Follow The Blooms

(gentle music) - I'm Katie Lila.

I make art displays out of fresh-cut flowers.

Wow, this is looking so fabulous.

Flowers really are nature's art, and I love using them as my medium.

So fun.

Like these little fantasy flower worlds that people can interact with.

Oh, my gosh, this is stunning.

I want this from my bedroom wall.

It's hard to be around flowers without smiling.

Wait.

That is crazy.

I love looking at something and being like, "Ooh, how could we make that into something that could be in a flower installation?"

This is out of control.

I love it, oh, my goodness.

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it going to go?

How's it going to play out?

Whoo!

You did it!

(bright music) My install team is amazing.

They just jump into action (fingers snapping) and fill in all the weird requests.

So, come follow the blooms with us.

You never know where the adventure's headed.

- [Presenter] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by... (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (mellow music) (device clicking) - [Presenter] Slate Flosser, a daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes, and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser, the other toothbrush.

(gentle music) - Today's episode will take us into the woods near Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State, where old, wise trees will become living foundations that grow with the people that live and play in them.

I'm delighted to have two of my kiddos with me.

Ava and Pierce will bring a fun energy to the project and are both great worker bees.

We will head out to meet Michael Murphy of Barefoot Tree Houses, a professional tree house builder who works best with, you guessed it, bare feet.

He and his team are finishing up an incredible build for clients that have become close friends.

We've been invited to adorn the tree house with flowers for their tree house-warming party with neighbors and friends.

Before we find Murph, we must first find flowers, of course.

We'll visit Chai and Chi Chamee, a local husband-wife team at SC Farm.

It's nearing the end of August, and summer is in full swing, and so are the flowers, rows and rows of the amazing and vibrant varieties we've been waiting for to add just the right finishing touches to a tree house in bloom.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) Hey, Chai.

- Hey, how you doing, Kate?

- Good, good to see you.

- Yes, you too.

- I brought my kiddos today.

They're helping me out.

- All right.

Hey, guys.

- This is Pierce.

- Well, welcome.

- And Ava.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- And then is this your wife, Chi?

- Yes, Chi.

- Hi.

- Come on over.

I gotta meet you.

- Nice to meet you, too.

- Yeah, great to meet you.

- Yeah, nice to meet you, too.

- Yeah, thanks for having us.

What do you got here?

This looks amazing.

- So we got- - Murph sent me over- - Yes, yes.

- and told me that you are the place to find all of my flowers.

- You know, I try to be the place.

Right now, you see all the summer flowers blooming, the sunflowers we talked about- - Yeah, wow.

- the white cosmos.

- Look at those.

(gasps) These are gorgeous.

- Yes, yes, they are.

- Just look how tall they are.

- And you got- - And huge.

- [Chai] the Mexican sunflowers.

- [Katie] Okay, these are the Mexican sunflowers.

- Yes, yes.

- You were telling me that you would have 'em this time of year.

- Yeah.

- Those are amazing.

- They're so pretty.

- Wow, okay.

And these sunflowers are out of control.

Look at those.

- Yeah, that's why they're called sunflowers, you know?

The sun's out right now and- - Yeah.

- they're just blooming like crazy, so... - They're loving it.

- Yep.

- And look, all your dahlias are on.

- [Chai] Oh, yeah, yeah.

- Wow, this is- - Little bit of everything.

Summertime flowers and- - Yeah.

- a good time for everything to be alive.

- [Katie] I'm like, look at all this.

It's so fun.

I could just, this is heaven for me.

(laughs) So you guys pump out a crazy amount of flowers.

- Yes.

- It's incredible.

Now, have you been farming your whole life or?

- You know, farming, second generation, parents, they've been farming their whole life.

- Mm-hmm.

- I'd say 30 years.

- Okay.

- But you know, for me, actually, about 15 years.

- Yeah.

- So.

- So you grew up farming, helping out on the farm and- - Yes, yes.

- around the flowers.

- Yes.

- Yeah, is it always flowers, or do you farm other things?

- We do vegetables, too.

- Okay.

- We try to do fruit, but you know, it's a lost cause.

(both laughing) But yeah, I mean, you do a little bit here and there, just try to do a little bit of everything.

- [Katie] Yeah, the flowers are your, you seem like quite the pro at flowers.

- [Chai] No, even though after this many years of doing it, you're still learning.

- [Katie] Sure.

- [Chai] Every year it's a different growing season.

- [Katie] Yeah.

- So it's still, you just gotta adapt to the weather too, so.

