image via Cotton Blossom
The Question:
I’m trying to run a greener business. What do you do with all of your floral “trash”? I try to compost mine but I end up with far more than I can handle. Also, do you compost flowers that are not organically grown and might have been treated with chemicals?
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The Answers:
We compost most of our “floral trash” to use in our cutting gardens. We also take any returned flowers to hospices / homes after the event.
-Gemma Bain (Planet Flowers)
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We have two types of trash cans in our studio. One for paper and one for greens. The greens are carried to the back of our property and dumped in a pile. Because we have access to my father’s tractor we are able to push the pile back or down. The mountain of greens does get seriously large and we could not manage it without the use of the tractor. We do not use this material in our flower beds but we sure do cut the flowers that grow out of that pile.
-Holly Chapple (Holly Heider Chapple Flowers)
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Kudos to you for greening your business. I definitely think you should compost your material, regardless of its origin. If you develop a good, hot compost, some chemicals that are on your flowers will be broken down to their original organic compounds. But if you’re at all concerned, you can do what we do here at our farm – because we are sometimes working simultaneous with organic and non-organic flowers, we keep all flower compost separate from the rest of the compost on the farm, and that compost is only used in our flower beds (not in our food gardens).
-Clare Day (Clare Day Flowers)
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My “studio” is my home garage, so I have to be really careful and thoughtful of what I do with all of my trash from weddings/events, or I won’t have room for our kitchen trash! For me it’s more a matter of making the most of our garbage service. I am very particular and careful to put everything that is recyclable into the recycling bin [which is larger than my trash container!], and this includes plastic sleeves, cardboard from packaging, etc. All of my “floral trash” [stems, leaves, etc.] go straight into my yard debris bin [which is also significantly larger than my trash container!].
-Liz Rusnac (Fleurology)
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I personally only compost flowers and foliage that are grown organically, but I know many florists that compost all the waste even if it’s not organic.
I also end up with a lot of waste to compost and I found that it’s all the stems that makes the volume. So I cut all the stems in to smaller pieces, about 3 cm or so, and it really makes a difference. Cutting all the stems by hand is very time consuming so I would definitely recommend a chopper. Something like this…
-Emelie Ekborg (Svenska Blomsterbloggar)
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Thanks Emelie, Liz, Clare, Holly & Gemma!
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And because we can’t go a day without flowers…enjoy a few gorgeous bouquets…
Erin Volante Floral and Earl Richardson Photography
Mood Flowers and Craig & Eva Sanders Photography
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What do you do with your floral trash?
Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!
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It’s good to know how people are returning the greens to the earth — great discussion!
Love this question! (And the answers!) Amazingly informative post- and thanks, as always, for including my work, I feel so honored! 🙂