Episode 48 - CREATE TV Marathon - July 31-August 1-2, 2026!

Every Year the Create TV Network honors- J Schwanke’s Life in Bloom with a Marathon or two…  and it’s always a pleasure to work with them- to pick the episodes that will be included- and even offer up ideas for a Theme- This Summer’s Marathon on Create TV- is dedicated to what Create TV is all about… Creating things that bring us Joy- with FLOWERS of Course… Today RJ and I will be talking about the CREATE TV Marathon scheduled for July 31- August 1 and 2- let’s start Creating Magic with Flowers!
 
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SPEAKER_00 0:06

Every year the Create Network honors Jay Schwanki's life in bloom with a marathon or two, and it's always a pleasure to work with them, to pick episodes out that will be included and even offer up ideas for a theme. This summer's marathon on Create TV is dedicated to what Create TV is all about: creating things that bring us joy. With flowers, of course. Today, RJ and I will be talking about Create TV marathon scheduled for July 31st, August 1 and 2. Let's start creating magic with flowers. One of the great things about flowers is their ability to make us happier and less stressed. And Create TV knows that life in bloom delivers on that creative aspect with every episode. At the same time, one of my favorite health and wellness benefits of flowers is the endorphins we emit when we create flowers and the dopamine release we get when we give our flower creations away. Try it. You'll experience this personally, and honestly, it's addictive. Cowflowers is a proud sponsor of Jay Schwanke's Life in Bloom, where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Hey Jay. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. How are you? It's summertime outside. It is. I can see it behind you.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

I know the garden is in full bloom. And we're we're starting to film stuff. So we'll be filming stuff this this coming weekend next week. So it's really good. And it's just nice. I got the fountain started. And I waited this year to start my fountain until after the cottonwoods were done. And I'm so pleased. Oh. Because it's just a nightmare when the when all that cotton gets caught in your fountain.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Does it get filled and like gunked up in there?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, and it and it causes bugs and it causes algae and everything. And it ever it's all doing well. So yeah, it's very good. It's very good. And I got a new I got a new pump this year. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Well, it looks beautiful behind you. So I feel like it's it's all worth it. It looks really good. Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

We have this guy coming on in season 10 or season nine, Noah Schwartz, who has twelve hundred different types of hostas in his yard. Oh, twelve hundred? Twelve hundred.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

And then has three thousand that are unnamed that are also in his yard. But the twelve thousand, or twelve hundred, excuse me, did I say twelve thousand? Twelve hundred and three thousand. Twelve hundred and three thousand unnamed specimens.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

I had a huge amount of garden envy when I went to Noah's house, and I'm just kind of like, oh well, this.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

How much space does that take up?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

It's a huge yard, and it's all fenced in to keep the deer out.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Oh, yeah, I bet.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

I bet you have to. It's all wooded, so it's all shade because they're all hostas, right? And then he has several named ones. One is called Old Yeller, and it's bright sunshine yellow. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

I mean, or golden.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

It's like a golden yellow, right? Like the color of um yarrow. So he gave me one of those. And so it's out there too. So I'm very excited about it being out there too now. So it's yellow. It's a yellow hosta.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah, cool. There's a type of hosta called Big Daddy Hosta that we always see at the garden, and we always joke like that'd be such a funny like jam band name. We're always like Big Daddy Hostas playing.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Is it it's tall, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

I believe he had big dad. So we stood by hostas that were up to our shoulders.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Oh, what?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I know that's that big and the leaves were like this, you know, bigger than like three times as big as my head. You know, and it was just like, yeah, these are the big ones. These are the colossal ones. And I'm just like, oh my god, oh my god, no, these are amazing. You know, I mean it's just and then and then little ones, little ones where the whole hosta plant's like this big and the leaves, the leaves are like that big.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

And they have and they have little blooms on them and they don't get any bigger than that. Oh my god, I'm amazing. Oh, cool. He's amazing. And I called him the king of hosta, and I made a flower crown for him, made out of hosta. Oh, cool. And we crowned him the king of hosta. He's like, I don't know. And I'm like, I think you are. We've had the king of protea, we've had the king of wax flower, we've had the king of roses. We might as well have the king of hostas on the show.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

