The flowers

She grows them. I design with them. It starts, for both of us, in the soil.

A collaboration with Tekla Farms on Orcas Island—field-grown organic blooms out of Laura Torma’s rows, arranged the way a Dutch still life is built. Order deliveries through the farm, or take a seasonal class in the farm’s design studio.

Design & teaching Tekla Farms, Orcas Island

Whitney Page reaching into a row of tulips in a greenhouse at Tekla Farms — Portrait Whitney Page, picking tulips at Tekla Farms.

The grower: Laura Torma, Tekla Farms
The designer: Whitney Page
Where: Tekla Farms, Orcas Island
Grown: Field-grown and organic — no pesticides, nothing flown in
Season: Late spring to the first frost
Deliveries: Order on Orcas through Tekla’s website
Classes: Seasonal, in the farm’s design studio — vase included

The partnership started in the dirt, long before it ever got to a vase.

Laura and I met over soil, not flowers—her cover crops and compost, my lime, hemp and wool. It turned out to be the same conversation, and Tekla Farms is where it grew.

Laura grows the flowers; I design with them. She feeds the soil, keeps pesticides off the field, and raises blooms bred for scent and character rather than shipping.

You cannot design a season. You can only turn up in the week the field is generous, and cut accordingly.

Whitney Page

That gives me stems nobody can buy wholesale—and with no pesticides, no chemical dip and no floral foam, it is better for the people, the table and the ground. Arrangements are built like a Dutch still life: deep color, honest asymmetry, and the week’s season on the table.

Continued: the seasonal classes

Whitney and visitors standing among rows of ranunculus in bloom at Tekla Farms, hoop houses and forest behind — The field Rows of ranunculus at Tekla Farms, a few weeks before they end up in a vase.

I Flowers for your own table

If you want the flowers rather than the lesson, the farm handles that directly. Deliveries run around Orcas Island through the growing season, and you order them straight from Tekla’s website.

A Dutch still-life style arrangement of flowers in a handmade pottery urn on a wood table — The arrangement Field-grown organic blooms, arranged and ready to order.

A round white vase filled with deep red peonies, burgundy ranunculus and pink garden roses — The arrangement Field-grown organic blooms, arranged and ready to order.

Deliveries

A bouquet, a standing arrangement, or buckets for an event

Something built for a particular table, or mixed stems by the bucket for a party to arrange themselves—the farm grows it and I design the larger work.

It travels five miles instead of five thousand, and it is in water within the hour. Asymmetrical, a little overgrown, and entirely a record of one particular week on this island.

Order Flowers from Tekla Farms

House accounts

Standing arrangements for restaurants, hotels and fine retail

For establishments that want a consistent but seasonal presence—a dining room that refreshes weekly, a hotel lobby that meets guests with real flowers, a retail space where the display changes with the field—we set up house accounts directly with the farm.

You get standing arrangements on a schedule that works for your space, built to your aesthetic and refreshed with what the season is offering that week. Nothing is held in cold storage or flown in; everything goes straight from the row to the vase. The flowers look like flowers instead of like a gesture.

Reach out directly to discuss standing accounts

Inquire About a House Account

II Wedding floral design, grown at Tekla Farms

For couples who want a day that looks like the island rather than a catalogue—field-grown, organic blooms out of Laura’s rows, designed the way a Dutch still life is built.

Bride and groom embracing on a rocky shoreline with water and sailboat in the background — A wedding Built entirely from one field, table by table.

Weddings

From a single bouquet to a full reception

We work from whatever Tekla Farms is giving that week—deep color, honest asymmetry, nothing flown in and nothing propped up with floral foam. No two weddings pull from the same rows, so no two ever look alike.

Every wedding starts with a walk through the field and a conversation about the day, then gets built to the date rather than to a fixed order sheet. Write to me directly to start the conversation.

Inquire About Wedding Flowers

III The classes, in the farm’s design studio

Small, seasonal classes from late spring to first frost, with blooms cut that morning. A vase to take home is included.

Whitney Page talking with a student in the design studio at Tekla Farms, beside buckets of ranunculus, lupine, snapdragons and hydrangea cut that morning — Before the first stem Talking through the morning’s buckets—ranunculus, lupine, snapdragons and hydrangea—and what each one wants before anybody reaches for a vase.

In the field

We walk Laura’s rows with buckets and cut what is at its moment—dahlias, zinnias, cosmos, whatever the week is giving. You learn where on the stem to cut, what travels, and what to leave standing.

At the bench

Conditioning: clean water, stripped stems, a second cut and a proper rest. Unglamorous, quick to learn, and the difference between an arrangement that holds a week and one that sulks by Thursday.

III

In the vase

The principles, applied: structure first, then color, then scale, then the one stem that breaks the shape. You build your own in the vase that comes with the class, and I am over your shoulder for it.

IV Questions from the studio

Do I need any experience?

None. Most people arrive certain they are not the sort of person who can do this, and leave holding proof otherwise. If you have arranged flowers for years, the field work and the conditioning will still give you something new.

Is the vase included?

Yes. A vase comes with the class and goes home with you, arrangement and all. Bring clippers if you have a pair you like and boots that can handle a wet row—buckets, water and flowers are here.

Whose flowers am I working with?

Laura’s. Everything comes out of the field at Tekla Farms—organically grown, no pesticides, cut that morning. Nothing is flown in, which is also why no two classes build the same thing.

When do classes run?

Only while the field is in: late spring through the first frost, on dates set by what is blooming. Send me the month that suits you and I’ll tell you what the farm is likely to be doing.

How small are they?

Small on purpose—the point is that I can stand at your shoulder rather than at the front of a room. Private groups are welcome too: birthdays, bridal parties, a visiting family, a team that would rather be outside.

What if I want flowers, not a class?

Order them from the farm. Deliveries run on Orcas through the growing season and go through Tekla’s website. For a wedding, an occasion or a table that wants designing, write to me directly.

Inquiries

Come cut with me.

Classes are set by the season, not the calendar. Tell me the month that works—or the group, the date or the occasion—and I’ll let you know what the field will be doing. For deliveries on Orcas, order straight from Tekla Farms.

Ask About a Class