Stumped by Nature

Welcome to this issue of Stumped by Nature, where we notice nature lurking just beyond our screens, curate a list of outside-y events in Austin, and build community with other folks in the thick of the startup ecosystem.

In this week’s issue:

🌸 Cut Flowers 101

🌤️ Upcoming outdoors events

🚙 Adventures just beyond Austin

Let’s dig in!

-Nicole

PS. We have a community of nature-curious Austinites. You in?

NATURE SPOTLIGHT

There is an underutilized power in the hope of plunking a rock-like blob into the soil, trusting the process, and being wildly, pleasantly surprised when the combination of stored energy + effort + environment = excellent outcome.

Today we’re digging into Cut Flowers 101.

Stored Energy

I admit to full skepticism. I mean, look at those anemone bulbs.

It’s like when Pilates instructor Emmi tries to convince the class our cores can support our errant limbs. She’s right 94% of the time, and yet it’s consistently surprising.

The bulb is potential in an unpersuasive package. You encourage it into the soil with a new tool to hang on your gardening peg board in October because your friend Corrinne said you could, and you try to ignore the underground mystery as the bed remains bland.

It’s a slow equation, but the truth is always lurking just below the surface, waiting to emerge.

When our first flower erupted, I picked up my kids from school and emotionally flooded them with enthusiasm. When the second one bloomed a few weeks later, my 5-year-old clocked my arrival energy and guessed: “What, some dumb blooming flower?”

Nailed it.

Insert snack. Point out a caterpillar hungry, hungrying its way through a perfect petal, and we got some mid-range curiosity. Tough crowd, and yet we persevere.

It’s another form of power to witness a plant’s existence through its full arc—dormant energy to first leaflet to full abundance. To trust the bulb to be able to celebrate the beauty.

For Vitality, Ruthlessly Cull

Here’s the thing about a cut flower garden: to thrive, it must be cut. No misnomers here.

Leaving a bloom on the stem past its initial hint of bursting into bloom signals to the plant that its job is done. Energy redirects. The shop closes up.

I understood the need to cut as a concept, as in I knew every word in the order they appeared, but I was incredibly reluctant to implement.

Corrinne, my flower mentor, took maybe three minutes of show-and-tell to help it sink in. Any strange stem, stunted bloom, or sign of a negative turn was depleting energy that could be used for something more viable. Why invest limited resources into a known dead end. The world is abundant—default toward protecting the desired outcome.

It’s worth noting this conversation happened on the edges of Josh Levine’s Philosophy Club, where we were grappling with individualism vs collectivism, and we’re following up next month with when it may or may not be justified to cause harm to others. Very unresolved here.

But for the plant: clarity helps.

And so we cut flowers first thing in the morning for peak hydration and the highest sugar levels, all in the name of vase life and vitality.

Pollinators vs. productivity

Noting the proliferation of vases in our house and the lack of blooms in the garden, my 7-year-old called me out: didn’t I want these flowers for the bees? So why are we cutting them?
The answer is to also plant native pollinators nearby (and forcibly remove invasive plants), and leave a few stems an extra day in the garden before claiming them.

Anemones are rumored to produce around 25 blooms per plants with proper cutting. Ranunculus top out closer to 10 blooms per plant. And don’t we want to see the things in our care reach their full potential?

On my work from home days, I keep the day’s bounty in a vase near my laptop—a happy compromise.

It’s a home-bound treat to tend. There is relentless joy in the daily ritual of collecting stems. And solitary work doesn’t have to be isolated.

There’s a group text for that

The working name is Bloom Buddies.

This brings to mind Bill Gurley’s Runnin’ Down a Dream framework—the compounding power of peers and mentors, the generosity in sharing knowledge, and, the abundance of, quite literally, cross-pollinating.

I didn’t think I’d find a group chat with better pictures than Bird Bitches (where a pal documented a cardinal love story), but, right out of the gate, this:

And this:

Fun fact: Julie’s the brain and brawn behind Still Wild (I’ll wait right here while you check out at her beautiful website), and her bouquets are so pretty, it’ll make you weep. Check out her Fresh Flower Club for a seasonal subscription, or her mobile flower bar for events.

With very recent in-the-pocket access to these absolute powerhouses, I used the space to voice my fear of losing the daily awe of blooms as the spring shifts into summer. What can I be doing now to have a prolific, beautiful path ahead.

Julie and Corrinne weighed in with what to plant this weekend:

And mark your calendars for October to bury anemone and ranunculus, for the hope of a daily gasp of delight for a few solid months.

