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

I make art displays out of fresh cut flowers.

Wow, this is looking so fabulous.

Wow, this is looking so fabulous.

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

So fun.

as my medium.

So fun.

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

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.

wait, that is crazy.

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

This is out of control.

I love it.

Oh my goodness.

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.

My install team is amazing.

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

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.

You never know where the adventure's headed.

Follow the Blooms is made possible by (gentle piano music) Slate Flosser.

A daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser.

The other toothbrush.

Today's episode will take us into the woods near Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State, where old wise trees will become living foundations that grow with the people that live and play in them.

I'm delighted to have two of my kiddos with me, Ayva and Pearce.

will bring a fun energy to the project and are both great worker bees.

We will head out to meet Michael Murphy of Barefoot Treehouses.

a professional treehouse builder who works best with, you guessed it, bare feet.

He and his team are finishing up an incredible build for clients that have become close friends.

We've been invited to adorn the treehouse with flowers for their treehouse warming party with neighbors and friends.

Before we find Murph, we must first find flowers Of course.

We'll visit Chai and Chi Chamee, a local husband wife team at SC farm.

It's nearing the end of August and summer is in full swing.

And so are the flowers.

Rows and rows of the amazing and vibrant varieties we've been waiting for.

To add just the right finishing touches to a treehouse in bloom.

(gentle music) Hey Chai.

How are you doing?

Okay.

Good to see.

Yes.

You too.

I brought my kiddos today.

They're helping me out this year.

Well, welcome.

Ava.

Nice to meet you.

And then.

Is this your wife?

Yes Chi.

Come on over.

I gotta meet you.

Yeah.

Great to meet you.

Yeah.

Thanks for having us.

What do you got here?

This looks amazing.

Murph sent me over.

Yes, yes.

Told me that you are the place to find all my flowers.

I try to be the place.

Right now, you see all the summer flowers blooming.

Sometimes we talked about the white Cosmos Wow look at those.

These are gorgeous.

Yes, yes they are.

Look how tall they are.

And you got the Mexican sunflowers.

Okay.

These are the Mexicans.

Yes.

You are telling me, that you would have them this time of year.

Those are amazing.

Wow.

Okay, And these sunflowers are out of control.

Look at those.

That's why they're called sunflowers.

You know, the sun's out right now, and, yeah, they're just blooming like crazy, so they're loving it.

Yeah.

And look, all your dahlias are on.

A little bit of everything, summertime flowers A good time for everything to be alive.

This is so fun.

This is heaven for me, So you guys pump out a crazy amount of flowers.

Yes.

It's incredible.

You have you been farming your whole life?

You know, farming, second generation Parents have been farming their whole life.

I'd say 30 years.

Okay.

You know, for me, actually about 15 years.

Yeah.

So you grew up farming, helping out.

Yes.

Yes.

Around the flowers.

Yes.

Yeah.

Always flowers?

We do vegetables too.

Okay.

We try to do fruit, you know, it█s a lost cause, but, yeah, I mean, you do a little bit here and there.

I just try to do a little bit of everything.

You seem like quite the, pro at flowers.

No, even though after this many years of doing it, you're still learning.

Sure.

Every year is different.

Yeah.

You just gotta adapt to the weather too.

Sure.

What are the pros and cons of flower farming for you?

Pros and cons.

Things you love, things you don't love.

I like it when it's a tuber, so you don't have to worry about it not growing.

Okay, so starting with a tuber instead of a seed.

Seeds it's a 50-50.

I always tell people its a toss of a coin.

So you never know if it's gonna, you know, sprout or not sprout.

And if it does, probably put it in the ground, you know, you have to worry about it.

You know, taking care of it.

Sure.

But tubers are a sure bet.

Yeah.

Tubers, roots, you know, is a sure bet that it's going to just take off and, you know, just going to give it a little dirt and a little love and they do the rest.

Okay.

And what what do you just hate about flower farming?

You know, days like today when it's, 90 degrees and humid, but, you know, it's it's part of farming, being outdoors.

So you gotta take the good with the bad.

Sure.

Okay.

So I'm not sure if Murph told you, but he builds huge tree houses.

Yes.

Okay.

And he's finishing one that he's been working on for a long time.

And his clients are all bringing their friends and family to come and see it.

So we wanted to make it extra special and cover it with flowers.

Really you know pop.

So I'm loving these sunflowers.

I think those could be incredible.

But we also have this idea where we want to because the Snoqualmie Falls are so close.

