Organic Wedding Flowers

Treehugger has a short article on the flower industry, the pesticides, the monoculture - and the exploitation of flower industry workers.

The alternatives are obvious: find organic, local, family-run, planting trees as alternatives, using herbs and fruits, buying in-season in farmer's markets, etc. I remember cutting my own lilacs and pussy willows for my children's spring wedding, and buying in-season long sheafs of local glads and lilies for their September wedding. But of course urban folk can't always do this.

The big player in this field is OrganicBouquet, which is available at Whole Foods, and online. From their site:
"In 2004 Organic Bouquet furthered its vision for a better and more sustainable future by broadening our product selection to include flowers grown under additional certification standards. These include farming and harvesting methods such as biodynamic, Veriflora, and wildcrafted. Each of these practices aims to improve the quality of farm working conditions, minimize damage to ecosystems, conserve biodiversity, and enhance environmental quality for future generations. Please look for the certification that denotes the farming method utilized on each product that is featured on our website". Note - they don't have much info on labor, however.

There are other sources of course - many in California, obviously, such as:
diamondorganics.com lists family growers, or California Organic Growers. You can find 'eco-florists', such as Eco Flora in Toronto, which is organic and Fair Trade, or Amoda in Vancouver. Look for the FLP (Flower Label Program) or the FFFP (Fair Flowers Fair Plants)logo or the MPS certification.

Here is a great new Sustainable Florist in Toronto:  Eco|Stem

How to recycle your bouquet.

Here is another post on Edible Flowers - one solution, eat your bouquet!

PLEASE NOTE: Do NOT use those 'flower seed' invitations - many are invasive wild flowers, and should not be planted in other zones.