So yeah, it was good. Well, I'm excited to talk about the marathon before. Should we do the tip? So the tip, all right.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

So release your endorphins. It's proven research that your body releases endorphins that make you feel happier and less stressed and more zen-like. And we've we've documented this on our on our website. Even when arranging flowers, you're gonna release endorphins. And if you give them to somebody else, they release dopamine as well. And so we have a website, our website, wwwbloom.com backslash research. The reason that I put that tip for this week is that this marathon is unique that's gonna be on create television. I always work with my friend Hillary Buxham, who is there. You'll notice she's in the credits because she helps us with our show as well, but she's in charge of create TV. So they're always deciding what they're gonna do. And we have been so fortunate that we've always had a marathon and she always involves me. And she's like, What do you want to do a marathon about? You know, and that's like a really loaded question. I'm very methodical about the marathons because I want them to be a collection that's a different run of what you're gonna see. So I want to have it have a theme. Okay. And I also don't want to put something that's been in a marathon before. Oh, right, right. And so I have this big marathon sheet that lists all of them, you know, and I'm and they're like, and she'll sometimes still call me and say, Well, you know, and so she's dying to have a color one, but I don't have enough shows yet. Okay. But I think after this year, I think we could do one. Oh. So we're gonna see about that. So I think we might be up to having 10 shows about color that we could do one about color. But so this year it's called, I said, I know this is gonna sound cause I'm very pun oriented or I'm verbally I there's there's a word for that too when you when you like lie in wait for the for the phraseology to be correct, you know. And I like I like like titles of programs or titles of of presentations I do to, you know, to be sing-song-y a little bit, stuff like that. I don't know what that there's a name for that, but it's fun though.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

I like I don't know, the more you watch your show, the more you pick up on it. And I'm always like, oh yes, Jay did it again. Exactly. So I like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

So this year it's called creating creating with flowers. So every one of these marathon shows has something you could create. Okay, it's maybe not themed towards a country or something like that, but it's about taking the time to craft and create because that's what create is all about. And I I think that create sometimes gets people people think about it as being like a cooking or a travel show. There there is a travel station for PBS on Roku, and there is a cooking channel for PBS on on Roku as well. Create is supposed to be about creating. I mean, I always think about Bob Ross is on there, Nick Hankins is on with the new joy of painting. It's about things that people create. Quilting, sewing with Nancy, you know, is still, even though she has passed on, her show is still very popular on Create because she was a quilter and a sewer and those things. And so I really wanted to focus on it being creative. Although you can be creative in the kitchen, and although you can be creative when you travel, I still think that creating means about doing something with your hands. Oh, okay. And not that you wouldn't cook with your hands. So I'm I'm appreciative of that as well. But I just wanted, I want people to create. And so this one is called creating with flowers. And I wanted people to know the benefits of creating. It does make you feel less stressed. When it's when you're dealing with flowers, we at least know we have proven results from Dr. Havilland Jones that says when you're creating with flowers, you release endorphins, you feel less stressed, you feel less depressed, you have happier thoughts. When you give those flowers to someone else, you have a release of endorphins, they release dopamine, which makes them feel better. So all of that's gonna happen when you start to do that. And I think it's a really, really wonderful thing. So that's that's why I chose that specific one about the health, just reminding people about the health and wellness benefits. I'm sure if you're doing a quilt with flower pattern on it, or if you're doing there's this diamond art that's like a new big thing. I had someone send me a package of diamond art. It's like gluing stuff, it's like gluing little pieces of plastic into a mesh that looks like you would needlepoint with it. Oh, okay, cool. Everybody says it's very dedicative. And it's like Sudoku, they say. Interesting. But I mean, that type of thing. And if you're doing a floral pattern, even seeing flowers, so seeing fabric that has flowers in them, pillows that have flowers in them, a painting on the wall that is flowers, if you're gonna paint or if you're gonna draw, as long as you're incorporating flowers, you're gonna have these same health and wellness benefits. And I think that that's a super important part of it. That's the beginning of our discussion.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

