I'm Katie Lila I make art displays out of fresh cut flowers.

Wow, this is looking so fabulous.

Flowers really are nature's art and I love using them as my medium.

So fun.

Like these little fantasy flower worlds that people can interact with.

Oh my gosh, this is stunning.

I want this for my bedroom wall.

It's hard to be around flowers without smiling.

I love looking at something and being like, oh, how can we make that into something that could be in a flower installation?

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it going to go?

How's it going to play out?

We did it.

My install team is amazing.

They just jump in action and fill in all the weird requests.

So come follow the blooms with us.

You never know where the adventure is headed.

(acoustic guitar strums) Follow the Blooms on KSPS PBS is proudly supported by Skyline Flowers Wholesale.

in the crown jewel of Spokane, Washington.

Manito garden.

It is stunning this time of year.

I'm super excited.

It's also where the Lilac Festival kicks off.

And I get to build a float this year for the parade.

So I'm going to head on over and meet the president.

It's pretty crazy and inspiring to me that this town came together in the middle of the Great Depression.

Food was scarce.

People were really struggling, and they decided to throw a festival and have a big parade and cut all the lilacs and celebrate Thank you, Sam, for meeting me in the lilac garden.

It seemed very fitting.

Tell me about this festival.

Yeah, the Spokane Lilac festival.

Our mission is to empower our youth on our military and showcase our region.

A lot of high school marching bands.

Yeah.

And then, of course, a lot of equestrian units and and then a lot of floats.

We're going to join you with the equestrian float, right?

Yes.

We're going to decorate.

I brought my yeah.

You have a combination of both things.

Yeah, I brought my ideas to show you.

Yeah.

we're going to be taking the carriage and attaching the flowers, and then the banner is going to be made by a local artist.

Okay.

and then we're going to be using all the blooms, sourced here locally from a farm.

That'll be beautiful.

Very beautiful.

There is going to be a 100,000 people at this parade.

That's mind blowing.

And I'm excited because the associated garden club, they're all going to ride in the float.

And, you know, they started the parade 85 years ago, so we're really excited to see what you can create for the parade and the horse drawn carriage and all the wonderful flowers.

Yeah.

Thanks, Sam.

Thanks for letting us be a part.

Yeah.

You know, I think it's going to be memorable and fun So first stop flowers, right?

You can't follow the blooms without flowers.

Normally we're harvesting at farms, but the lilacs are just such a, Not really.

People don't cultivate them for floral design, so we're just, at the mercy of amazing neighbors, right?

So look at this thing.

Yeah, it's just awesome.

It's like a lilac.

Good lilac.

Yes.

So I think that, graciously, our neighbor has shared these lilacs with us for the parade, and I, it smells amazing.

All right, let's hack this baby.

harvesting from a neighbor who's generously offering up her gorgeous lilacs Lilacs.

Like a lot of flowers that are on bushes.

They like to stay rooted.

So, you know, the dance between harvesting them, in time for the event, but also letting them, get to their full glory.

Is a tricky one.

A lot of flowers are happy in a vase or in a cooler.

Lilacs are not one of those flowers.

So once they're cut, they're going to show for a minute, and then.

And then they're going to be done.

So we're trying to catch them and share them and doing that.

You know, that dance.

So we are building, pretty much a framework for this horse drawn carriage.

This old time carriage.

Beautiful wheels.

Has these poles on all four corners.

And we're going to create these pillars of flowers and then do a drapery across the top of the lilacs.

And then the tulips and the spring flowers accenting that canopy over overhead.

and as fate would have it, met Loreen and was able to connect with her.

And now she just has these amazing blooms that are ready right in time for the parade.

Hey.

Hi Loreen how are you?

Oh, I'm a hugger.

Nice to see you.

Good to meet you.

Welcome to the farm.

Yeah.

Look at this place.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Here it is.

Incredible.

Thank you.

You have been hard at work.

We have been hard at work.

Yeah.