- Sure.

Tell me, like, what are the pros and cons of flower farming for you?

- Pros and cons.

- Things you love, things you don't love.

- You know, I like it when it's a tuber so you don't have to worry about it not growing.

- Okay, so starting with a tuber instead of a seed.

- Yeah, seeds, it's a 50-50.

I always tell people it's a tossable coin.

- Sure.

- You never know if it's gonna, you know, sprout or not sprout.

- Ah.

- And even if it does sprout, when you put it in the ground, you know, you have to worry about it, you know, taking care of it.

- Sure, but tubers are a sure bet.

- Yeah, tubers, roots, you know, is a sure bet that it's gonna just take off, and, you know, just gotta give it a little dirt and a little love, and they do the rest.

- Huh, okay, and what do you just hate about flower farming?

- You know, days like today when it's 90 degrees and humid.

(Katie laughs) But you know, it's part of farming- - Sure.

- being outdoors, so you gotta take the good with the bad.

- Sure.

Okay, so I'm not sure if Murph told you, but he builds huge tree houses.

- Yes, yeah.

- Okay, and he's finishing one that he's been working on for a long time, and his clients are all bringing their friends and family to come and see it.

So we wanted to make it extra special and cover it with flowers.

- Yes.

- Really, you know, pop.

So I'm loving these sunflowers.

- Mm-hmm.

- I think those could be incredible.

But we also have this idea where we want to, because the Snoqualmie Falls are so close, we wanted to take a cue from that and build a waterfall down the staircase.

- Cascading down.

- Yeah.

So do you have some whites?

Like, I love these cosmos.

- Yeah, we do the cosmos- - Those are incredible.

- and you know, plenty of that.

You know, you got the white statice.

- Oh, okay.

- I don't have any of that with me right now.

- Oh, like this?

Okay, like- - Yeah, but this is the purple statice.

- Yeah, this is the purple statice.

- Yeah.

- So you have a bunch of this in white?

- Yeah.

- Okay, that would be perfect because this dries really well.

- Yes, and it's more heat tolerant, so- - [Katie] Okay, yeah, heat tolerant, so down the stairs because I was hoping to leave it as a gift where they can enjoy the dried flowers, too.

- Yeah.

- So yes, I love these.

Mums, those are gorgeous.

I mean, oh, man, everything's just amazing.

I think I wanna kind of get- - A little bit of everything- - Yeah.

- to make it colorful and- - Yeah.

- Yes.

- [Katie] A little bit of everything.

- We could do that.

We could do that.

- Yeah, so you've got a little bit more picking out in the field we could do?

- Yes.

- Okay, we gotta get our hands on this, so fun.

- Yeah.

- My kids, I know, would love to help pick, too, so put us to work.

- All right.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Chai, we would love some of that statice.

- [Chai] Yes, let's go and take a look.

- Sunflowers.

I saw some amaranth over there I had my eye on.

- Yes.

(Katie laughs) - Ah.

Oh, this is so fun.

- So pretty.

- Yeah, look at this, guys.

So many colors of statice, that's so fun.

Ooh, look at that one.

That's so much fun.

I love that.

Do you have a flower you love, one that you love in particularly?

- You know, I love all flowers, but especially the ones that you cut, and they keep growing back.

(both laughing) - Yeah, so you're less enamored with the look of 'em and more with the productivity.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - I don't like flowers that are one and done 'cause that's just a lot more work- - (laughs) Yeah.

- 'cause you have to keep planting.

(laughs) - Right.

That makes a lot of sense.

(laughs) Did you always grow so many varieties?

- No, but you know, eventually as you start farming more, you get customers' input of what they like to- - Yeah.

- see grow.

- [Katie] Okay.

- [Chai] And you just keep on adding to your inventory.

- Yeah.

- But yeah, eventually we started to, you know, just add a few variety, and then now we have over a dozen variety of flowers, so... - Wow, yeah, so many.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) You know, Murph has this really great farm, and he just, you know, called me up one day and said, "Hey, there's this cool farm I pass all the time.

The couple's amazing.

Let's go check it out when you come."

And then I get there, and it's, you know, just so many flowers and not just your everyday flowers.

Every single flower is huge, and gorgeous, and lush, and the colors are out of this world, you know?

And so fun to be there, so fun to capture these flowers in the field and the ones they've cut, and then Chai and Chi, husband-wife team are incredible.

It's this family affair, and they make it look like they really have it down to this art meets science, right?

It just inspired me to, you know, overbuy flowers, which is, you know, never a bad thing but (laughs) something that's easy to do.

