Episode 741: Dried Floral Magic with Bethany and Charles Little of Charles Little & Co.

https://youtu.be/OBDEhr2XYTs?si=PhY4qua4rCiVhSR2 The beauty of dried botanicals is a fitting topic for our first episode of November, as the interest in and demand for these preserved florals represents significant financial influx for flower farmers and floral designers. My recent visit to Charles Little & Co. in Eugene, Oregon, illustrates the story as I interviewed both Charles and Bethany Little, return guests of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Join me on a farm tour with Charles as we discuss interplanting strategies for annuals and woody ornamentals, plus check out his favorite annuals to grow for drying. Then, we’ll explore the dried floral operation, from packaging to shipping techniques, with Bethany and her team. I left my visit with a deeper understanding of the ways a dried floral program can enhance fresh-floral farming and retail floristry – with the allure of color, texture, character, incredible variety, and long-lasting beauty. In the past year, I’ve spent hours speaking with growers to learn of the many ways they are diversifying their crop mixes and product offerings, especially in non-perishable (or less perishable) categories. Dried flowers are having a renaissance, which should be no surprise to you. I wanted to dig deeper into what the folks at Charles Little & Co., are doing in this category. Charles and Bethany are established dried flower growers and experts when it comes to selecting the best varieties and supplying the floral marketplace with their huge inventory of dried floral crops. My co-author Robin Avni and I featured Charles Little & Co. as one of 29 North American growers in The Flower Farmers, published earlier this year. In their profile, we write: “Trends are often cyclical, especially in the floral marketplace. Charles is delighted that dried flowers are again fashionable. He points out that fresh flower wholesalers who in the past had no interest in stocking dried flowers are now ordering large quantities, thanks to increasing customer demand. One difference between the dried statice, goldenrod, celosia, and lamb’s ears of old and today’s dried flower palette is the explosion of botanical choices – even premium blooms like peonies and dahlias are sold as dried flowers.” Today’s interview includes some bonus content, filmed during my farm tour with Charles. He discusses the practice of interplanting rows of annuals between rows woody ornamental shrubs, explaining how this makes the land doubly productive. By the time those shrubs are more mature and are shading out the space where annuals previously grew, it means they are also shading out weed production – improving efficiency and reducing labor. I love this idea of permaculture and I remember learning about it from Charles on my very first visit to his farm in 2010. This episode is a visual one, so I hope you check out the video version above. You’ll love the experience. As a bonus, I’ve added the two-page Dried Flowers sidebar that accompanies the Charles Little and Co. chapter in The Flower Farmers. It includes their 10 best annual flowers to dry and tips on harvesting, drying, and maintaining colorfastness. dried_flower_sidebarDownload Follow Charles & Bethany Little at these social places: Instagram and Facebook Subscribe to Charles Little and Company's newsletter here Slow Flowers November Newsletter Click here to read our November Newsletter Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit 2026 2026 Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit Speakers We continue to count down to the 2026 Slow Flowers WORLDWIDE Summit, taking place ONLINE January 30-31, and I hope to see you there. We’re so excited to welcome many top floral experts in sustainable farming and floral design, and you’ll gain both inspiration and knowledge to directly invest into your own floral enterprise. Thank you to Dee Hall Goodwin of Black Flower Farmers for co-producing the Summit with us and creating two special presentations that she will moderate. You can see the entire lineup of topics and speakers in our show notes at slowflowerspodcast.com! Click to order your Slow Flowers Summit Tickets Thank you to our Sponsors This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers. Thank you to our lead sponsor, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, offering long-lasting blooms, year-round availability, and a dazzling petal palette. Flowerbulb.eu has partnered with Slow Flowers to provide beautiful lily inspiration and farming resources to help growers and florists connect their customers with more lilies. Learn more at Flowerbulb.eu. Our final sponsor thanks goes to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers' hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com. Thank you to Johnny's Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds -- supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com. Thank you for joining me today! The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.5 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com. Thank you for listening! Sending love, from my cutting garden to you! (c) Missy Palacol Photography I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I'll see you next week! Music credits: Drone Pine; Gaena; Fast Popaby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blue Lovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ In The Fieldaudionautix.com