I can't do this without my other half.

My husband Greg.

But it's been a team of, family and friends and just so much interest.

Even just from the time we built the fence with friends out.

Showing us how to do all of that and how to design and how to get it all planned.

So.

A labor of love, for sure.

Grateful to talk.

So we have an entire section of cool season hardy annuals and spring bulbs here.

So we're just finishing the the daffodils.

The tulips.

Getting into cool season hardy annuals.

Iceland poppies are self seeding all over.

We've got Celine everywhere, but things like Status and Bells of Ireland and yeah, all of these really early season flowers that love cold weather.

It's so exciting.

I feel like they're just.

Yeah, they're just.

And every time you walk out here, it just changes minute by minute.

So how long have you been here?

Tell me how you got started.

Well, we moved here about two and a half years ago, and this entire space was just an empty field.

Like what you see surrounding us.

but it's really fun to have the varieties.

I love to sell flowers to florists who are coming and looking kind of for the funky bits bright that can elevate designs.

Oh my goodness.

Oh, are these the tulips?

Yes.

These are some of the tulips for you.

Lorene.

Those are beautiful.

Thank you.

I mean, see, these are some fun varieties.

This one is insane.

I love that little.

That's sunny and apricot giant.

thank you.

Enjoy them.

Hope these are.

I think they're going to be amazing I just think the ripple effect of people seeing local flowers and, like you said, recognizing the difference and just knowing.

Hey, one of my neighbors grew these is really powerful.

this was just a field.

When we bought the home a couple of years ago.

And to transform it with flowers in mind.

And we do some veggies, but to see how quickly life shows up and how quickly you can transform a space when you just do good, clean fun with it.

When you combine compost and good water and, great sun and a little bit of care, this is what you get two years later.

And so we're really grateful for the opportunity to do this kind of stewardship.

It's been a blessing.

Well that's beautiful.

Thank you.

You're a wise woman.

There's some magic to all of this, but timing is everything to when you've got an order and a parade and something to decorate.

I'm gifting you a lilac because I thought, well, we've got to honor our weekend.

And so it's a beauty.

It'll bloom purple for you.

So think of me next year when it's in bloom and you can cut from it.

Oh, my heart, my lawn.

Right.

And mine only bigger next year.

So next year.

I can help you with that, too.

Yeah.

So in flower farming, I think the mantra that I try to keep in mind is trust the field.

Trust the field.

Trust the field.

And when you need a particular bloom or a particular color and you're thinking, oh, no, I don't have what I need, I just say that a little mantra and say a little prayer and walk around and here it is before me.

So I'm glad these are here for you.

Oh, hey.

Hey, hey.

It's the man of the hour.

Yes.

Hi, Greg.

My husband Greg.

Nice to meet you.

And welcome to our farm.

So it's good to have you here.

Beautiful out here.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You've done an amazing job.

And I hear you're, You're a big operations operator.

Okay.

But no weeding.

Not design.

No, I design one of the job descriptions that I was able to take out of was weeding.

Oh, that was a smart one.

Yes.

Now, 90% of the work without Greg.

Without Greg.

This just doesn't happen.

Well, have a great team.

It's incredible.

three years ago, this was just a field, and then you had this wild idea.

And, your wild idea.

Yes.

My wild idea.

a little bit of convincing, but you're on the other side of it now.

So you see the fruit of your labor.

In our previous house, we had kind of what we call a soft opening.

We had a trial round first.

Okay.

And that went really well.

I learned how to do all the things we need to do.

But now at a grander scale.

And you're right, this has been part of what I would say is just taking a step, just taking the effort and either on a smaller scale or on a bigger scale, just stepping off the edge and giving it a try.

Yeah.

I would say, you know, it is so rewarding as we have friends and family to come out and just spend a day in the field as simple as picking weeds.

Sure.

Picking flowers.

That has been really rewarding.

I would say the last thing that we really like is when you see a little bumblebee and a flower waking up.

