(uplifting 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.

Wait, that is crazy!

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 out of control.

I love it.

Oh my goodness.

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it going to go?

How's it going to play out?

Woo, we did it!

My install team is amazing.

They just (snaps) 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: (wondrous music) (wondrous music continues) - [Presenter] 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.

- It's early June in Spokane, Washington.

Here in the Inland Northwest, the springtime parade is in full bloom.

Previously, as a wedding florist, it was heartbreaking to tear down the flower display that we had worked on for so many hours after a few short hours of the event.

This is how it works.

My team builds a flower wonderland in the studio and aims to keep it fresh for two days.

Photographers book time in the studio with the flowers.

They then book their own mini sessions with several clients.

Are you following?

In the studio today, brainstorming with my friend Sierra.

She's also one of the designers on this project.

I'm imagining like snake-like fingers that are taller than a person covered in moss and then we'll ribbon ranunculus flowers through the moss.

Next up to the farms to see those ranunculus growing.

Terri at Dream Dirt Floral, she is a worker bee.

Oh, wow!

Look at these.

They are so tall.

So beautiful.

- Real pretty there.

- Girl, you've been working hard.

She is out there in her hoop house.

She's planting.

She's growing.

She's harvesting.

- I'm not sure if these will bloom this year, my foxglove.

But I propagated all these.

- Oh, man.

- And these.

- Oh, these smell so good.

Everything's growing in your hoop house.

But out here, what's happening?

- Kind of my perennial production area, things I'm going to put in.

High tunnels are high dollar real estate, so only the really good stuff goes in there to earn its keep.

But this'll be, I think, hydrangeas and roses possibly.

But yarrow, more of the peonies went down those first two rows.

And then on the other side, it'll be dahlias and annuals slowly.

- [Katie] You get a lot of sun right here.

- Yeah, full sun.

It's just, it's been such a cool, windy spring out here.

I'm behind and I'm not going to fight with it, so I'll adjust my planting plans.

I don't really have plans, but you know, what I grow, I'll put out and hopefully it works.

- Yeah, this year, I mean, last year this time we were 100 degrees.

This year, we are barely squeaking up to the 60s.

Right?

- Yeah.

- So we're probably three weeks behind.

- I don't want it to be like last year.

And being wheat farmers primarily, this rain and cool is helpful.

- I like that she has a respect for her flowers.

She knows they're good and she knows her ability really well and her flowers prove it, which is so cool and just such a different experience to buy local flowers from the person that grew them.

If you've ever done that with food at a farmer's market, you know this connection and this joy that follows you through as you enjoy the food, right?

It's the same thing with these flowers.

They're there on my kitchen table because I always have to keep a few, especially of Terri's flowers.

And then I just hand them out like candy for everyone to enjoy.

A lot of people don't realize that you can buy locally grown flowers, right?

They think they just have to get them out of store.

What are your thoughts on that?

- I'm a huge supporter of anything that keeps farms in operation, provides a livelihood for farmers and farm families.

I think the thing is that they haven't traveled and they're going to last a lot longer.

- Terri, these are gorgeous.

Thank you so much.

And I will keep you posted as we build the design.

- Please do, thank you.

- And I know the photographers are going to be so excited.

All the people that get to see your flowers are just going to be, just feel the joy.

- Well, I appreciate your support and your encouragement and enthusiasm for us local growers.

It'd be neat to see what you can do with them.

- We say goodbye to Terri and look forward to heading over to Sullivan Family Farms.

(lively music) Okay, we were driving back from Dream Dirt Florals and we saw this field, so we had to stop.

Are you kidding me?

This is amazing!

Okay, this is canola flower.

It's where canola oil comes from.

It's a fairly popular dry land crop here in the Inland Northwest.

And besides that, it's so beautiful!

(lively music) (lively music continues) - Hello.

- Hi.

- Girl, how are you?

- Good.

- Good to see you.

Let's take a look at this farm stand.

Are you kidding me?

- Absolutely.

- What?

This is so beautiful.

I am really impressed with everything you've done.

Louise, she has a soft spot in my heart.

Her story is amazing.

And I think it just, that tenderness, that treading lightly with others with their stories.

I think Louise is brilliant at that and it shows in her work.

Tell us your story.

- My daughter-in-law who has a nursing degree said, "I've always want to be a flower farmer."

- When was that?

- That was back in 2018.

For me, this has been a journey of recovery and healing.

I had the opportunity to remove myself from an abusive long-term relationship.

And I've said I always want to share that story to let people know that there is a next chapter.

And it can be a beautiful chapter.

I've just been fortunate to be blessed by wonderful family, wonderful friends, and been able to come to this farm.

And we're about joy.

So it's a very different chapter.

Every day at Sullivan Family Farms, we live into that motto, "Always choose joy."

- She has this fabulous farm and this fabulous team.

And she just... it's like watching a great conductor leading a symphony, right?

Just helping everybody do their part to create this magnificent farm which is so fun to visit and to be a part of anytime you can.

