NICOLE CORDIER spins around on the old cement floors, clapping her hands in delight before darting off to pick a bunch of anemones here, grab a handful of California poppies there. As the front-desk manager for the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market in Georgetown, Cordier is in flower heaven, and enjoying every minute.
Eager flower farmers fill the historic building with energy and beautiful blooms three weekdays year-round. The public is invited in to shop on Fridays. The market is a growing phenomenon, with 16 members from three states contributing fresh cuts and good will. In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the market a $200,000 grant to develop a marketing system for its sustainably grown, fresh-cut flowers.
And last month the market started bringing pre-made bouquets to neighborhood grocery stores. Cordier and assistants are composing hundreds of "By the Bunch" arrangements every week, pulled fresh from the farmers' stock.
But the morning I visited, Cordier was pulling flowers to demonstrate her bouquet-fashioning tips and tricks. "I always start with color as the focal point," she says.
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