We wanted to take a cue from that and build a waterfall down the staircase.

Cascading down?

Yeah.

So do you have some whites?

Like, I love these cosmos.

Yeah, we do the Cosmos.

And, you know, plenty of that.

You know, you got the white Statis.

Oh, I don't have any that with me right now.

but this is the purple statice.

Yeah.

This is the purple statice.

Yeah So you have a bunch of this in white.

Yeah.

Okay.

That would be perfect because this dries really well.

Yes.

And it's more heat tolerant okay.

Yeah.

The heat tolerant.

So down the stairs because I was hoping to leave it as a gift where they can enjoy the dried flowers too.

Yeah.

So.

Yes.

I love these Mums.

Those are gorgeous.

I mean, oh, man, everything's just amazing.

I think I want to kind of a little bit of everything to make it colorful.

Yes, a little bit of everything.

We could do that.

So you've got a little bit more picking out in the field.

Yes.

Yes okay.

We got to get our hands on.

This is so fun.

Yeah.

My kids I know would love to help pick too.

So put us to work.

All right.

(music) Chai, we would love some of that statice.

Yes.

Let's go and take a look.

I saw some amaranth over there I had my eye on.

Yes.

Oh.

This is so fun.

Yeah.

Look at this guys.

So many colors of statice.

That's so fun.

Look at that one.

That's so much fun.

I love that.

Do you have a flower you love one that you love in particular?

You know, I love all flowers.

Well, especially the ones that you cut.

And they keep growing back.

Yeah.

So you're less enamored with the look of them and more with the productivity?

Yes.

Yeah.

I don't like flowers that are one and done because that's just a lot more work.

You have to keep planting.

That makes a lot of sense.

Did you always grow so many varieties?

No.

But, you know, eventually, as you start farming more, you, get customers input of what they like to see grow.

Okay.

And you just keep on adding to your inventory.

Eventually we started to, you know, just add a few variety, and then now we have over a dozen variety of flowers.

Wow.

Yeah.

So many.

(music) You know, Murph has this really great farm, and he just, you know, called me up one day and said, hey, there's this cool farm I passed all the time.

The couple's amazing.

Let's go check it out when you come.

And then I get there and it's, you know, just so many flowers.

And not just not just your everyday flowers.

Every single flower is huge and gorgeous and lush, and the colors are out of this world, you know?

And so So fun to be there.

So fun to capture these flowers.

In the field and the ones they've cut and then Chai and Chi, husband wife team are incredible.

it's this family affair, and they make it look, like they really have it down to this art meets science.

It just inspired me to, you know, over buy flowers.

which is, you know, never a bad thing.

something that's easy to do.

All right.

That feels like let's see you guys.

How much do we have here.

Is that enough to fill up a good bucket?

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

I think the family is going to love this, knowing that you're so close by.

I know they're very community oriented.

Yes.

I'm trying to be I think, everybody likes to support one another.

Especially in a small community.

(music) It's time to head over to the treehouse and meet Michael Murphy or as his friends call him, Murph.

Murph has been climbing trees and dreaming of treehouses since his childhood.

A treehouse, he says, will enhance your imagination, free your spirit and ease you into a more relaxed state in touch with the natural world.

His team creates special spaces for relationships to deepen with each other and the Earth.

They use northwest colors and stains that allow the grain of the wood to come through and tell the story of the tree from which it came.

Murph lives by the motto that every moment is holy.

Every inch is beloved.

Murph.

Oh, hey.

How you doing?

Thank you so much for coming out.

Do I have to take my shoes off?

Only if you want the earth to know who you are.

I do want the earth to know me.

She checks your footprints.

Okay.

let everybody know who we are.

That's like my identification.

Like when I come in the forest and they want to check the I.D., I just put down my bare foot.

The footprint.

There you go.

Yeah.

So check out this table.

This is gorgeous.

It█s a piece of maple I salvaged from a tree job about five years ago.

Sometimes the wood waits a long time to find its forever.

I was really excited.

Worth the wait!

And it's going in there?

It is, it is.

And so, you know, we spent a long time, creating this tree house for a very patient client.

Love the man.

And so we've had this vision for a while.

This was going to be the grandkid█s tree house.

But as soon as we got up on the platform, he was like, okay, this one's mine.

And, and it went from there.

And so kind of, you know, we're not too far from Snoqualmie Falls.

Did you get a chance to see it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pretty sweet.

It is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So excited to show my kids.