If you haven't seen that, well, it is really interesting to see how they're kind of flopping and moving the petal around as their wings start to move.

That is something you just know that you do that.

Yeah.

And that was really how we really kind of cemented my joy for this place.

You're telling me bees sleep in flowers?

That's what we saw.

Yeah.

Especially scabiosa.

Love scabiosa, Yes.

Like these cozy little fairy lands?

They do.

It's the sweetest thing.

It really is.

It really was amazing to see that kind of when you thought of.

When you think about what we had before all of this, to see what my wife has done and a vision and design.

Put this together.

Whew!

flowers, we picked them up.

Those are rolling.

Everything's ready.

Now we're going to go over and meet up with Gwyn.

She is going to paint these beautiful banners that will go on both sides of the carriage.

So It feels like everything's coming together, and that feels good.

Because it is go time.

It's, you know, the day before, and there's a lot of pieces that have to come together, and it's just feels good to start getting them in place.

Hey, Gwyn, I found you.

good to see you, too.

Thanks for being my lifesaver this week.

I love all these amazing flowers.

So tell me while we're getting this ready.

I know that you.

You said your name has flower significance.

Tell me about that.

my last name, Ivanka, means beautiful flower in check.

And if it's spelled with, like, it's paev.

Okay, if it's spelled with an I, it actually is peony.

Wow.

So I have a mild obsession with peonies, like, I, I plan to get a whole sleeve from different tattoo artist, but then also like my garden.

This peonies.

Okay, and then tell me about this.

Tell me about this.

I paint or I paint flowers so they don't die.

So Frida Kahlo, quotes.

Yeah.

I love her, What is the idea?

What are you doing?

Yeah.

So what I do is I layer anywhere from, like, 20 to 50 layers of paint.

Yeah.

So that's one way of a paint a day for a very long time.

2 to 3 months.

Wow.

And then I carve back into the surface using, you know, wood gouges is my favorite tool, but I've worked with exacto knife.

And then I started to slice them into really small pieces.

So these are little side sections of the pieces that are removed from the surface.

So this, this flower actually came from this piece.

I'm like, yeah.

so I use a mallet just because it makes it a little bit more fun.

Yeah.

And loud It gives it a more uniform cut Yeah.

Sort of like a jagged cut.

Okay.

and then you scoop and you stupid.

Yeah.

Cuz it's a scoop.

Yeah.

So you got.

Oh, yeah.

Keep on.

nice.

My piece.

Look at that.

That's really very beautiful.

Holy cow.

Look at that.

I see like a wolf.

I see a wolf.

I actually see like a dragon.

Like a, The Chinese dragon's a little bit what I love about your work is it just really screams curiosity, right?

Like what happens if.

Yeah.

And I love that.

I love doing that with flowers.

I'm like, let's push it another boundary.

Like how can we take it somewhere else than it's been before, right?

You're taking what should be in a vase into a sculptural medium.

Yeah.

I'm taking what should be on walls and putting it into a texture.

Yeah, I know, it's so fun.

I love that you're just like.

I wondered what would happen when I did this and this and this, you know, and then.

And then it became this, which is so fascinating.

And also the idea of this layering where you couldn't have got here without layering your process.

Right.

Like, without, like going through all of the steps to get here.

Same thing with your paint, right?

Like you had to layer every day.

I think that's a really beautiful connection, It's very tactile.

And, when you see her work, you want to jump in there.

You want to.

You want to touch it.

Right.

It's just it calls to you.

I guess I'll start on the middle.

And then if you want to grab a paintbrush and do two of them.

Do you want me to have them.

Yeah, I could do one here and you do one.

Oh dear.

And then we'll have competing dahlias.

So again remember it's just an underpainting.

They'll be like look at this dye over here.

Well I mean, we can paint over it.

Let's be honest.

Thank you I will not I will not be offended if tomorrow it's painted over.

Yeah.

