Monday, September 7, 2015 | Susan of Passionflower is a floral designer, artist, and instructor who creates unusual, boundary-pushing floral art including elaborate headpieces, flower crowns, and her signature succulent jewelry. Her soulful, seasonally-inspired creations and floral wearables have been described as exquisite living artwork. Susan has trained with some of the country’s leading floral designers, including Francoise Weeks, Erin Benzakein, and Holly Chapple, and has developed her own distinctive style of floral design. Considered one of the country’s top designers of floral wearables and living jewelry, Susan received one gold and three silver medals and placed second overall in the 2014 Fusion Flowers International Designer of the Year competition. A passionate teacher, Susan offers private design instruction for new and professional florists in her studio and through destination workshops. Her teaching experience also includes a sold-out two-day workshop on living jewelry design in Scotland, numerous other creative collaborations workshops are planned for the coming year. Susan’s work has been featured on the cover of Fusion Flowers Magazine and in leading industry publications and websites including Modern Wedding Flowers, Style Me Pretty and The Knot. Susan is a member of Chapel Designers, Slow Flowers, and Style Me Pretty’s “Little Black Book.” A frequent featured designer on Etsy, her designs and living jewelry has been praised for its originality, sustainability, and style. Be sure to check out her previous Field to Vase blog post: Living Jewels: A Full Circle Story (June 2015).
Those Who Grow: Graye’s Greenhouse
by Susan McLeary of Passionflower
About 7 years ago, a friend took me to Graye’s greenhouse. We worked at a flower shop together, and needed small potted plants—ferns and such—to tuck into a long tablescape we were making for an event. I’ve always thought that floral design isn’t very interesting unless the flowers and foliages themselves are interesting, and Graye’s quickly became my favorite go to for rare and unexpected ingredients.
True, I did fib a bit at first—at the time, I was a plant-murdering florist, and the plants I bought would be snipped completely off of their well cared for stems, and tucked into bouquets and centerpieces, leaving only a bare nubbin and a beautifully nurtured root system that I would then toss into the compost pile. Mrs. Graye would look over my selections, carefully explaining how I was to care for the plants, as I nodded and smiled.
But over time, as Mrs. Graye and I became familiar, I came clean with my intentions. And she would tell me which plants I was allowed to buy—some are just too special and took too much time and care to raise. These deserve a better home.
Graye’s is just as rare and special as the plants it houses. Opened in 1928, the greenhouses hold thousands of unusual plants: ferns, succulents, dwarf and scented geraniums, cacti, heirloom tomatoes, and my very favorite— passionflower, who’s mother vine grows out of the greenhouse floor and is as thick as my wrist.
A visit here is such a treat, especially on a cold Michigan winter day when the sun warms the greenhouse and the passionflower vine is blooming. This place is so special and the plants so gorgeous, that I was half tempted to keep this gem to myself.
But of course, I thought better of that—the more people visit and buy, the more incentive the family has to keep up the hard work. And this is very hard work. I know this. I’m so grateful to the growers I buy from, for the beauty of their product, but also for the creative inspiration I feel when I’m walking through their rows.
I’ve decided to celebrate this by visiting my favorite growers, harvesting from what’s available in the moment, and designing on the spot. Graye’s was my natural beginning point—the place where I first made the connection that beautiful design has more to do with the beauty of the ingredients than the skill of the hand arranging them. My thanks to Graye’s for allowing me to buy and mangle their gorgeous plants for the past 7 years. Cheers to many, many more.
SUSAN MCLEARY
Owner of Passionflower
Ann Arbor, MI
passionflowerevents.com
email: susan@passionflowerevents.com
Instagram: @Passionflowersue
Facebook: @PassionflowerA2
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