Well, and I always just love to incorporate the natural feelings into the treehouses.

So obviously the falls was going to be in this one.

One of the ways that I feel the falls is through the stairs.

Like they come pouring out of the treehouse and then splashing down onto the ground.

And so that's kind of like the dual entry way.

And, I'm very fortunate that Allen supports my whimsy when I want to go two different directions at the same time.

He's like, go for it.

Sounds like a good idea.

That's incredible.

I'm excited to meet everybody.

Yeah.

On top of that, they do love this forest.

They've been here since 1991 with the intention of having a treehouse.

And then also in 1991, Allen planted an oak tree from his mom's oak tree from her dad's oak tree.

And it was forever growing over the house.

And so it was going to eventually have to come down.

Yeah.

So we gave it a new life here in the tree house.

So we're going to see that oak tree reiterated everywhere.

Obviously in the bird's nest deck was the first place you see it.

Oh my goodness.

And then same with the cedar tree.

That was a tree that was already in a deceased state but very vertical.

So we just laid it down so we could rest.

And then we found a new life for it.

So it gets to be all the decking and all the trim and all the siding on the outside.

So these trees really are part of the family's story.

Absolutely.

And that's what I like to do is really bring that story together and invite the family to see their land and their trees in a new way.

So now these trees are a living, breathing foundation of their house, moves and dances in the wind.

You really get to become a part of that.

And then people become advocates for their trees, which makes them advocates for their soil, too.

Because you want to keep your trees healthy.

You learn to keep your ground healthy, and the next thing you know, you just have a much more involved environmental experience with the land you live on.

So you're going to deck this thing in flowers for us.

You want to see what we got?

I do want to see what we got.

Well, come on up.

Murph loves building inspired by the nature around him.

He is, you know, barefoot.

He's one with everything he's doing.

But He's so clever and charismatic and just delightful to be around.

Early on with flowers, realized they have a face.

They have a name.

And I do feel like I'm meeting them every time.

And Murph, you know, that resonated really quickly with me.

That he feels like that with trees.

He feels like they want to interact a certain way.

Right?

They're.

They're holding you.

They're resembling what's happening with the Earth.

The trees have been talking to me all day.

And every time I start to feel nervous or overwhelmed or, like, what was I thinking?

I took on too many things.

The trees just say, “it's okay.

You got this.” These amazing trees, these amazing flowers, just, you know, let it flow, keep in the rhythm.

And it's really incredible.

And it's like, just hearing the sound of the wind in the trees.

You know, the moss is growing.

It just feels like so much energy.

this whole treehouse is filled with this skilled carpentry.

It's gorgeous.

You know all of the lumber has a story to it.

We're talking a house in the trees.

You've got bedrooms, you've got living space.

You know, you're going up different levels.

It is a serious pad up there.

(music) He's got a special family he's building this one for And we get to deck it out for the first time they see it.

It's super exciting.

Of course, it's the first time I've ever decked out a tree house.

But I hope it's not the last.

This would be so fun to to mimic that waterfall.

Right.

And I'm thinking like maybe some white gorgeous flowers because it's all of that bubbling white water.

Absolutely right.

Murph: yeah water gets all charged up.

Oh yeah.

So that could be really fun to have the white flowing down.

Have energy of it.

Yes.

Cool.

Do you create designs first, do you draw it out?

Do you put it on the computer?

How do you get this?

I always happily share with my clients that we can spend a lot of money having to painstakingly draw something out that won't look like what I'm going to build.

Or we can skip that part and just invest all that in the building and just let the trees and the platform reveal itself.

And I almost flatly refused to design where the windows go before the platform is built, because your view and your perception completely changes.

Yeah, I do, as a standard put windows on the trees because I want you to never forget where you are.

And then also for me, it takes me back to being a kid at the aquarium and just seeing this whale pass by the window and some of our trees and our tree is four feet wide, 20ft up, wind is blowing.

And you just sitting there watching this whale, well, it's kind of sway back and forth in the trees.

(music) I do have this vision to honor Suzanne's piano flair.

I'm gonna try to pick up a piano and have it here tomorrow, and we'll either strap it to the side of the tree house, or we could just have it up here on the deck.

And I don't know if you want the flowers pouring out of it, like music, or if you want to set it up like it's, you know, almost like a little hometown market stand and maybe some even plays the piano.

I don't know.

Okay, that's something you do.

My son, he's here -Pearce, he's an amazing pianist Maybe we'll get a little music tomorrow.

