Portland Seasonal: March, 2020

A Monthly Flower Blog Documenting What Grows and What’s Available in Portland, Oregon



“Not until I began volunteering on farms around the Pacific Northwest did I really know what was in season or possible to grow in Portland. Just taking a stroll through the grocery store, you’d assume roses bloomed year round. Having everything the world has to offer available at all times had disconnected me from my home. In an effort to reacquaint myself and others with what the PNW has to offer, I present, Portland Seasonal: A Monthly Flower Blog Documenting What Grows and What’s Available in Portland, Oregon.”

— Lynsea Coy, Owner Coy & Co. Curatorial Floral

Note: Every year is different. With the affects of Climate Change the variability of the seasons often yield surprises. This blog series serves as a record of what’s bloomed and available by month and year.

A few other considerations: we source exclusively from farms in Oregon and Southern Washington. These are in Plant Hardiness Zone 6a - 8b. We focus on working with small farmers who promote sustainability.

March 2020

The main flowers & foliage that were available and came into Season this month in Portland, OR

• Ranunculus

• Butterfly Ranunculus

• Tulips

• Lilies

• Daffodil

• Muscari

• Orchid

• Hellebore

• Sweetpeas

• Hyacinth

• Icelandic Poppies

• Freesia

• Anemone

• Bridal Crown Narcissus

• Cheerfulness Narcissus

• Frittalaria

• Forget-Me-Not
  

Portland Seasonal: February, 2020

A Monthly Flower Blog Documenting What Grows and What’s Available in Portland, Oregon



“Not until I began volunteering on farms around the Pacific Northwest did I really know what was in season or possible to grow in Portland. Just taking a stroll through the grocery store, you’d assume roses bloomed year round. Having everything the world has to offer available at all times had disconnected me from my home. In an effort to reacquaint myself and others with what the PNW has to offer, I present, Portland Seasonal: A Monthly Flower Blog Documenting What Grows and What’s Available in Portland, Oregon.”

— Lynsea Coy, Owner Coy & Co. Curatorial Floral

Note: Every year is different. With the affects of Climate Change the variability of the seasons often yield surprises. This blog series serves as a record of what’s bloomed and available by month and year.

A few other considerations: we source exclusively from farms in Oregon and Southern Washington. These are in Plant Hardiness Zone 6a - 8b. We focus on working with small farmers who promote sustainability.

February 2020

The main flowers & foliage that were available and came into Season this month in Portland, OR

• Tulips

• Cherry Blossom

• Hyacinth

• Daffodil

• Muscari

• Orchid

• Hellebore

• Eucalyptus

• Freesia

• Anemone

• Snowdrop
  

Becoming Portland's First Sustainably Certified Florist

“With the rise in greenwashing, in Portland and beyond, it started to feel disingenuous to adopt the “Sustainable” title without having something to back it up, and that’s when we found out about Portland’s Sustainability at Work Program! This program allowed us to prove what we had been doing as well as take the necessary steps to do even better. Our favorite update was joining the Green Streets Steward Program!”

— Lynsea Coy, Owner of Coy & Co. Curatorial Floral

As of February 18th, 2020 Coy & Co. Curatorial Floral became Portland’s First Sustainably Certified Florist! The City of Portland’s Sustainability at Work program offers free consultations with one of their staff members as well as connection with their partners such as Metro, Portland Water Bureau, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and Energy Trust of Oregon! By connecting with all of these agencies, we’re able to meet our sustainability goals and take the steps towards getting Gold Certified!

Some of our Sustainability Goals are:

-Hiring a bike messenger team to delivery our flowers inside the city to reduce our fuel usage and carbon footprint

-Purchase Carbon Offsets to offset the carbon used by our gas powered delivery vehicle until we are able to purchase an electric one!

-Change out all of our lighting to LED to reduce our energy usage and carbon footprint

-To work with our building to replace water aerators and toilets to reduce water waste

-Purchasing an energy efficient or electric delivery vehicle for larger deliveries and services

If you’re looking for other services provided by a sustainability certified business, check out our peers on Sustainability at Work’s Green Business Directory!

