonds we've created, marks the perfect finale to an incredible season of "Follow The Blooms."

All right, Joe, you ready to see this?

- I am so excited to be here.

Yeah, so much fun.

- Come on in!

Yeah!

Okay!

So these, these are the masters of this design right here.

- I tell you, it was so much fun to watch you build this thing.

It was really cool.

- [Murph] I hope you enjoyed it.

- [Joe] Yeah!

- [Katie] Okay, Joe, you've gotta see Juno's amazing sound creation over here.

Come test this out.

- [Joe] Oh, that is so cool.

(laughs) - [Katie] Crazy, right?

- [Juno] Wired vegetables.

- Do this one and watch the light.

- [Designer] That were grown here on the island.

- The light connects too.

- [Katie] So it changes the light.

- Yeah, that is so cool.

- [Katie] Right?

Over the season, I've collaborated with inspiring people, community connectors, flower growers, visual artists, and creatives of all types to bring these floral visions to life.

You nailed it.

- Thanks, Katie.

Thank you!

- Yeah!

Rocking it!

(both giggle) The entire team has been instrumental in every project, providing essential support and creating lasting impressions wherever we ventured.

- So yeah, it was a perfect natural thing to have you guys come and create something so cool.

And the site on the water there.

So yeah, it's turned out really well.

- Woo!

It's all sparkly!

I'm gonna find one that's connected.

Oh!

Oh!

(group chattering) The light!

- Yeah, girl!

Oh, you're blue!

- Woo!

- That's so cool!

No one's been this color of blue today.

My hope is that this message rings clear: Flowers are not just to be admired.

They are to be felt, binding us together in a profound shared experience.

- Thank you for doing this!

- Yeah, absolutely.

- I am just lost for words.

I love Doe Bay and I love this place, and this is amazing.

- [Katie] Thank you for coming along on the journey.

- I think we did it!

- [Katie] For dancing and celebrating the beauty of connection through the art of flowers here on "Follow The Blooms."

(wistful bright music) - [Announcer] "Follow The Blooms" is made possible by: (pulsing wistful piano music) (slow-paced wistful piano music) - [Announcer] Slate Flosser, (bright music) 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.

- [Katie] For more information about this and other episodes or links to follow my flower adventures on social media, visit flowersforpeople.co.

(wistful music) (wistful music continues) (bright triumphant music)