That's awesome. I'm so excited. And I feel like Jay, your show is perfect for like it's very binge-worthy. Like I will say, I went through a period where I was um just like recording your show on WTTW, like the Chicago PBS. Oh, sure. Yeah. And then would have, you know, three or four of them that were like recorded in a row, and I would just sit down and watch them, and it was just like a I don't know, they they it lends itself really well to like go from one into the next, and it's very inspiring and very soothing at the same time. So I feel like everyone that's gonna catch it on Create TV is in for a treat.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

I think it's interesting too. So that that's that brings up a very another remark about building a marathon. When we look at it, so many times people will put them in order. So it's like, okay, I'm gonna show from the first season to the last season and you're gonna build the whole way. I look at it as what project would follow this project better. Oh, fun. Kel and I do that with each season when we sit down, but we you only have so many, you know? And so if you're if you're able to mix and match and look at a hundred and four episodes and say, hey, we're gonna choose these, which one's gonna make it better, which one's gonna be the best one to follow, then you can do that too. And it does make it more bingeworthy. I mean, I think that's the whole point of having the marathon. We were we were included in the uh National Flower Day Marathon. They did a short marathon for us back in March. Oh, it wasn't really short. I guess they did on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as they do. So what happens in that period of time is on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there's a five-hour block. So that's 10 of our shows. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, they show two shows in prime time. Oh, cool. Okay. So I will tell you when that was a game changer for me. Our show gained so much traction when we were on the create TV station. Those prime time shows were the week of the Republican National Convention. Oh that's all I'm going to say, except that we got really, really, really good ratings. Everybody discovered our show. And I think people were just looking for something happy to watch. Okay, I've said enough about that. But I think that our show makes people feel good and it makes people feel less stressed, and it picks people feel less depressed. When they have a choice to watch something like that, or if they have some a choice to watch something that maybe is darker or is a thriller or a horror movie or something like that, too. You have your choice to pick what you want to watch. That's what we hear from people so much is that they relax when they watch our show. And that it's and and that it offers that type of stimulation for them, which I think is really cool. It is really nice for us to be in that prime time, in those prime time slots, because that's a time that people may not be looking for our show. They might be looking for another favorite that they watch, Masterpiece Theater or Rick Steves or Samantha Brown or Lydia. We pop up for that week and then they maybe get to experience something else, and maybe they'll seek us out and look in a different spot for us. Oh, it's exciting. That's the cool part about the marathon, is really it's and so those are just two other shows that are on, they're on nine o'clock in eastern time zone. So then they would be on eight o'clock in central, seven o'clock, six o'clock. So that's kind of where they fall. Those things follow that. Yeah, but that's prime time. That's it's exciting. It is, it is exciting to be in prime time. So can you tell us what episodes Yeah, yeah. So from the Create TV newsletter published July 1, creating with flowers, marathon with Jay Schwonke starts July 31st at 9 p.m. Eastern. On July 31st at 9 p.m. Eastern, they're gonna run it for five hours. So nine to ten, ten to eleven, eleven to twelve, twelve to one, one to two. So it's until two o'clock in the morning. Oh, if you're in eastern time zone. If you're on the other coast, it's gonna start at six o'clock. So six to seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven o'clock. You can watch it that way. Flowers aren't just beautiful to look at, they are perfect material for any array of gorgeous crafts and gifts. Let Jay Schwanke's expert advice show you how to think of flowers in a whole new way in a craft-filled weekend of creating with flowers. So that's what the marathon is about. If you're familiar with Create TV too, just to let you know, Create TV, we have a national schedule. That doesn't change. So we are on Sundays at 11 a.m. Right now, that is gonna be season three. We're just getting ready to close out season seven. And so on Sundays at noon, it's gonna be season three, which we say is kind of the unseen season because it wasn't always on their six technology. You've talked about this before.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