What is Valentine's Day like at Portland's Sustainable Florist?

Well, for one… no roses!

That’s right, the dozen red roses thing? We don’t do that here. Not that there is anything wrong with red roses, it’s more that there is something wrong with red roses right now. Portland is The City of Roses, but our bushes don’t bloom until April. So those roses you’re seeing at the grocery store? Those are from Ecuador, Colombia, or hot houses in California. BAD NEWS for the environment, but we have some GOOD NEWS for you!

There are so many gorgeous flowers available right here right now, in Portland, OR. Tulips, hellebore, lillies, flowering branches, daffodils, snowdrops, and more!

It’s a wonderland and it’s all right here. We’ve ordered over 20 buckets of sustainably grown flowers for you to enjoy just in time for Valentine’s Day.. and at a fair price too! You can pre-order now and skip the line…. You can even add on one of our brand new custom-made vases from local maker Clay Factor Ceramics or a pair of earrings from our friend Ayumi Angel!

Plan to pick-up either at our pop-up on February 13th at Lille Boutique or at our In-Store PARTY on February 14th! We open at 10am and will be spinning vinyl, sipping natural wine, and eating snacks from Cosecha PDX all day!!

In the meantime check out these incredible photos our friend Naba Zabih took of our new shop gal Jen enjoying one of our Valentine’s Day bouquets!

Portland Seasonal: January, 2020

A Monthly Flower Blog Documenting What Grows and What’s Available in Portland, Oregon



“Not until I began volunteering on farms around the Pacific Northwest did I really know what was in season or possible to grow in Portland. Just taking a stroll through the grocery store, you’d assume roses bloomed year round. Having everything the world has to offer available at all times had disconnected me from my home. In an effort to reacquaint myself and others with what the PNW has to offer, I present, Portland Seasonal: A Monthly Flower Blog Documenting What Grows and What’s Available in Portland, Oregon.”

— Lynsea Coy, Owner Coy & Co. Curatorial Floral

Note: Every year is different. With the affects of Climate Change the variability of the seasons often yield surprises. This blog series serves as a record of what’s bloomed and available by month and year.

A few other considerations: we source exclusively from farms in Oregon and Southern Washington. These are in Plant Hardiness Zone 6a - 8b. We focus on working with small farmers who promote sustainability.

January 2020

What Flowers & Foliage were in Season this month in Portland, OR

• Tulips

• Magnolia

• Calla Lillies

• Pieris

• Eucalyptus

• Ponderosa Pine

• Maidenhair Fern

• Pussywillow

A Case for Sticking to Season

“If you consider the materials those florists were working with, it’s analogous to chefs cooking only with canned fruit and out of season tomatoes. In the current floral industrial complex, everything we admire about a fresh flower — the fragrance, the delicate structure, the fleeting beauty and connection to season and place — is bred out so that the flower can be inexpensive, long lasting and easily shippable. Most of our cut flowers are imported from Latin America, where labor is cheap, working conditions harsh, regulations lax and chemicals prevalent — and that’s just the growing part. Then, after being jacked up on fungicide, dunked in vats of preservatives and jostled and manhandled for about a week, these odorless, uniform, sturdy flowers with their enormous carbon footprint come to rest in our florist’s hands or in our homes. Nice.”

— Deborah Needleman, New York Times 2017

This segment of Needleman’s article describing the changing tides of floral design has been a wellspring of validation and inspiration for us over at Coy & Co. In the beginning, aside from knowing buying local was better for many reasons, we couldn’t quite put our finger on why we felt so much sadness looking at the roses in the grocery store in December. Why.. why did this feel so wrong?

Because it was.

As a florist in the City of Roses, it’s not hard to know that roses do not bloom in December, in fact this is a time essential to their growth cycle. Local rose grower, Peterkort Roses turns off the heat in their greenhouses starting in November and we don’t start seeing roses from them again until April!