(gentle music continues) All right, that feels like, let's see, guys.

How much do we have here?

- All right.

- Is that enough to fill up a good- - Bucket?

- bucket?

- Yeah, I think so.

- Yeah.

I think the family is gonna love this knowing that you're so close by.

I know they're very community oriented- - Yes.

- trying to be- - [Chai] I think everybody likes to support one another, especially in a small community.

- [Katie] Mm-hmm.

(gentle music continues) (crickets chirping) (mellow music) It's time to head over to the tree house and meet Michael Murphy, or as his friends call him, Murph.

Murph has been climbing trees and dreaming of tree houses since his childhood.

"A tree house," he says, "will enhance your imagination, free your spirit, and ease you into a more relaxed state in touch with the natural world."

His team creates special spaces for relationships to deepen with each other and the earth.

They use Northwest colors and stains that allow the grain of the wood to come through and tell the story of the tree from which it came.

Murph lives by the motto that every moment is holy, every inch is beloved.

Murph, hey!

- Oh, hey, Katie.

- How you doing?

Thank you so much for coming out.

- Do I have to take my shoes off?

I've heard about this.

- Only if you want the earth to know who you are.

(Katie laughs) That's how- - I do want the earth to know who I am.

- she checks your footprints.

- Okay.

- Let everybody know who we are, and so- - Okay.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I'm here, earth.

- It's like my identification.

Like, when I come in the forest, and they wanna check the ID, I just put down my bare foot.

- Ah, the footprint.

- Exactly, yeah, exactly.

- There you go, yeah.

- So check out this table.

- Look good.

- What do you think?

- This is gorgeous.

Wow, wow.

- This is a piece of maple that I salvaged from a tree job about five years ago.

Sometimes the wood waits a long time to find its forever home.

- Wow.

- But I was real excited to- - Worth the wait.

- for this for Alan.

Yeah.

- Okay.

And yes, it's going in there.

- It is, it is, and so, you know, we've spent a long time creating this tree house for a very patient client.

- Wow.

- Love the man.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, and so we've had this vision for a while.

This was gonna be the grandkids' tree house, but as soon as we got up on the platform, he's like, "Okay, this one's mine."

(Katie laughs) And it went from there, and so kind of, you know, we're not too far from Snoqualmie Falls.

Did you get a chance to see it yet?

- Yes.

- Pretty sweet?

- And it is gorgeous.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Katie] I'm so excited to show my kids.

- Well, and I always just love to incorporate the natural feelings into the tree houses.

So, obviously, the falls was gonna be in this one, and one of the ways that I feel the falls is through the stairs.

Like, they come pouring out of the tree house and then splashing down onto the ground.

And so that's kinda, like, the dual entryway.

- I love that.

- And very fortunate that Alan supports my whimsies when I wanna go two different directions at the same time.

(Katie laughs) He's like, "Ah, go for it.

It sounds like a good idea."

- That's incredible.

I'm excited to meet everybody.

- Yeah, on top of that, they do love this forest.

They've been here since 1991 with the intention of having a tree house.

- Okay.

- And then also in 1991, Alan planted an oak tree from his mom's oak tree, from her dad's oak tree, and it was forever growing over the house, and so it was gonna eventually have to come down.

- Yeah.

- So we gave it a new life here in the tree house.

So we're gonna see that oak tree reiterated everywhere.

Obviously, in the bird's nest deck is the first place you see it.

- [Katie] Oh, my goodness.

- [Murph] And then same with the cedar, too, that was a tree that was already in a deceased state, but very vertical.

- Okay.

- So we just laid it down so it could rest, and then we found (Katie laughs) a new life for it, so it gets to be all the decking, and all the trim, and all the siding on the outside of the tree house.

- So these trees really are part of the family's story.

- Absolutely, and that's what I like to do is really bring that story together and invite the family to see their land and their trees in a new way.

So now these trees are a living, breathing foundation of their house.

Moves and dances in the wind.

You really get to become a part of that, and then people become advocates for their trees, which makes them advocates for their soil, too- - Look at that.

- because you wanna keep your trees healthy, you learn to keep your ground healthy, and the next thing you know, you just have a much more involved environmental experience with the land you live on.

So you're gonna deck this thing out in flowers for us.

- Oh, yeah.

- You wanna see what we got?

- I do wanna see what we got.

- All right, well, come on up.

(bright music) - Murph loves building inspired by the nature around him.

He's, you know, barefoot.