There were certain ones that you uploaded, and for some reason that one got left up.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Yeah, that one hasn't been seen as much. So then Tuesdays at 6 30 a.m., 8 30 a.m. and 2 30 p.m. And Wednesday mornings at 4 30 a.m. Now I know that 4 30 a.m. seems like a really strange time to be on, but it's what we call overnights, and it's a really good time slot. Oh, okay. People evidently are watching Create TV at 4:30 in the morning, and I love that. Yeah, you know, and so it's 4:30, it's 3:30 in Central Time, it's 2:30 on mountain time, it's 1:30 in California time. So I guess I mean those that's a good time for us as well. So I think that those are really great. Those Tuesday and Wednesday time zones are gonna have season eight. Oh, the new season. It starts today. Well, today is July 7th. We're recording this right now. So today is July 7th. It starts July 7th. So today, 6:30, 8:30, and 2:30 and 4:30 tomorrow morning, we'll have the Topiary episode from season eight. So that's really cool. So the marathon schedule is going to be Friday, July 31st. So last day of July. Okay. Last day of July starting at 9 p.m. And then it runs for five hours. On Saturday, it starts at 10 a.m. So it runs for five hours. 10 to 11, 11 to 12, 12 to 1, 1 to 2, 2 to 3. And that's Eastern time zone. So just back it up for whatever time zone that you're in. Sunday, it's gonna start at noon. So it's gonna run from noon to one, two, three, four, five o'clock. The repeats, I love this. This is lingo for Create TV and I love this. Repeats are double stripped across the week. Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern time zone. So they just pull out two episodes and they run them Monday through Thursday. So that's cool. Now, if you want to know where to watch them in your area, this is extremely important. Go to our uBloom website. We have a widget there. So ubloom.com backslash find f I-n d. You put in your zip code, you tell them what your service provider is, and even if you have like satellite, you can put that in there. Or if you're just doing it without any cable, you can put that in there and it'll tell you what channel it's gonna be on and where it's gonna be on. So it includes create TV as well as PBS. But here's the lineup. So we're gonna start off with 604, which is woven together with my friend Sue Muldoon. And it's where we do weaving baskets, we make a heart out of rattan. Oh, cool. Sue shows how to make flowers out of rattan. She also does caning of chairs. And she's actually gonna be returning for season nine. She's flying out to see us in August, and we are gonna do a show for season nine and a show for season ten. Oh, great. So she is going to do dignity wraps for our pets, which is a thing that you can use when your pet has expired to take them to a crematory to have them cremated. Or if you take them to somewhere and have them buried, you could bury them right in the dignity wrap. It's all made of cotton material, and she's gonna sh sew it and show us how to make one on the show. Which is very cool. And then season 10, she's into brooms right now. Oh I can't tell you how excited I am about this. Cool. Because she makes these brooms that look like witches' brooms that are for sweeping your garden walks. Oh, you better believe I'm gonna be sweeping my garden walks with a broom that looks like a witch's. That's exactly what that is awesome. She makes all of these different kinds of brooms that are also like shaped, and that they use the names of birds. Oh, oh, there we go. So there's like a pigeon feather, there's a chicken feather, I a hen feather, excuse me, there's a quail feather, there's a cock feather, there's a peacock feather, so these get bigger, right? And they look like a wing shape. Cool. And then you can embellish them with ribbon. And then also she does uh it's a little short one that you can use to scrub vegetables or to scrub your cast iron skillets.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Then she also makes a broom that you hang in your house that you can just clip off a broom piece to stick in your baked goods to do as a tester. Oh, gosh, that's so interesting. Okay, and then here's the coolest thing, and I can't wait for this. This is season 10, so this is not in the marathon, just so that y'all know. But suddenly they are finding a need for these small brooms for people who are autistic and want to have them for stimulation. They brush their legs with it. I'm so excited. She's gonna bring them and tell us about it and tell us all of the thought process behind it and where you can find them. And of course, she sells all her products online and also offers classes all over the United States. So, with this weaving baskets, she's been all over the country this summer teaching these weaving classes everywhere. Oh, cool. She also goes to Renaissance fairs a lot too. So check and see if you have a Renaissance fair you go to, Sue very well might be there. And she'll be there in her van that she drives across the country and you know has all of her all of her woven baskets in it. So that's 604. That's the first one. I again, we're not starting it off with number season one. Then we're going to A Flower Ranger's Best Friend, which is all about uh flower frogs. Now, what's interesting about this, and our friends at Create TV are gonna pick up this podcast. Oh RJ. Really? Because we're talking about Create TV and we're talking about this, and five of our 10 episodes have podcasts that go with them. Yes, yeah. We're gonna do a Flower Ranger's Best Friend, which has a podcast. That's episode 110, where we talk about flower frogs. We're gonna do the garden contained, which has container gardens, which also has a podcast. I love that. Then we're going to thinking outside the vase, which has my friend Jen in it, and interesting vessels for flower, which also has a podcast. We're gonna do terrariums with my sister, which is terrarium crafts, and it has a podcast. And then we're gonna do two twelve flowers to wear and share with my friend Angela Cunningham, which is also has a podcast. That little set right in there, those episodes two, three, four, five, six of this marathon have podcasts that go with them. So once you've watched the marathon, if you want to go back and see how we made those shows, you can follow it up this way. And the thing that they love about this, okay, this is the other thing we're gonna say is our podcast is free. Right, right. And that's why they're so excited about it because our podcast is free. So you can get this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. You can get it on ubeloom.com, you can get it on YouTube. It's always free.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

