Book Review: Laura Dowling 'Floral Diplomacy at the White House'

In 2009, Laura Dowling received news that the White House florist had retired (after a 32 year tenure). At the time, she was working as a part-time florist out of her basement kitchen in D.C> while working another full-time job. She applied - not really thinking that she would get the position that hundreds of people were applying for - but to her astonishment she found herself amongst the 12 semi-finalists for the position, and would eventually be selected as the White House florist.

In a truly American story, Laura ascended from her basement kitchen to the highest floral designer position in the nation - and in the White House nonetheless due to hard work, dreaming big and following her passion - and that’s just the first few pages of the book!

Laura was the White House florist during the Obama Administration. I personally am a big fan of Michelle and Barack, but even if you are not there is a lot to learn about the role of flowers in the White House and their role as more than just a pretty background ornamentation.

In fact, Laura talks at length about the role of the flowers and how they played a very special role in laying the theme and spirit of the White House and America’s diplomacy. Most people might scoff at the idea of flowers having any role in our foreign relations, but for those of us who understand flowers (and the effect that they can have) we understand just how significant and how powerful this can be, even given how subtle the appearance and effects can seem at the time.

The book details the behind the scenes details - what a typical day is like as the White House florist (busy and long!) what her working space and floral room is like, her vision and style for the White House and how she worked with Michelle Obama to create a vision and esthetic that worked well with the message of the administration.

It also covers individual events, such as her first state dinner (the Indian state dinner) and how each event was set up, the inspiration and work for each event and the overall design and experience of making each event happen. For those of you who have ever done event design with florals, you will appreciate the scale and scope (and stress!) of making an event happen at the White House.

There are a ton of fun floral arrangements in the book, such as the Christmas display of robot replicas of White House First Dogs Sunny and Bo, the environmentally friendly and recycled Christmas and holiday decor (including trees made out of recycled magazines and newspaper, recycled soft-drink cans with boxwood trim that appear more like glittering trees made of glass and tinsel than aluminum, and the gilded eco-friendly oak leaf door) and even the 2014 Olympic torch made out of carrots and gloriosa lilies (aka flame lilies) emerging from an artichoke base and wrapped with a garland of bundled green beans, echoing the First Lady’s ‘Let’s Move’ movement.

I might say that Laura has a signature look in that she uses flowers, branches, edibles like apples and pears on the outside of her containers. I particularly love a cube vase that was covered in tiny pears - packed close so you couldn’t see the glass and having the brightly colored arrangement inside the vase echo the liime green color of the pears with bupleurum, bear grass, green hellebores and green hypericum berries that gave such a wonderful feeling of lushness and vibrancy.

I also love the way that Laura just has so much fun and is so creative in her approach. During the Super Bowl for example, Laura created vases covered in the usual snacks that would be found at a Super Bowl party - chips, pretzels, goldfish and Cheetos that were then filled with florals along with two “footballs” created out of pussy willow and beef jerky (that were then rumored to be tossed around the State Room!)

I also really like the fact that the apple served as a symbol for Michelle’s ‘Let’s Move’ movement, both for its symbolism of a healthy lifestyle and food choices as well as the apple’s long history of being a symbol for learning and education. The apple was not only utilized in the floral designs of Laura (including a gigantic five foot apple covered in faux apples present at the ‘Let’s Move’ party in 2011) but also was a mainstay in the First Lady’s East Wing office, serving not only as decor and symbolism but also as an encouragement for the visitors and team to eat apples instead of less healthy snacks.

This is such a fun book for a glimpse not only into the life of a White House florist but also into the White House itself and the many events that occur and the role that flowers and decor play in them. Although I know some people who would argue regarding the significance of flowers in the White House, I think we all know that the inclusion of flowers into an event can drastically change the perception and experience had. This even goes as far as the type and color and amount and scale of flowers - they have an immediate and powerful effect on whoever sees them, and this is one of the reasons why I think flowers are so important. Indeed, the concept of ‘floral diplomacy’ is a very real and very powerful one!

I love as well that Laura made an emphasis on local, domestic grown flowers as well as using more unusual blooms and materials (at the time) including Cafe au Lait dahlias and passion flower vine. It was at this time that I feel as if the local flower and garden style arrangement was starting to just get started, and we started seeing more of these lovely, opulent, organic designs with new and unusual varieties of flowers intermixed with flowering branches, berried branches, vines, ferns, and moss that while may seem to be relatively mainstream right now were revolutionary at the time.

The book of course has plenty of pictures of Laura’s bold and brightly colored and opulent designs, and it’s worth reading just for the visuals alone. But you will also find the book to be well written - really bringing you into the White House and giving you the full experience of what it was like to be Laura and the challenges she faced and the fun and creativity she had in fulfilling those challenges.

You can get a copy of Floral Diplomacy on Amazon (along with her other books A White House Christmas, Wreaths, and Bouquets - all of which are full of design tutorials) and you can also follow her on Instagram @lauradowlingtheflorist as well as catch her interview on The Flower Podcast or on the Slow Flowers Podcast with Debra Prinzing