We're here in your shop, and tell us about these subscriptions that you are pumping out.

- It has just been most amazing to just take the concept of getting flowers on a consistent basis to customers.

And we talked about that we're about bringing joy.

So how fun it is that on a weekly basis or every other week that they can come to our farm stand and they get a quart jar.

So again, our mason jars and whatever's seasonal and blooming that week.

And Grace does a great job.

- Hi, Grace.

- Hi.

- She has been here for a couple years now and was a zinnia person and came from a flower family.

And my gifting is in growing flowers.

And Grace has a great gift in designing.

So on either weekly or every other week, they're able to get Sullivan Family Farms flowers.

I would say, Katie, that like one of the highs in flower farming was in not knowing what I didn't know.

So no one told me that most flower farmers buy plugs and that they don't start things from seeds.

And I've just seen my mom starting everything from seed, germinating on paper towels.

And so it was just remarkable to find out that people were like, "You started and grew all of these things."

And so yeah, that was a really proud moment to be able to say it went from the seed packet to the vase.

And all that happened here.

And it was really probably a little bit naivety on my part that created that.

When you ask for hard spots, yeah, sometimes you think about how beautiful things are on social media and the beautiful product that goes out.

And last Saturday we had the biggest hail that we've ever had in Washington State and lost several thousand tulips.

So I think it's the joys that Mother Nature brings to us and that we are able to offer these plants and flowers everything they need to flourish and the heartache that comes with an early freeze or a late frost.

- [Katie] And those are back to back, right?

The joys and the sorrows, they just... - Yes.

- [Katie] They keep coming back to back.

- Right.

And so I think it's trying to appreciate last summer was super dry and it was super hot.

And the fear of fire, we've had fire very close within just a couple hundred feet of our farm stand.

But certain flowers loved it.

And kind of being able to embrace that there were different flowers that flourished last year.

And this spring, because it's been cool, we've had a longer season for daffodils and for tulips.

So it is finding that little gem that comes from some of the hard.

On a funny end would be the fact that I used to have to, on a work mission, go back with my mom to my grandma's in Massachusetts and dig dahlias.

And I said, "Oh, I will never have these.

They are way too much work.

I am not... I'm raising perennials.

I'm not digging something up."

And we probably have a thousand that we're growing this year.

- (laughs) That's good.

- So never say never.

- I'm going to count these up 'cause I want them all.

When I saw these farm-grown flowers, it just filled me with joy, right?

I'm so excited to bring these into the design and this little ugly sketch in my notebook is now becoming so real.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you for having me.

I always love to see you, and I think what you've built is amazing.

And I'm so proud of you.

Bye, Louise!

(lively music) (performer whistling) It's harvest and delivery day.

Hooray.

Terri and I take a hack at her beautiful crab apple tree.

I'm amazed just how much I can cram into my car.

And Sullivan Family Farms makes a gorgeous delivery.

All right, what a fantastic day at the farm.

I am thrilled with the flowers that we harvested.

Now we're in downtown Spokane, Washington at The Now Now creative space, and we're ready to build this thing.

So come on in.

I want you to meet my fabulous and scrappy team.

Hey, team!

- Hey, Katie.

- How's everybody?

- So good.

- Good, good.

I know we're ready.

Okay.

I'm super excited.

Yes, we've had it in our minds, right?

So we're gonna unload the cars, drag everything in.

Then we'll build our finger octopus mossy thing.

Just to see them and know that this is really happening.

That I have a team that's gonna make it happen is just more than I can ask for.

And then we'll also make the crab apple woods behind there.

So there'll be both of those going on.

We'll have two teams.

Who wants to be team mossy fingers?

- Me.

- Okay, awesome.

Sierra and Ruby.

- Hey, I'm Sierra.

I am a graphic designer, but I love all things design.

So I love working with flowers.

It's a great way to get away from the computer.

And my grandma is a floral designer, so get to learn a little bit more about what she does, which is fun.

- Hi, I'm Ruby May.

I didn't have too much experience with flowers before I met Katie.

It's been great working with her.

I've learned a lot.

- And then you two will be crab apple woods with me.

- Okay.

- Ayva's team Ayva.

- Hi, I'm Ayva Fern.

The flower master.

Katie Lila is my mother, and we make a good team because she is an artist and she has an artist's brain and I'm the organized brain.

So it makes a good team.

- I'm Ava Widerm.

I'm so glad my first job is working with flowers instead of burgers at a burger joint.

- Here we go.

Go team.

Ready?

"Follow the Blooms" on three.

Three, two, one.

- [Together] Follow the Blooms!

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - Okay, so... this is the Seminole floral delivery system.

And it's really cool because it's got these, as you can see, these holes in it, right?

And it comes in just these little grids.

So you can divide it in lots of different ways, kind of like Legos.

And then it has all these little pipes, and it's to put in the back of your car.

So then you can sit these in like this and you can put a vase in the middle so it doesn't wobble around when you're trying to deliver flowers.

But I have found that it's really great base for installations.

So I can build the grid however I want.