They love that. And you tell so many behind-the-scenes stories for each of these. So it's like, well, yes, I am a storyteller.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

So, and occasionally I will swear. I don't know, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

It makes every every episode so interesting. I love hearing everything that like went into it, Jay, because you always have something to share. So I love that.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

When it comes to flowers lasting as long as possible, I always choose Chryselflower Food. Flowers benefit from food and keeping the water clean. In my experience, Chryselflower Food does the best job. It's formulated by scientists. My favorite product is Chrysal Professional 3. Chrysal Flower Food products are available at their website, Chrysoflowerfood.com. That's C H R Y S A L Flowerfood.com. And be sure to use our discount code UBLOOM10 for 10% off your purchase. Support the Joy of Flowers. The Life in Bloom Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to flower education and inspiring a love of flowers in everyone. The foundation helps fund the production of Jay Shwanki's Life and Bloom on public television, making it possible for viewers across the country to enjoy the beauty and benefits of flowers. The Foundation also provides free flower education to high schools, colleges, and floriculture programs through uBloom.com, helping students and future florists bloom in their own careers. Your donation in any amount makes a difference. Plus, all contributions are 100% tax deductible. If you'd like to help us continue sharing the power of flowers, visit the LifeandBloom Foundation.org to donate today. Thank you for your support. I think that is the cool part about it is we really desire knowing how something came together. I love reading a book about how they made the Brady Bunch. Those types of things. I just always want to know, or behind the scenes at Hollywood Squares, or I love that kind of stuff. And I just think it's so interesting. I'm I'm reading David Sederis' new book, A People in Their Land. And he talks in there that he said he loves to read biographies because he loves people's stories. Even if it's a bad biography, he enjoys it because he wants to know what made that person interesting. And you know, I think that that's that's very much about it is why do we do this? Why do we have our guests on our shows, who they are? How do they how did we come across them? I think that that's the best part. People always say, too, that my guests are interesting because they're normal people and they're my friends.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Oh. Yeah. You do know some very interesting people, Jay, and I always love finding a new person that you're bringing on. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

I can't I can't wait. Okay, so then the next episode will be bouquets in bloom talking about creating bouquets. And I even show in that one the bouquet holder that I created. And again, that was kind of a sticking point with public television, but that bouquet holder that I created is no longer made because the company did away with it because they didn't want to pay me any money for it. I'll just say that. So there's that. But you'll get to see it, and it really was a cool thing. Then we're also gonna have Moments in Bloom, which is dried and preserved flowers, and my friend Kim Carson's on that. And we make we make this huge hydrangea wreath that's incredible that you could hang on the side of your house. It's so big. Then we have Flower Crafts, which is crafting with flowers, and it's just a show about crafts. That's kids' crafts, too. Uh the crafting with flowers has my friend Emily, who is Chris's daughter in it with me. And we just had a great time. Then The Days of Wine and Roses, which is one of our shows from season eight with Grace, with my niece Grace, and doing wine-inspired crafts. Yeah. And you get to make the cheese puffs recipe. Oh my God. Yeah. Grace is just keeps praying every day. I keep accusing her of going on and downloading her recipe. Because Nick's recipe for the um garlic rolls is our number one download. Oh, it's over a million downloads. Oh my gosh. But but Grace is up to like 300,000 on her cheese puffs. So already?