To our delight, however, Portland, and Oregon at large, have proven to be a florist’s dream. Paperwhites, cyclamen, dried flowers, an incredible array of evergreens, and more are all available locally and sustainably.

We’re proud to be a Farm-to-Table Florist and we hope you can join us in appreciating the seasons, every month of the year. One of the ways to do that is to schedule a monthly Portland flower delivery for your home, office, or to a loved one (makes a great Valentine’s Day or Birthday gift!) with Coy & Co. or stop by during our Open Studio Hours Saturdays & Sundays 10am - 6pm. See you soon!

Opening Portland's First Zero-Waste Sustainable Flower Shop

We never imagined how easy and welcome it would be to open a flower shop exclusively stocked with locally grown flowers here in Portland.

An extremely short off-season happens over the holidays while we focus on holiday garlands and wreaths. To our surprise and delight, shortly after the holidays end, late Winter begins to yield early spring flowers from greenhouses around the area.

Stocking locally made ceramics and ribbon has proven fruitful and accessible (stay tuned for our vendor features!). Working with vendors to wrap in biodegradable paper instead of single-use plastic has been easier than expected and the TURN-OUT and SUPPORT of our community has been massive!

Without all of you, this wouldn’t have been possible. You’ve shown you CARE about where your flowers come from! That you care about how your flowers are treated! You care about your carbon footprint! This care you’ve shown towards our planet has already affected real change in the floral industry here in Portland.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our opening event, stay tuned for more events in the shop and around town!

Coy & Co. at Tea Bar!

Another day, another Pop-Up!

We showed up at three amazing Tea Bar locations this month to spread the love and message of sustainable flowers!

Pride Month at the Coy & Co. Stand!

June was Pride Month at the Coy & Co. Flower Stand at Vivienne Kitchen and Pantry!

Every week we donated 25% of our flower sales to a different LGBTQIA+ Organization or Charity!

Week 1: Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC)

Week 2: Sexual & Gender Minority Youth Resource Center (SMYRC)

Week 3: Q Center

Week 4: Basic Rights Oregon

Week 5: Transgender Law Center

Why does Coy & Co. dedicate such a large chunk of their sales to different LGBTQIA+ Organizations and Charities during Pride Month?

Lynsea Coy, Founder of Coy & Co. was Ms. Junior Gay Pride of Portland 2013 and believes that philanthropy and stewardship goes beyond her time serving under this title and into any opportunity she has to support her community. Join her June 2020 for another round of PRIDE!

Coy & Co. at Project Pop-Up!

Project Pop-Up is a one-day market on November 24, 2018 on Small Business Saturday. It will be held at Project Object featuring 6 emerging artists and makers.

From Project Object:

We are proud to announce these amazing creatives for our first Project Pop-Up! Stay tuned for interviews and posts about these makers in the next following weeks!

Angelina from Side Hustle Designs

Claire from Glossy Tanlines

Hillary from Dora Lou

Kate from LoomCat

Portland Florist Lynsea from Coy & Co

The Coy & Co. Flower Stand at Vivienne Kitchen & Pantry!

Every* Saturday & Sunday from 9 AM - 2 PM at Vivienne Kitchen & Pantry, you can find a local and seasonal selection of florals and greens available from our “Little Somethin’” Bouquets for $6 to our “Oh, OKAY!” Bouquets for $25!** Check out the vendors section of the Coy & Co. Website to see where we source our inventory from!

* dates and times vary, for weekly updates on closures follow Coy & Co. on Instagram!

** these prices are only available at the Coy & Co. Flower Stand at Vivienne Kitchen & Pantry. For a quote on your event, wedding, or pop-up go to the contact section of the Coy & Co. Website!

It's Official!

We’re up! September 6th, 2018 Coy & Co. LLC was founded and today the website is live!

The next steps are gathering materials and getting ready for the the official launch of Coy & Co.’s Floral Residency at Vivienne’s Kitchen and Pantry! Open from 9 AM till 2 PM Saturdays and Sundays offering a wide array of custom arrangements and big smiles.