I straddle this really interesting world of agriculture, flower farming, floristry, and gardens. 

Since I come in with a Horticulture degree, and some early-formed personal opinions about certain things based on life experiences, it becomes easy to see the chasms that exist, and creates strong binaries, even within specific groups.

In agriculture these are the commercial, large-scale growers vs. the myriad of sustainable growing practices (biodynamic, subsistence, permaculture, etc) which are the antithesis of large-scale ag operations. 

In flower farming you have large scale, commercial operations in foreign countries growing in massive structures year-round that are predominantly supplying direct to the trade, and have large scale accounts, such as with Costco. Compare this with your neighbor or local farm making an attempt to grow flowers on their property, large or tiny, and dealing with the whims of nature and the seasonality of it all, desperately trying to make a go of it in a market designed to make them fail. 

In Floristry: florists that do massive, luxury installations in grand far-flung locations to florists that are running a business out of their home, and still creating magic for less grand, though not lesser, local weddings. 

Also in Floristry: designers that use floral foam like it will be around forever (well, it will) to florists that are working their tails off trying to be as sustainable and green as possible, thus avoiding floral foam like it's the plague. 

Since I get exposed to all of the above, it makes for lively debates, sometimes very shouty opinions on social media, and what feels like constant browbeating for the choices that people make. Everyone has an opinion.

I'd like to think that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. I'm also of the mindset that humans can always do better, we are innovative, we are capable of change, and we can learn new things, when we decide to do so. 

So, when asked by a lovely lady in England who sources vintage vases for my collection asked me "I am watching Full Bloom on tv, have you seen it ? What do you think about them using floral foam ?"

After replying that I hadn't seen the show yet, thank you for the recommendation, I simply said: "I personally don’t use it. I hate it actually, but I hated it before I started learning about how bad it is for the environment. Toxic actually. I hate the way it feels, falls apart, nasty business. It’s too bad with such a large platform they don’t make better choices. They exist. Constance Spry did lovely florals without floral foam."

My Constance Spry vase, from said lady in England, with my own grown chard, dahlias, fuchsia, and apples from our gardens. No floral foam used, no floral foam needed. Simple, seasonal, and in my eyes, beautiful. No shouting required.