SPEAKER_01 24:04

She might catch him. She might catch him indeed.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

And either one is worthwhile. The cheese puffs are much easier. Okay. The other ones are not as easy. So there's that. There are many of these um include viewer feedback too. So just so that you know, and let me just say this about viewer feedback because everybody's really getting into viewer feedback all of a sudden. Every day I'm writing back to people. This is really important. If you want your viewer feedback, if you're sending me an arrangement that was inspired by Life and Bloom or an arrangement that you made, I need a couple things. I need number one, your permission to use it. So you have to write, I give Jay permission to use this. Number two, I need your name, your physical address, your phone number, and your email address. I have to have those two for documentation if we are to use it. And when you give me those things, I will automatically enter it in our sweepstakes. So you could win free flowers too. So that's a great thing, too. But you have to send me that information and I'm forever sending it back to people, and it's very interesting. I will send them back a note and ask for those things because I will do that every week. But some people say, You never showed my thing. And I'll go back and look, and you didn't send me the information even when I sent your request. I can't show your stuff if you don't give me permission. But also, I have to say this too. We get about 800 a week.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

So we'll never be able to show them all. But we enter every one that we can, so you may win free flowers. So that's good. And here's the other thing, too. This is also a fallacy. People will say, Well, I didn't enter anymore because I can't, I don't, I can't win again. Not true. Not true. We have had people who have won free flowers twice. And we have had people who've been featured more than once, too, because their stuff was so incredible. So I'm always looking for different and unique things. And and it's just really fun to see what many people make. We have one lady who's um sending it who sent us some stuff, and she's gonna be in the next season. Her husband makes the most beautiful pottery that she puts flowers in. Cool. Her flower arrangements are beautiful, but his pottery is gorgeous. And it's just like this is a combination made in heaven. It's really, really amazing. And so just remember if you're gonna send them to me, I want to use them on the show. I want to share your love. And sometimes we'll even put it up on social media. The other thing, too, that people are like, tell me when it's gonna be on. Okay, that's a really, really, really hard request because we don't have any idea when that show's gonna air in different parts of the country. And every sh every every place does their own. There are 417 stations across the UH, and each one has their own schedule. And they can schedule whatever season they want whenever they want. And they can cherry pick shows or they can run a whole season, they can do whatever they want. You gotta keep drawing, because I have no idea. It would be two people's full-time job to try and keep track of that. So there's that. Again, share your Schwankies information too, just so that you know, if we enter you in the sweepstakes, every week, my friends at Ocean Breeze in California draw out a new person. And so if you send me 10 arrangements, 10 different arrangements, I enter each one individually. So you have 10 chances to win. But I have to have your name and your address and your phone number and your email address on every one of those pictures.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

On all of them. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Don't say to me, I've sent you pictures before. I'm sure you have. I am not, I don't have time to go back and find them. I can't find them that way. So you gotta send that with me, and then you'll get entered in the contest. I find out when you find out. And people always say to me, You didn't tell me I was winning. No, and I'm gonna tell you why. There's two things. I love that I find out at the same time you do, because they call me and say, We drew this person, this is who's getting them. Perfect. Okay, but I had people who are like, Well, I don't want my flowers this week. My daughter's getting married in a month, and could I have them for that? And could you make them pink and could you send roses? And no, it's not the way this contest works. This contest works that you won a random drawing and you get your flowers now. So yeah, there are no, there is no putting it off. There is no choosing what it is. It's a free box of flowers. And what I love is the I had this week's winner gave all his away. He was like, I didn't know what to do with them. So I I made put them all in vase and I gave them away to all my friends and people in my building. And I was just like, how great is that? Yeah, yeah. He was like, after I gave away the first one, I thought, oh, this is what he means about giving it them away. He said, I gave them all away and I thought I still have one back there for myself. I didn't. I forgot. I was like, so he gave them all away. I just think that that's the coolest thing. So that's a really, really nice thing too. So yeah, so share them. Share them with other people too.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

