Black Flora

Black Flora is the first book to feature profiles of contemporary Black experts innovating in the world of flowers. Author and long-time gardener, Teresa Speight, offers a beautiful intersection of flowers and community. This book is a homecoming, one that unearths the floral legacies of the past and present, while providing a source of inspiration for younger generations of plant-lovers seeking examples of successful Black floral artists and entrepreneurs.

With photos and insights from over 20 growers, florists, and designers from around the US, each with a deep reverence for nature, Black Flora showcases a range of floral expertise. And as visionary horticulturalist and garden historian, Abra Lee, reflects in her foreword, the community represented in Black Flora has an important significance both today, and in garden history. Lee describes how after the Civil War, many African Americans who were formerly enslaved went back into the ruined gardens which they had nurtured, and took cuttings and roots of the flowers to grow in their home gardens. It was these plants that formed the beginning of a crucial foundation in American horticulture, one that demands far greater recognition. ?Both a celebration of now and a vision for the future, Black Flora honours floriculture's creative vanguard.

"Black Flora is a garden, and each contributor is a flower, taking their time in the sunlight and sharing their beauty and wisdom with the world." --Booklist
"Black Flora is an incredibly exciting, joyful, and healthy gift to us all as it offers page after page of inspiring Black flower artists and the beautifully wide-ranging flowers we create! Reading the "flower journeys" in each of the featured profiles reminds me so much of the experiences I went through to find my own path with plants and flowers. The stories are also refreshing proof that there are so many wonderful and unexpected routes to finding our way to beauty in this world. We Black flower farmers, gardeners, and designers are lighting the way for each other and for the world."--Leslie Bennett, Owner and Creative Director of Pine House Edible Gardens, Co-Author of The Beautiful Edible Garden, and Founder and Installation Artist of Black Sanctuary Gardens
"An entrancing book that's more than a book: it's the gathering of a community. Black Flora lifts up our ancestors' relationship to the earth while profiling today's most exciting florists and farmers with zing, curiosity, and a depth that's long overdue." --Chantal Aida Gordon, Co-Founder of The Horticult and Co-Author of How to Window Box
"I believe Black Flora, like any art, creation, or work by Black people, is steeped in and deeply fertilized by the culture and experience of those who create and develop it. It celebrates the joy and exuberance of shared cultures and bloodlines as well as the past and present experience of being Black in America and in the world."--Pilar Zuniga, Owner and Lead Designer, Gorgeous and Green, and Host of @floristsofcolor
"We are not all the same. With each profile, Black Flora so beautifully captures the essence of what we embody as Black designers and farmers and the many facets of our professions. Black Flora explores the heart behind what we do by highlighting some of this very moment's dynamic flower artists and farmers."--Valerie Crisostomo, President and CEO, Black Girl Florists

Teresa J. Speight is the Urban Garden and Container Garden Chair, District 1, for National Garden Clubs, Inc., and the founder and president of the Jabali Amani Garden Collective, a garden club for Minority women who enjoy gardening. Through her blog and podcast, Cottage in the Court, she offers a unique perspective on connecting with the earth, as well as curated garden experiences for small groups. Teri also offers one-on-one garden coaching, specializing in earth-friendly practices. She is the co-author of The Urban Garden.

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