Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Defayette Smith.
Hi Danielle, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Our locally grown flower collective was actually established over a year ago in 2024 when I asked several of my floral artist friends from the wedding industry to get together with a handful of local flower farmers I’d come to know. We met at a coffee shop in, quite possibly, one of the most peculiar meetings to come together to date. (I still have the handwritten contact list we made that day!)
Over lattes, we realized there was a true need to connect both our flower farmers and florists in a more accessible way.
It was at this time that one of the farmers explained that across the United States there had been the creation of “flower collectives” where farmers came together to create locally sourced wholesale flower markets. These collectives allowed florists to more easily shop for locally grown flowers rather than just the imported blooms from the traditional floral wholesalers.
The Bristol Bloom Collective is located in a unique area, which sits in between East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia but is also directly beside North Carolina and Kentucky. We are an agriculturally rich area with so many farmers and state funded grant opportunities, but simply a lack of awareness regarding the flower farming industry.
There is exactly one floral wholesaler inside of a two hour driving radius and almost the entirety of their product is shipped in from outside of our region, from places in Southern California, South America, and Mexico. The floral artists I’d worked with in the wedding circuit always preferred to buy local blooms for their installations, but couldn’t always get out to farms to buy stems or weren’t able to find flower farms online.
Our very first flower market last July made our local nightly news. People were truly so astonished that we had flower farms in our area at all and after the segment aired we had an outpouring of community support. I think it made a lot of the farmers feel validated about all of the hard work they do every day and I loved seeing how empowered they became about banding together to charge what they are worth.
Since our first market last summer, we’ve transitioned from Farmer’s Market style gatherings to forming an actual business. Our locally grown flower market has grower standards that we abide by to provide our florists & floral artists the highest quality blooms and we installed a large floral cooler in our space to keep flowers fresh. The goal for our collective is to allow flower farms to thrive and allow florists to easily obtain locally grown blooms to use in their everyday work.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it.”
When we began our journey last year, we knew we’d be faced with a lot of challenges. I think we’ve just been surprised at what those challenges have been in comparison to what we thought they’d be.
The challenge we’re facing at the moment is getting florist traction with using the collective. Our goal is and has been to be a floral wholesale market and work predominantly with florists and floral artists. We don’t want to be competition, we want to help bolster their business and supply them with incredible flowers that are also locally grown. Navigating misconceptions and trying to become a part of their every day work flow has been an uphill battle.
We’ve been impressed with Bristol Bloom Collective, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Bristol Bloom Collective is a fresh flower market & floral wholesaler providing high quality, locally grown blooms. Our flower collective is run cooperatively and here to help both farmers and florists flourish.
The farmers in our collective set the pricing for their flowers and customers are able to shop a variety of blooms all throughout our region in one easy to access place. The collective space is open once a week for in-person pickup and deliveries to florists throughout our region.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
We are proud members of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers! We’re also avid readers and love to make sure we keep up with the current best flower growing and processing methods.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bristolbloomcollectitve.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bristolbloom.collective
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bristolbloom.collective
- Other: https://www.rootedfarmers.com/profiles/bristol-bloom-collective
