Gjusta Flower Shop Spotlight: Lilies
A conversation between Susannah Liguori and Ibby Anda
In this series, Gjusta Flower Shop’s Susannah Liguori and Ibby Anda highlight some of their favorite flowers and farms.
Susannah Liguori: This is Susannah and Ibby reporting to you live from Gjusta Flower Shop.
Ibby Anda: Hello!
We're actually starting a podcast.
This is true. How are you today, Susannah?
You know, I'm lovely because lilies are in season.
Lilies do bring such joy. Let’s dive into our special floral of the month.
I think we all kind of have an idea of the lilies that you buy at the grocery store - the really big ones. They're kind of, you know, associated with death and a very particular scent, all of that. I don't discriminate on flowers, but some of my favorite lilies are these lilies called Martagon Lilies, and they are just like paper lanterns of the earth. They glow and they're gorgeous, and they have pollen that stains and is apparently very toxic to cats — they get liver disease — so we will be removing the pollen on those. What's really special about these lilies, aside from their stunning beauty, long-lasting nature, and short exclusive season, is that we have an incredible grower down in Tillamook, Oregon. Not only does Tillamook produce delicious cheese — I'm partial to an extra sharp cheddar, I don't know about you...
Love it. Hit me with that sharp stuff.
Yeah, my mom loves mild Tillamook cheddar, and I'm like, "You're just eating milk."
So yes, there's delicious cheese there, but there's also an incredible farm that we source from every week, all year round, at the flower market called Oregon Coastal Flowers. And they just have such special, seasonal, not sprayed, organically farmed flowers. They have a small batch of lilies every week that you basically have to be on the internet at like one in the morning the day before they hit the flower market on a Sunday when they're in the semi truck coming from Oregon, and they’re like, “We have this amount.”
What I love about Oregon Coastal Flowers is that they're like a precursor for what's going to be produced on a massive scale. So when cherry blossoms are happening, or Magnolia, or you know, there's always a really small stand at the flower market, but it's just the most incredible product, and it's really special because you know that you're working closely with a small farm. This farm specifically is owned by this man Pat, and he only has 10 farmers. This was an old dairy farm that had lots of blackberries and fruits, but not a lot of florals, obviously, and so he focuses on a variety of organic agricultural methods so that his company can grow flowers naturally while also kind of maintaining the habitat and the wildlife on the farm and growing that.
One of my favorite things about the farm is they have branches all season long; right now they're actually having wild peonies, which are just so special when you're working with a farm that is, you know, so small and so vigilant about their organic practice. These peonies will last you for like two weeks — just insane, and they're different sizes. You have these little buds, something you would ordinarily in the processing process be like, these are not never going to open, let me just focus on the big bloom, and their life cycles are insane, as with the lilies. Lilies are usually something that kind of have a week-long shelf life, but their lilies are really sturdy and age like a fine wine or cheese.
And they're both incredibly unique. As you said, we all know what lilies and peonies look like, but with these, people will come in and say, "What is that?" They're just so different.
We had a regular customer come in the other day who bought a beautiful bud vase ceramic and two stems of these lilies and it was just like the most beautiful, charming, incredible, special gift. And it's sort of like, I love making arrangements, I love having things lush, and that variety, but at the end of the day, focusing just on what's really special and seasonal, and rare and short season is so fun.
And it makes the shop feel so fun and interesting. People consistently come in and mention that they have never seen florals like ours. So, I’m curious about the farm itself and their process. Can you talk a bit more about that?
So a little bit more about the farm. 10 farmers started the dairy farm, and they built some warm rooms on the property so that plants could bloom early, and cooler rooms for slow cycle blooms. Each Sunday, there's a semi truck that comes to the farm and picks up, and the other thing that I really love about Oregon Coastal Flowers is there's sometimes weeks or months that the stand is pretty sparse, and there might be a few bundles of something really incredible, but the the display at the flower market of the stand is my favorite because they also produce a lot of moss and lichen, just things that are really not grown abundantly in Oregon. They'll just have like moss displays, and like skulls that they found within the property and or dried lavender, and it's always really fun to see the offerings; it's so not sterile, it really does feel like you're visiting their space. And that's something I would eventually love for Gjusta Flower shop to be able to explore as it's seeing the farm because it's such an integral part of what we use throughout the properties — always at Gjelina and GTA, we use their branches. Whenever I'm doing an install, my base, my structure, is always coming from this farm just because I really believe in them and I really think it adds something super special and unique. And, you know, they only source, they don't ship, they don't fly things, so Los Angeles is where they provide their stuff. So it's really special and I think we'll be highlighting this farm a lot because they have such special things, but right now it's lilies and maybe we'll do the next one on their amazing peonies.
Raul is the man of the shop. He is my therapist. He's my person who says that my shirt is inside out at four in the morning. And he's very wonderful, and has an epic Instagram presence.
That's great. Thank you for sharing Susannah and looking forward to the next one! We'll be here every month. Come hang out with us, the Susannah and Ibby podcast.