He probably has such a positive impact on everybody in his life from passing them out, and then like you like you always talk about, then he gets that feeling as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

So I mean There was a lady who called me and who went a couple weeks ago and she was getting up a bone marrow test because she has to have a bone marrow checkup, and she said, I'm I'm kind of down a little bit. And so my husband said, I'm not very busy at work. I'm gonna take off work and I'm gonna come home and I'm gonna process all those flowers and help me put them in veges. And so he just used it as an opportunity to come home and spend time with her. And he said, I just want to spend time with you too, because you had the bone marrow check, and I just want to make sure things okay. So that was nice. Oh, I think that there's just really, really funny stories about it all the time, you know. And we have only had had one incidence where people were not at so okay, here's the other thing. Don't give me a house you live in two months out of the year. Oh no, that's silly. And so these people came back to the house after they'd been gone for like four months and there was a box on their porch. Oh so we shipped them another box, happy to do so, but it's like, don't give, don't give me well, we go away for the summer. Well, okay. So there's that, which is all fine, all well and good. And it's all done in really good fun and really good, just positive vibes for everybody. So I mean, you know that's what it's about is being positive. Season eight, again, I said starts Tuesday and Wednesday on Create TV. What didn't I answer from you? Oh, I think we covered almost everything, Jay. I am really fortunate that I get to pick the episodes. Hillary and my friend Jesse, Jesse Ulanik. Jessie is so cool. She works at Create TV too. But what I love about her is something that she didn't even have any control over. She used to be in the flower biz. Oh, okay. And so when she came to work at Create TV, she's like, I know you. And I said, How do you know? Well, did you watch my show? And she's like, No, I used to work in the flower industry for a company called Wolfsa, which was a wholesale florist organization. She's like, So I know all about you. Well, here's the thing: she knows about flowers, and Jessie is so wonderful. And it's just she she knows the difference between a rose and a hydrangea and stuff like that, too. So that's very cool too. And then um, you also see the other person that isn't very involved is Naeem Smith. And Naeema Smith is the one that you see on social media. Oh, she's a wonderful lady, and she'll stand there and she said, I'm Naeema Smith, and this is what you're seeing this week on Create, and swipes across the screen. And then she tells you the things that are gonna be on Create this week that are are worthy of you watching or setting your DVR for. And she's wonderful. She works for WGBH, and WGBH is also part of the producers of Create TV, and so we're so thankful. WGBH, obviously, you know WGBH from Zoom. WGBH is where Zoom was originally, you know, produced and stuff. But WGBH is in Boston, it's one of the premier PBS stations in the country. And Naema's just wonderful. She always gives us great little, you know, hey, watch Jay Schwanky's gonna do this week. She said, it's the beginning of season eight, and he's gonna show you how to make topiaries for your table. And we are, and thank you, Naima. So that's good too. So I really love that that's part of our gosh, I hate using this word. Create TV is part of our public television journey. And I just don't like the word journey. Uh I is silly. There's a book speaker one time that said, if somebody says journey, if they're introducing the program and they say, We're going to take you on a journey, get up, pack up your stuff, and leave the room. Uh, because you don't want to go on a journey. Yeah, but I think, you know, it is, it's just part of it because create TV is like this diamond in the rough, and it's just a wonderful place to watch great public television. There isn't the distraction of masterpiece theater or nature or things like that. Create TV is all about being creative. Yeah. But that's just a really cool part of that station. And so every station in the country that has a public television station has the option to run another station that's create, and most do. It's just a really good place. And again, it's a great place for me to put that. We don't we give our show to American Public Television and cre to create TV. We pay for all the licensing and distribution for everyone else or part of the exchange program. So we don't get any money back for it. It's all supported by our foundation, and that's what we do. And we do that because we want great programming on public television to create TV, PBS, and your local stations. And so we work with them. And that's why we we are popular, is because it's a good program, it makes people feel better. It's free for the stations. All that is made possible from our foundation, and you can donate to our foundation. There's a commercial in the middle of this program about it, but the lifeandbloom foundation.org. And you can five dollars makes a difference if you want to do that too. So that's helpful as well. But we have a lot of other people who are involved are people at Calflowers, people at Passion Roses, people at Albertsons, people at Suntory Flowers, and our people at Fabulous Florals. Those are sponsors for season eight. I will be honest about this. We are losing season in season nine. We will no longer have Albertsons and Passion Roses. So we are looking for other people who would be willing to underwrite. And if you know, it's always about who you know. If you know somebody who would love to have their logo on our show and the feel-good nature that comes with our show, please let me know. Just you can you can email me jayubloom.com. Or you can call me 616-446-6086. Leave me a message and I'll go after whoever you think it is that's willing to support us. So yeah. Anything else? No, I don't I don't think so. I think we covered it all, Jay. I'm so excited for the marathon. Your episode, well, now we'll be coming nationwide, but your episode, depending upon what's weird when they're on public television stations, like this week, Saturday, our local television station ran Ken Burns Revolution all week, uh, all day. That show gets delayed for a week. And so that's your show.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Yes, that's in in Chicago, WTTW, it's this Saturday as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Yeah, so it's gonna be this coming Saturday after the 4th of July. It wasn't on the 4th of July. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