So initially I normally sketch in, like, a pencil first, but we're going to go.

We're just going and just go for it.

So when we were thinking about what to put on the banners, I just really felt this nod to the establishment of the parade, right?

To the establishment of this cool festival that in really hard times, these people chose to give something good, come together to build something and that legacy has lasted for 85 years.

That's incredible.

it's kind of crazy to me that, like, 1938, you know, World War two.

Great depression.

It was a hard time for people.

And instead of wallowing in it, they started this parade.

I know all about flowers.

Oh, yeah.

You can tell it was this time where people were just reaching for hope, right?

That's pretty incredible.

thank you.

You're welcome.

Yes.

Yeah.

I'm glad that I get to be a part of something that's been happening since 1938.

Right?

I know, and so your sign and those flowers and the horse drawn carriage and the garden club.

I mean, it's going to be pretty magical.

It's going to be pretty cool.

Yeah.

Okay, it is parade day, and we're making the floral carriage frames.

Really?

I like to use this chicken wire I got myself a really great pair of aviation clippers.

Best thing I ever did, because they just plow through this chicken wire.

And each of these is going to go on the corner of the carriage.

and then So I got this, these branches, we cut off one of our trees, and I like, to give these forms a little more structure.

So now I just need three more Easy peasy.

All right.

Hey, girls.

Come on in.

Let's get rolling on this thing.

The parade is tonight.

So grab a pillar and a partner and rock on These look awesome, guys.

Okay, now that we've got all of these gorgeous goals tubed and ready to rock, we can just take those and build our gardens on the pillars.

I think it's kind of fun to do the color families like Sierras got this beautiful thing going with the orange and yellow, the warms.

And we'll just kind of keep these color families cruisin down the the garlands.

One thing to think about when you look at a flower is that it always has a face, right?

Has kind of a way that it, like, see, looked at, just like, people flowers are the same, their faces, names.

So kind of look at it and be like, oh, it's looking like this is a face.

Event work is always is always, you know, down to the wire, everyone working with a lot of energy right up to the point As I see everything come together.

Mostly, I just feel so much gratitude.

Every person is bringing their own, you know, their own part of their story.

And it's all this, their dream work, right?

Something that they make time for and space for, to add beauty to the world, just like these people did 85 years ago.

So I feel so much gratitude for the growers.

Artists.

Okay, we've got the banner.

Yes.

Yeah.

Have that side.

Look at that beauty.

That's so cool.

All these textural stuff going on to point out that Okay.

That center.

No.

Tell me their names.

Sundance and Chickerdoodle Sundance and Chickerdoodle.

you know, what I think you need is a lilac on your hat.

Oh.

Can we put a lilac on your hat?

I don't care if it'll sit up there.

Oh, yeah.

Let me see.

I see that thing.

Let me see what you got.

Let's see what we got.

Oh, yeah.

We could tuck a lilac in there.

All right.

What I think this needs is a lilac.

There we go.

Yeah.

Let's see.

I see it's glued.

This my other is.

Yeah.

Okay.

It'll sit up there.

That's so fun.

Good.

Now you're ready.

I'm ready.

What do you think of this float?

I think it's quite colorful.

Is this what you're expecting?

Yeah.

Okay, good.

Has your carriage ever looked quite so beautiful?

No.

Hurray.

We took it up.

Took it up a level.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you right here with the horses and these flowers.

It is picturesque.

People are coming in from all over the place.

And that's just really exciting.

And to be able to build something that will be in the hearts of 100,000 people.

That's awesome.

Wow.

What an amazing turnout.

It was just thrilling to see everyone's faces, young and old.

And everyone gathered and just celebrating.

Thanks for coming.

Love you.

It really brought me back to just what it is to be in a community and to add our layer to these layers that have gone on before us.

Really incredible experience.

I don't think it's one I'll forget.

(acoustic guitar strums) Follow the Blooms on KSPS PBS is proudly supported by Skyline Flowers Wholesale.