Episode 567: Portrait of a Local Flower Pioneer, with Seattle Wholesale Growers Market’s General Manager Brad Siebe, including updates about their new ecommerce platform

https://youtu.be/rt5m6fkz6ME




If you are a longtime Slow Flowers member or follower, you know that the origins of our organization are closely rooted with those of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market.I was present at the 2010 regional meeting of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, which was held at Charles Little & Co., in Eugene. That's when a group of Oregon and Washington flower farmers began to discuss banding together to establish a new flower hub in the Pacific Northwest. They studied the model of the Oregon Flower Growers Association, a producer-owned cooperative founded in 1942, and agreed to pursue the formation of a similar but updated wholesale flower marketplace in Seattle.



Brad Siebe (left) and Katy Beene (right), the SWGMC management team, at a 2020 design event (c) Missy Palacol Photography



The following April, in 2011, the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative opened for business in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, not far from the conventional wholesale companies who has shown little interest in doing business with those local flower farms.







You can read the story of these beginnings in my 2012 book, The 50 Mile Bouquet, and ever since that first 2010 meeting in a flower field, I have been the self-appointed "embedded journalist" who has documented the story of Seattle Wholesale Growers Market.



Known now as “the Market”— the destination is essential to the floral industry's fabric in the Pacific Northwest. The Market has been studied, as other regional groups of flower farmers - all across the U.S. and Canada - have emulated its model to establish a market for local flowers in their communities.



I've had the privilege of interviewing most of the farmers who are part of the Market, visiting their farms and spending time learning from them, not to mention enjoying the beauty and superior quality of their floral crops.



In 2020, the Market moved to the next level with the hiring of Brad Siebe as general manager. Brad's background as president and CEO of one of the Seattle area's largest independent garden centers and also in general management in the commercial construction industry, has helped the Market weather the challenges of Covid and come out on the other side stronger and more successful.



I asked Brad to give us an update about what's been happening with the growth of the Market, and we recently sat down for a conversation in the plant room there.



Find and follow Seattle Wholesale Growers Market on Instagram







Read: Seattle Wholesale Growers Market's history and Cooperative Model, authored by cooperative expert Margaret Lund.



2021_Seattle Wholesale Growers Coop Case Study_final-low-resDownload







Watch this compilation from the Farm to Florist Series




https://vimeo.com/682368975/ead8784d36








More News of the Week







COLOR IN THE GARDEN: First up, if you are in the Pacific Northwest, you're invited to join me and several of my plant-lover friends on Sunday, August 7, at Old Goat Farm in Graham, Washington for "A Day of Color in the Garden." This is a program of Garden Communicators International, of which I am past president. Open to all, the event includes invites you to immerse yourself in a day exploring the joy of color in the garden, art, photography, and fresh flowers. Our setting is the destination nursery Old Goat Farm, known for rare plants and luscious display gardens -- located about 1.5 miles southeast of Seattle. Lunch is provided, and all participants receive a copy of Lorene Edwards Forkner’s new book “Color In and Out of the Garden.” I'll share a floral design demonstration with hyper-local and seasonal flowers and plantsman Greg Graves will lead a tour of Old Goat Farm. We'll also hear from photographer Grace Hensley, who will share her secrets for making magical garden photos using your phone. The ticket includes all watercolor supplies, Lorene's book and lunch -- all for $85. Register here.