And today we're doing kind of a curved C-shape design, and I wanted it to be about six feet wide.

And then I can put these little pipe pieces wherever I want those too.

So you know, kind of like a Lite-Brite system, right?

Where you can stick them in wherever you want, and then I can build on those.

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) So these are our stick burritos.

It's just a thick, probably quarter-inch cable that's malleable, but also holds its shape.

Crafted it into that kind of long shape and then put some roughage in there and then just wrapped it in chicken wire and popped those pipes on the bottom ready to stick in there.

What do you think?

- Do you want them to like just stick straight up?

- No, no.

I want them to dance, right?

(lively music) I'm thinking with... Ah, dang it.

Oh, blast.

Oh no.

Oh no!

- This is a reality happening.

Little flood, minor flood.

It is a flood disaster in the studio for the second time, by the way.

And it's concrete, right?

So I mean, it just spreads.

My sweet Ayva Fern is, you know, Cinderella in the back corner just plunging at this water.

(plastic rustling) (laughs) Happy moss.

- [Cameraman] This is like one of those, you might be a flower person if you think moss is super pretty.

- (laughs) Yeah, you're like, "I don't see it.

I don't see it."

- [Cameraman] All I see is a menace to my roof right there.

- I will pay you for your roof moss.

Send that out there.

Put that out there into the world.

I will pay you for your roof moss.

So I buy insane amounts of moss.

I bring it here and we just have no way to get the moss on.

I have all these little picks that I'm thinking will work.

They're not working.

I'm at a loss and kind of feel like crying because we can't build this without the moss.

Not really working, is it?

Not gripping.

So, hmm.

Brainstorm.

Team brainstorm.

Should we lay them down first?

- Maybe you could take, you know, the green wire, you could, somebody could hold it onto, somebody else could wrap it around because you don't really see the wire too much.

- And then Ruby, the champion, comes in with this brilliant idea to mummy wrap these finger snakes with the moss.

So brilliant.

So you're saying, what is that?

What's it, like wrap it like a... - So like take this and then you take the wire.

And then you like wrap it.

And then you take the thingies and like put them over so you can't see it like that.

- [Katie] Yeah, like you could just lay it all down and then someone could hold it and you can just like mummy it.

- That works.

- Ruby for the win!

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - (laughs) Oh no.

- I turn my back for like one second!

- Well, now that it's down, do you want to capture it falling?

Ah, dang it.

- Oh!

- It's okay.

- No.

- A flaw in the design.

This is really bad.

The moss arms are literally flopping to the floor and I don't have any way to hold them up.

They're too heavy.

Which seems like I probably should have thought of that, but I just really thought they would hold.

Okay.

Yes, I'm actually tempted.

I'm like, maybe I'll just go to Home Depot in the morning.

It's 11:00 PM.

I'm exhausted.

Just pulling in.

A lot of snafus today.

Water bucket flooding the studio.

A large part of the design flopping over.

Rearranging the flowers.

Everybody worked their tails off.

It's going to be great.

I'm going to go get a little shut-eye.

(gentle music) Okay, brilliantly, Ace Hardware opened early.

I jut down there, go in looking for metal rods, and find these wooden dowels.

And these wooden dowels are perfect.

Magically, they do.

They fit exactly perfect.

And what I thought was going to take an hour is now taking five minutes.

The work is finally done.

Two days of work for ready-to-play.

We have our first photographer here.

She's here with her clients, and I'm just really excited to get everybody in here and show them what we've made.

- I am so excited to work with Katie.

She just has this authentic love for flowers and for all things nature.

She creates these masterpieces that are so genuine and so unique.

They're just brilliant.

But the thing that I love most about Katie is that she has this ability to inspire and to facilitate this authenticity in individuals and she tries to pull it out of them.

And I think that is awesome.

- Here we go.

(uplifting music) - Woo, hey, guys!

- Oh my God!

- You look great.

Come and see.

Good to see you.

Hey, beautiful.

Come in.

Come explore.

(uplifting music continues) (uplifting music continues) (group chattering) Right?

Isn't that fun?

Look at these.

All the colors.

- I love this idea of the fresh flower mini sessions because it's half the battle, the backdrop.

So right when a client comes in, I can just focus directly on the client and not have to worry about anything.

And it's beautiful.

- Sharing my work feels nothing but rewarding.

(camera clicking) Thanks for flowering with us.

What a grand time it's been to create with ranunculus, anemones, and crab apple branches harvested right here in the beautiful Inland Northwest.

My big question is what else can we do with flowers?

How can we get them into our lives more often?

Seek them out.

Hike where the wildflowers are blooming.

Snip some from your yard, bring them inside.

Hey, even from your neighbor's yard, I'll never tell.

Flowers help us gain a sense of place and a sense of connection.

Excited to keep exploring as we follow the blooms.

See you soon.

(uplifting music) (uplifting music continues) (uplifting music continues) - [Announcer] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by: (wondrous music) (wondrous music continues) - [Presenter] 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.

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

(lively music) (lively music continues) (fanfare music)