Summary: Welcome to the final Slow Flowers Podcast of 2014. Every single week this year; in fact, every single week for the past 18 months, I've had the immense privilege of hosting a dynamic and inspiring dialogue with a leading voice in the American floral industry. The segment I recorded one year ago, for the January 1st episode, asked: Will 2014 be the year we save our flowers? In reflecting on that and other questions I posed, I have to say that over the past 12 months we've witnessed some amazing and encouraging strides in the Slow Flowers Movement. Here are a few highlights: The formation of the Congressional Cut Flower Caucus. Co-chaired by a bipartisan leadership team of Representatives Lois Capps and Duncan Hunter, this new endeavor is both strategic and symbolic as it engages policymakers in a tangible program to promote cut flower farming in their own districts and states. I was privileged to speak alongside Capps and Hunter, as well as with two American flower farmers Lane DeVries and Diane Szukovathy, at the February 2014 press conference announcing the Congressional Cut Flower Caucus on Capitol Hill. That remarkable experience is a milestone for all of us, one we'll reflect on as this movement gains further momentum in the hearts of American consumers around the country - as they make conscious choices at the cash register, at the farmers' market, at the florist and from online e-commerce sellers who identify domestic and local flower sources. Also in February, the White House used American flowers and foliage to decorate a State Dinner hosting French president Francois Hollande. Beautiful domestic flowers from across the country - grown in California, Florida and other states, adorned the event and even prompted a feature article in the New York Times. As I wrote at the time: I predict this is beginning of a White House commitment to give as much attention to the origins of its flowers as it does the origins of the food and wine it serves to guests. There's much more ground to gain when it comes to White House flower procurement. Yet, I believe that State Dinner was just the beginning of many more occurrences where American flowers at the White House represents so much more than simple decoration choices. It will represent American jobs, the American farm, the Environment, Economic Development and a Sustainable Floral Industry here at Home. In May, after nearly a year of planning and development, I launched Slowflowers.com. Slowflowers.com is the directory I'd been dreaming of creating for several years. We launched with fewer than 250 listings and now, by year-end, there are 435 businesses -- flower farms, floral shops, studios and designers who grow and create American grown floral beauty, coast to coast. We've had more than 52,000 page views and more than 11.5 thousand unique visits to the site. In 2015, with your help, I hope to expand this online directory to include one thousand members - companies that grow, design with and sell American flowers. I can't take any credit for the success of Slowflowers.com without thanking the 229 contributors who helped me raise $18,450 on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo. All of those funds have been used to build, develop and promote this site. I'm humbled and awed at the groundswell of support from individuals and small businesses alike. Slowflowers.com has so much potential as THE single resource to connect consumers with American grown flowers. And I look forward to making Slowflowers.com even better in the coming year. Certified American Grown Flowers Motivated to promote domestic flowers and foliage in a new and strategic way, the American Grown Flowers & Foliage Task Force developed and launched a single domestic floral brand in 2014. The ad-hoc group included flower farms large and small, established and emerging. A cross-section of support came from many groups, including the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market,
