Who We Are
Modern West Floral Company is a seasonal cut flower farm based in Silt, CO. Using only the most sustainable practices in our farming, MWFC’s mission is to make locally, more sustainably grown flowers available for weddings, events, and retail sales. We focus on water wise growing techniques, soil stewardship, unique flower varieties and responsible foraging. Our fresh cut florals are available seasonally from May-October.
Vanessa is owner of Modern West Floral Co. With a background in landscape architecture and design she moved to Colorado's western slope in 2012 to gain experience growing food and managing livestock. She spent 3 years at Sustainable Settings Ranch in Carbondale, 2 of which she managed the market garden and small CSA. She returned to her landscape architecture background and was brought on as a landscape designer at DHM Design. With a background in native plants of the western slope she wanted a way to showcase the beauty of the natural landscape and use her design background. In late 2015 she co-founded Modern West Floral company with Tara Abbaticchio with the hopes of increasing people's awareness of sustainable flowers and the native plants of the Roaring Fork Valley.
Professional Training
Who We Work With
What Our Customers Are Saying
“We don’t even know how to begin to thank you! Everything you did was beyond amazing. Really, what you created for us is something we will remember for the rest of our lives. I know the same goes for our children and even our guests. ”
“They took the time to better understand my vision and bring it to life, which meant so much. And they put some incredibly beautiful flowers on my cake, which literally make it look more beautiful than what I had used as a reference point from Pinterest! Thanks again MWF!”
History
Since its inception, one of Modern West Floral Company's primary goals has been to create a flower farm that would produce enough to supply not only our own clients, but to be a supplier for the the entire Roaring Fork Valley where we live and operate the MWFC design studio. Before our first spring even began, we were offered the opportunity to test our growing potential on a property just outside of downtown Carbondale. During the summer of 2016, despite our miniature test garden size, we managed to prove to ourselves, our clients, and our community that growing locally is absolutely worth the sweat and stress. No flower shipped across the country or even the state can compare to a flower grown organically with care and attention, harvested just in time, and conditioned just right. There is so much goodness in the landscape around us that goes un-noticed, we wondered what is the point of ordering flowers and fillers that are in season in some other part of the country? We'll always choose foraging and harvesting from our own resources to create beauty that actually suits, and doesn't harm, our environment. The 2017 season gave us an opportunity to test many over a hundred new flower varieties, expand our perennial flower and foliage garden, and prove yet again that locally grown flowers are 100% worth the effort. MWFC continued to grow, adding 2 high tunnels and expanding our outdoor garden space, and in the fall of 2020 we finally made the leap to move to our own property and set down permanent roots in Silt, CO, and we couldn’t be more excited to keep growing!
Many Thanks
In 2018 we were honored to be awarded a Career Advancement Grant from Colorado Creative Industries and the National Endowment for the Arts. It was time to let go of some of the reigns and focus on our most important work (growing flowers!) and let other pros do what they do best. With this grant award, we consulted with Good and Partners, an agency that specializes in helping mission-minded organizations create innovative marketing strategies to help clarify the messaging of our core values, as well as Binderful, who helped produce our new site. We can’t thank CCI enough for their support of creative businesses like ours. Please let us know what you think!