Okay, cool.

I love how, you inspire me to just go with it.

It's better not to make plans based on anything that's there.

So go ahead.

We'll have a piano.

We'll make some magic.

We'll have some flowers.

Okay, I've tried not to overthink this one because that would be the opposite of everything that Murph does, right?

I knew that Murph really wanted this idea of the waterfall.

And so the statice felt really like a no brainer there with that white, lacy feeling of the water.

And then I immediately thought of those sunflower days when I saw the bird's nest, that he built around the balcony.

And he talks about the tree house holding you.

And I just love that idea of these pops of sunflowers.

Right.

This vibrance (piano rag music) And instead of overthinking any of the designs, really manipulating the flowers, I just, really want to keep it more like that flower market on the side of the road where everything is clustered.

They're grouped together.

it's the summer abundance.

And I think that's what the Earth is saying right now.

I think that's what the tree house is saying.

Everything's saying “boom!” this is the season to celebrate.

I think what I'm doing is just keeping it simple, as, you know, just letting the flowers flow down, just using a little bit of twine.

Because one that can stay here, and two, I won't have to hide it.

And then I'll just keep my blocks of bundles, and then I'll come back through and weaves some to fill in those spaces.

And that will make for really fast design.

And I think it will look incredible.

So I like how that's just going to flow right down and be easy peasy to design.

Right?

(music) All right.

Look at these beauties.

I found these drums at the thrift shop.

dead through.

And I think they will make perfect planters.

Right?

Everything looks like a planter to me, so I'll see what this drum can become.

So, guys, I think this tree house family loves music.

So we're going to make, of course, the piano.

A big feature of the balcony up there.

And then I thought these drums were so cool.

So I thought, let's do planters and have these.

I know Murph made that amazing table.

It's going to be right in the entryway.

So I think these will be the perfect centerpiece for that table.

We'll just fill them up and they'll be this amazing ode to music.

Ode to the family.

All right.

So we need the piano and the handcarts.

I think we're good.

Okay, I hope no one gets hurt.

Okay.

Got it?

This is the part where we don't want to flip over and land on me.

Let's see.

Oh, was that the plan?

That was actually the plan on how to put it in.

Okay.

Right.

Oh, man!

Oh, okay.

Hey, boo boo.

123.

Okay.

all right.

Okay.

So what we're going to do is on three we're going to lift.

We're only going to go one step at a time.

123 ugh.

Yep.

Straps in the way.

One, two three.

(strain) There we go.

okay.

We have to go Vert and twist or spin.

Oh, I can't watch it.

It makes me so scared.

One.

Two.

Three.

All right.

Are you guys okay?

There's me.

Ready?

Yeah.

One.

Two.

Three.

Oh, God.

Hold on.

We█re close, we are 2/3rds up.

Gutter man, are you lifting it?

I'm not just letting it sit up there.

There.

One more stair.

Every stair is a victory.

Okay.

Slide.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's going.

Yeah!

Woo hoo!

Let's push.

Oh my goodness.

The piano is in the treehouse.

That was so intense.

Murph: It's not broken.

Way to go, guys.

it feels like the finish line for Murph and his team.

But really, it's the starting line for this family right now.

They get to enjoy this place.

And I love how the flowers honor that moment.

And make it really memorable.

Something that will last, right along with the treehouse.

Here they come.

Welcome to your treehouse.

love the sunflowers woven into the banister.

Oh, yeah.

The sunflowers.

Right.

They called for it.

what we are creating is a moment, and moments can be made real, really incredibly special.

With flowers.

Oh, wow.

And Oh!

(laughter) Well, what a great surprise.

I love it.

You did a good job.

This is, so that she can sit out here in the evening time.

Yeah.

Could you ask for a place?

Where did you get the leaves?

They fell off the maple her.

I was cleaning up the deck.

I said we can use those.

This is perfect.

Yeah.

This is phenomenal.

Oh,so gorgeous.

we have family and friends coming that are very excited to see our tree house.

So let's get this celebration going.

(energetic music) When you give a gift, it█s this desire to honor and connect with the person you're giving it to.

And the trees have given us this beautiful gift.

And now to be here with my family, and his family.

And I could not be more grateful.

And just feeling the joy of being part of this gift.

Follow the Blooms is made possible by (gentle piano music) Slate Flosser.

A daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser.

The other toothbrush.

For more information about this and other episodes, or links to follow My Flower Adventures on social media.

Visit flowers for people.co (gentle music)