He's one with everything he's doing.

But he's so clever, and charismatic, and just delightful to be around.

Early on with flowers, realized they have a face, they have a name, and I do feel like I'm meeting them every time.

And Murph, you know, that resonated really quickly with me that he feels like that with trees.

He feels like they want to interact a certain way, right?

They're holding you.

They're resembling what's happening with the earth.

The trees have been talking to me all day.

And every time I start to feel nervous, or overwhelmed, or, like, "What was I thinking?

I took on too many things."

the trees just say, "It's okay.

You got this."

These amazing trees, these amazing flowers just, you know, "Let it flow.

Keep in the rhythm," and it's really incredible, and it's like just hearing the sound of the wind in the trees.

You know, the moss is growing.

It just feels like so much energy.

This whole tree house is filled with this skilled carpentry, this gorgeous, you know, all of the lumber has a story to it.

We're talking a house in the trees.

You've got bedrooms.

You've got living space.

You know, you're going up different levels.

It is a serious pad up there.

(bright music continues) He's got a special family he's building this one for, and we get to deck it out for the first time they get to see it.

It's super exciting.

Of course, it's the first time I've ever decked out a tree house.

But I hope it's not the last.

(bright music continues) Okay, this would be so fun to mimic that waterfall.

- Sure, sure, sure.

- Right?

- And I'm thinking, like, maybe some white, gorgeous flowers because it's always that bubbling white water.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- Right?

- Yeah, as the water- - The water is white.

- [Murph] just gets all charged up.

Yeah, totally.

- Yeah.

So that could be really fun to have the white flowing down, have the energy of it.

Right?

- Yes.

- Cool.

(gentle music) Do you create designs first?

Do you draw it out?

Do you put it on a computer?

How do you get this?

- I always happily share with my clients that we can spend a lot of money having me painstakingly draw something out that won't look like what I'm gonna build, or we can skip that part and just invest all that in the building (Katie laughs) and just let the trees and the platform reveal itself.

And I almost flatly refuse to design where the windows go before the platform's built because your view and your perception completely changes, yeah.

I do, as a standard, put windows on the trees 'cause I want you to never forget where you are.

And then also for me, it takes me back to being a kid at the aquarium and just seeing this whale pass by the window, and some of our trees in our tree house is four feet wide, 20 feet up, wind is blowing, and you're just sitting there watching this whale just kind of sway back and forth in the trees, so... (gentle music continues) I do have this vision.

- Okay.

- Honor Suzanne's piano player.

- Yeah.

- Gonna try to pick up a piano and have it here tomorrow.

And we'll either strap it to the side of the tree house, or we could just have it up here on the deck.

And I don't know if you want the flowers pouring out of it like music, or if you wanna set it up like it's a, you know, almost like a little hometown market stand- - Yeah.

- and maybe somebody even plays the piano.

- [Katie] What?

Okay, I love that.

- [Murph] Is that something you do?

- My son, who's here, Pierce.

- Your son does?

- [Katie] He's an amazing pianist, so- - [Murph] Maybe we'll get a little music tomorrow.

- Okay, cool.

- Okay.

- I think, I love how you inspire me to just go with it, right?

Like, the nature- - It's a good plan.

(Katie laughs) It's better not to make plans based on anything I say or do, so go with it.

(Katie laughs) We'll have a piano.

(upbeat piano music) We'll make some magic.

We'll have some flowers.

(upbeat piano music continues) Okay, I've tried not to overthink this one because that would be opposite of everything that Murph does, right?

So I knew that Murph really wanted this idea of the waterfall.

And so the statice felt really like a no-brainer there with that white, lacy feeling of the water.

And then I immediately thought of those sunflowers when I saw the bird's nest that he built around the balcony.

And he talks about the tree house holding you.

And then I just loved that idea of these pops of sunflowers, right, this vibrance.

(upbeat piano music continues) And instead of overthinking any of the designs, really manipulating the flowers, I just really want to keep it more like that flower market on the side of the road where everything is clustered, they're grouped together, it's the summer abundance, and I think that's what the earth is saying right now.

I think that's what the tree house is saying.

Everything's saying, "Boom, like, this is the season to celebrate."

All right, I think what I'm doing is just keeping it simple as, you know, just letting the flowers flow down, just using a little bit of twine because, one, that can stay here.

And, two, I won't have to hide it.

And then I'll just keep my blocks of bundles, and then I'll come back through and weave some to fill in those spaces.

But that will make for really fast design, and I think it will look incredible.