Note: plants need water. Get a timed watering system going.

Another note: if you do plant these things (or other things!), I absolutely want to vicariously garden + celebrate the awe of it with you.

Cut flowers as an act of resistance

Cut flowers are not a human meal.

They’re very pretty.

And they are very important.

To embrace and savor something so temporary.

To delight in the hope, the process, the cull.

To share community around it, to know there’s someone else in Austin, squatting in the soil, thanking the blooms, cooing at the bees, and thoroughly annoying their children with Did you see this!

ATX OUTSIDERS EVENT SNAPSHOT

ATX OUTSIDERS IN THE WILD

Have you ever been curious to hear how HNW couples have grown their wealth together?

Thomas Anzivino, Writer of Love & Wealth newsletter, features Austin-area couples who have built together intentionally for full, abundant lives.

Thomas has a financial planning practice, is an Eagle Scout, and is an all around great guy. 

Find Thomas on LinkedIn, or in our ATX Outsiders community.

UPCOMING EVENTS

🗓️ March 26 TRIBEZA on the Trail Guided art walk-and-talk, where nature and public art cohabitate

🗓️ March 27: Bird Walk on the Butler Trail Let the Audubon geek out with you over the seasonal bird variety

🗓️ March 27-29 Honk!

🗓️ March 27: Astronomy Night: Painter Hall Telescope: See what’s going on up there

🗓️ March 27: Rock the Park: Family-friendly live music at Mueller

🗓️ March 28: Austin Ruck Club: Loaner rucks on standby

🗓️ March 28: The Board Walks for curious people who love deep convos

🗓️ March 28: Wild for Good Day at Shield Ranch: This will be absolutely worth your time—think wildflower postcards, a guided hike with Master Naturalists, a seasonal lunch

🗓️ March 28: Oak Hill Plant Fest Expect plant sales, a plant swap, garden demos, and a Kid Zone

🗓️ March 28: Birding by Ear: It’s a slippery slope, but worth the ride

🗓️ March 29: Photo Pathways Guided photography workshop at the Wildflower Center

🗓️ March 29: Impacting Change: Gardening: with one free native nectar plant from the Monarch Sanctuary Project

🗓️ March 31: Morning Garden Workday at Festival Beach Food Forest

🗓️ March 31: Bike Night @ COTA

🗓️ March 31: Tree Grafting Workshop Did you know you can make an unproductive fruit tree productive with grafting? Wild.

🗓️ April 1: Music on the Trail Pack a blanket or pull up some grassy lawn for Wednesday evening fun

🗓️ April 2: Water Purification Workshop Get backwoods ready

🗓️ April 2: Talkin’ Turkey at Tecovas

🗓️ April 14: The Art of the Wild Bouquet workshop: Learn the art of champêtre floral style directly from my pal Julie

JUST OUTSIDE OF AUSTIN

🚙 March 28 Jacob’s Well Tour

🚙 March 28: Landowner Workshop Series: Part 1: Learn about land stewardship, ethics, management goals, and baseline inventory techniques

🚙 March 28: Hike with a Shelter Dog

🚙 March 28: Mountain Biking for Beginners

🚙 March 29: Live Music: Sunday Under the Oaks: specifically, under a 500 year-old heritage live oak tree

🚙 March 29: Archery in the Park

🚙 March 29: Intro to Fly Fishing. BYO gyotaku supplies

🚙 April 1: Pink Moon Viewing Party

🚙 April 2: Dairy Days: for the lactose-curious

🚙 April 13-19 Dark Skies Festival in the Big Bend Region. It’s 8 hours by car or 1.5 hours by private jet. Should have ocotillo in bloom!

🚙 Weekends through April 19: Sherwood Forest Faire

PSA

That’s all for this week! 

In the meantime, I hope your shapeless blobs of hope and potential root into something full of awe.

-Nicole

OPTIONAL SIDE QUESTS

🪵 Are you looking for a community of people in the startup ecosystem who go outside together? I’ve got you.

🪵 Are you sitting on a misogi-esque story? Spill.

🪵 Do you need to commission a writer? I’m happy to discuss projects that might make me cry in public/funnel my experiential/existential dread into essays like this one.

🪵 Is this newsletter not your vibe? Forward it to your enemies to make them suffer too.

💰It’s safe to assume there are affiliate links, and I’ll monetarily benefit from any purchases you make. Hooray, capitalism! So far, this newsletter has generated $3.46 of cold hard cash. 💸