I'm so excited. I've I've definitely watched it on your website, Jay, but I I'm excited to see it up on my big TV. Oh, I know, right? Sitting there. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

I like to take pictures when I'm watching it on my TV, I like to take pictures of the guests and send it to them. So just be aware that I do that. So that's okay. So you're on TV right now.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

It was so much fun, Jay. I loved being on and you made it the whole process, you just made me feel so comfortable. So it was awesome. It was great.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

You gave us good tips about birding. Oh, yeah. There's so many more birds in this yard right now. Yeah. It's so funny. I have told you about our murdering robins. Our mo our robins are not mean anymore. And I think it's because of this lawn thing. And we're gonna be doing another podcast about the flawn, letting our front lawn go wild. The trials and tribulations we've had.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

It's been most I'm so excited to hear more about it, Jay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

And that will be also featured in season nine as well. So yeah. And we're gonna, we're gonna have the trials and tribulations because it's it's it's not easy. It's not easy, and there's a lot of things you need to know about it. So we decided we should dedicate a podcast to it and that we're also gonna have it on the show. Do not forget, okay, coming up, this podcast will air just a couple weeks before this. So again, last day of July, July 31st. We are gonna have the marathon on. It's gonna be on at 9 p.m. at night, Saturday, August 1st, 10 a.m., and Sunday, August 2nd at 12 p.m. And then it's also gonna be on Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m. Two episodes of that too, and that's in prime time. All of those times are Eastern, so back up your clock for you if you're in Central or Mountain or Pacific time or Hawaii time. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Hawaii time. We got we have listeners in Hawaii too, so we're not forgetting you. All right, thank you, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

All right, yeah, thank you, Jay. All right, take care. All right, bye.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Thanks for joining us this week on Behind the Bloom Podcast with Jay Schwanke and R.J. Poole. If you loved what you heard, be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And share it with a friend to help us spread the joy one bloom at a time. Thank you for taking the time to slow down with us. And hopefully, you left feeling a little lighter and inspired to try something new. Make sure to join us next week for a brand new episode. Thanks for being here with us, Behind the Bloom. Hey, just one more thing. If you love flowers, you've got to check out uBloom.com. It's the online home of Jay Schwanki's Life in Bloom, where you can stream every episode for free. Plus, you'll find Behind the Bloom videos, my blog, show recipes, and so much more. There's also a massive video archive, over 1,800 how-to videos, flower farm documentaries, and even my very first series, JTV. All Life in Bloom episodes, exclusive web content, and farm documentaries are totally free. Just sign up with your email. And if you're ready to dive deeper, there's a paid subscription option that unlocks the full library of how to videos. Everything from creating bridal bouquets to centerpieces, croissages, and more. Tons of content to explore. You're gonna love it!