So I like how that's just gonna flow right down and be easy peasy to design.

Hooray.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) All right, look at these beauties.

I found these drums at the thrift shop dead through, and I think they will make perfect planters, right?

Everything looks like a planter to me, so let's see what this drum can become.

(Katie laughs) (drum clattering) So, guys, I think this tree house family loves music.

So we're going to make, of course, the piano a big feature of the balcony up there.

And then I thought these drums were so cool.

So I thought let's do planters and have these.

I know Murph made that amazing table.

It's gonna be right in the entryway.

So I think these will be the perfect centerpiece for that table.

We'll just fill 'em up, and they'll be this amazing ode to music, ode to the family.

Hooray.

(gentle music continues) (pensive string music) - So we need the piano and the hand cart to become one.

- Okay, I just hope no one gets hurt during this.

- It'll be fine.

- Okay.

- Just tip forward to me.

(Katie laughs) - Here we go.

- Got it?

Okay.

- Way to go, guys.

Oh, ah.

- This is the part where we don't want it to flip over and land on me.

Let's see.

- Ah!

- Nice.

- Was that the plan?

- [Murph] That was actually the plan on how to put it in.

(Katie laughs) - Okay.

Oh, man.

(cart clattering) - [Helper] Here we go.

- Oh!

- Okay, okay.

- [Helper] Hey, Boo-Boo.

- One, two, three.

- Okay.

- [Helper] Pull it off there.

(Katie laughs) There it is.

- Wow.

- All right, okay.

So what we're gonna do is on three, we're gonna lift.

We're only gonna go one step at a time.

One, two, three.

(grunts) Yep.

Strap's in the way.

- Uh-oh.

- Okay, whoo!

One, two, three.

(Murph grunting) There we go.

Okay, we have to go vert and twist or spin.

- [Katie] I know, right?

I'm just like, oh, I can't watch.

It, like, makes me so scared.

- One, two, three.

(Murph grunting) - [Katie] Are you guys okay?

- There it is.

- There's me.

Ready?

One, two, three, oh, God.

- Okay, we're close.

We're two-thirds up.

- Got her, man, or are you lifting it?

- [Helper] I'm just trying to steer it up there.

- Okay, one.

(grunting) - [Helper] There it is.

- Yeah.

- There.

- One more stair, every stair is a victory.

(laughs) - And slide.

- Okay.

(helper grunting) - [Katie] Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's going.

Whoo!

- I'm just holding.

- There is is.

- Yeah, whoo-hoo!

- [Murph] Let's push and get her in.

- Easy does it.

- Oh, my goodness.

The piano is in the tree house.

(laughs) That was so intense.

(laughs) - [Murph] It's not broken.

- Way to go, guys, whoo!

(hands smacking) (Katie laughs) (mellow music) It feels like the finish line for Murph and his team, but really it's the starting line for this family, right?

Now they get to enjoy this place, and I love how the flowers honor that moment and make it really memorable, something that will last right along with the tree house.

(bright music) Here they come.

- Welcome to your tree house.

- I love the sunflowers woven into the- - Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Suzanne] banister.

- Oh, yeah, the sunflowers, right?

They called for it.

What we are creating is a moment, and moments can be made really incredibly special with flowers.

- Oh, wow, look at this.

Oh.

(laughs) (hands smacking) (Katie laughs) (bright music continues) - Wonderful.

- What a great surprise.

I love it.

- He did a good job.

- Stools.

- When did you do these?

- Dan made those today.

- Those are very cool.

- They're great.

- [Murph] This is so that she can sit out here in the evening time.

- Yeah, could you ask for a better place to play the- - Where'd you get the leaves?

- They fell.

- They fell off the maple right here?

- Today.

- [Helper] I was cleaning up the deck.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- And you said, "We can use those."

- This is perfect.

- Yeah.

- This is phenomenal.

- Oh, the light, the woods.

- Oh, it's so gorgeous.

- Well, we have family and friends coming that are very excited to see our tree house, so let's get this celebration going.

(bright music continues) (bright music continues) - When you give a gift, it's this desire to honor and connect with the person you're giving it to, and the trees have given us this beautiful gift and now to be here with my family and his family, and I could not be more grateful and just feeling the joy of being part of this gift.

(bright music continues) - [Presenter] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by... (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (mellow music) (device clicking) - [Presenter] Slate Flosser, a daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes, and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser, the other toothbrush.

- [Katie] For more information about this and other episodes or links to follow my flower adventures on social media, visit flowersforpeople.co.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (bright music)