The Flower Hat

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Bozeman, MT
The Flower Hat

The Flower Hat offers a selection of flower bulbs as well as floral design services for events.
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The Flower Hat is a luxury custom floral design shop located in Bozeman, Montana. Established in 2016, The Flower Hat is a culmination of passion, love and talent from owner and head florist, Julio Freitas. At The Flower Hat, your floral visions become reality as we use the most gorgeous blooms available to create a custom designed arrangement just for you. No matter your event, no matter your nee

ds, we will work with you to make sure you have the most beautiful floral addition to your life, wedding or day.

07/10/2024

Oh hi! It’s me, Julio! It’s pronounced with a hard J, like Julie or Julia. Wedding season is in full swing here. The trend this year is elaborate ceremony spaces and lots of color. There are some beautiful events coming up between now and September and I will do my best to keep you updated on all the beautiful flowers this summer, stay tuned! If there’s anything specific you’d like to see, please let me know in the comments below.
Have a beautiful week everyone!

05/11/2024

SURPRISE! THE DAHLIA TUBER STORE HAS BEEN RESTOCKED!

Good Morning! Happy Saturday!

After shipping all dahlia tuber orders last week, the team went through our inventory and checked quality and quantities and I’m excited to announce many of the varieties that sold out before are back in stock, for one more weekend! Head over to the link www.theflowerhatstore.com and snag some for your garden. It’s not too late to plant, so I hope you can find room for some more gems. All these varieties are suitable for cut flowers or landscaping. A few varieties were not included in the original sale: Chimacum Nadjae, Miss Brandy, Orange Fubuki, and Sonic Bloom. Check them out.

We will start shipping on Monday so you’ll have plenty of time to get them in the ground.

Thanks for your support, I appreciate it.

04/16/2024

The first flowers of the season have arrived! Who else grows flowers for their own personal pleasure? These remind me of my dear friends and as we all share a passion for Muscari (and Pansies! 😊)! I can’t wait to see the fern exploding in color. Daffodils are up, tulips have peaked thru the soil, peonies are coming up… it should be a beautiful spring, whenever it gets here! 😂

03/26/2024

Spring is here! We’ve been getting snow on and off, and while it may put a damper on some of our outdoor plans, this is great moisture for the tulip crops. I remember last year we had quite a bit of moisture for the bulbs and we had the best crop ever, so I’m really hoping that we can repeat the same success this year. In the meantime, our dahlia tuber sale is still going. There are still over 30 varieties available and you can filter by availability. Some of the varieties available are hard to find, including Jeanne Gervais, Caramel Antique, a new variety on the market called Danique, and the gorgeous Tyrell, all are still available. Head over to our website www.theflowerhatstore.com to place your orders. We’re aiming to start shipping in Mid April, weather permitting.

03/16/2024

Sometimes simple is better. The ranunculus and the clematis are so good right now! Happy Saturday!

03/04/2024

Our Dahlia Tuber Shop is now open! Shop over 140 beautiful varieties on our website.
www.theflowerhatstore.com

I'm so proud of this year's collection. It is the best selection of tubers we've ever had. My main focus is offering you dahlias that are great producers, hold well and are suited for floral design work or to be showstoppers in your garden. I hope you will find some beauties to bring to your garden this summer.

Sales are online and we can only ship within the United States. Local Pick up is not available.

Happy Shopping,
Julio

02/19/2024

One of my favorite arrangements from last week. Using only three ingredients, this arrangement includes “Mother of Pearl” roses, Bordeaux anemones and Camélia foliage. The simplicity of the flowers create an arrangement that has presence in a complementary and efficient way. I hope you like it.

Happy President’s Day Weekend! :)

02/04/2024

Happy Sunday! I’ve made a decision… but first, thank you again for your support on the Ranunculus and Anemone bulb sale a few days ago, I appreciate it. We will start shipping tomorrow, Monday. We have a busy week ahead preparing for Valentine’s Day, a wedding on Saturday and a few meetings to plan more events for the summer. I’m also finalizing our crop plan and the decision that I made relates to this centerpiece and a conversation I was having with my dear friend . Farming is all about finding ways to make the job more efficient. Consistently putting effort into trying to make things work and continuously getting the same results will lead to burn out. On that note, I have decided to not grow lisianthus this year. It breaks my heart because I love them so much, and the Rosanne Brown (as shown in this arrangement) is my favorite! I grow them from seed every year with almost 100% germination and we have a beautiful crop in late summer. However, two factors helped me come to that conclusion: 1. I believe it is too late to start seeds. I usually start them around the first week of January. They take forever to get going and require a lot of baby sitting in their first six weeks. We have so much going on right now that I’d rather put our efforts in a different project. 2. The greenhouse is very limited in space. I grow lisianthus in crates and I am hoping to dedicate that space to other heat loving crops. It was such a hard decision to make, but I’m trying to set us up for success the best we can and sometimes that takes letting go of things you’d never dream of. This will be my first year not growing lisianthus and I’ll miss them, but I’m excited to see what blooms instead. PS.: yes, I know I can get plugs. :)

Are there any crops you’re letting go of this year? Anything you wish you could grow but can’t? Let me know in the comments below.

Have a beautiful Sunday!
J-

02/03/2024

Thank you all so much for your support yesterday during the Ranunculus and Anemone sale yesterday. It means the world to me to know that these bulbs will go all over the country to bloom and awe gardeners, farmers and flower enthusiasts alike. I appreciate you more than words can express. We will be closing the store soon, but we still have a few varieties available: Black and White Anemones, Porcelain Ranunculus, Super Green Ranunculus in Brick and Salmon (my favorite!) And a few others. Head over to the link in my profile and check it out. Thank you so much! Have a beautiful weekend.

01/31/2024

Happy Wednesday my friends!

How lucky am I to open my mail and find a box of the most beautiful treasures from . I’m beyond honored to get to grow these beauties next year. The colors and varieties are going to be perfect for this upcoming wedding season as more and more clients are asking for more color in their wedding florals and many are asking to keep the flowers as local as possible. The seasonal flower movement is here to stay and the work Erin has done breeding these varieties is a testament to her commitment to our industry. You can bring these seeds home starting February 6th, 2024. There are 26 breathtaking new varieties that will be available on her website. I’m thrilled for this upcoming season, we’re in the middle of crop planning right now so there came in at the perfect time. I can’t wait to be holding an armload of flowers this summer, but for now, the seed packets will keep me going. Have a beautiful day. J-

01/27/2024

Thanks to everyone who came together to connect over dahlia tuber varieties they’re in search of! I’m going to pin the post to my page so it’s easy to find and you guys can continue to connect. If you go on there to post you’re looking for a specific variety, I’d recommend scrolling thru the comments to see if there are any that you may have and be able to help someone with. I hope youre having a great weekend. Pictured here is an arrangement I made for a dear friend last week. Happy Saturday!

01/27/2024

It’s Friday evening, and while I prefer to post in the morning, I’m just now getting to it. It was a busy day over here, but I didn’t want to go without posting. A big part of our business is our Dahlia Tuber Sale, which is taking place on March 4th, 2024 this year. The dahlia community is in a frenzy right now as we see many growers hosting their tuber sales. I have SO MUCH to say about the craziness that the dahlia community has become, I have thoughts I want to share, but Instagram won’t allow enough characters. Maybe I’ll write a blog post about it. With that, I just wanted to keep this post short. If it is helpful, I’d like to offer this space for two things: If there is a dahlia you’re looking for, list it below in the comments. If you have dahlias you’re trying to trade or sell, read through the comments and see if you can help people that are looking for dahlias you may have. I know there are so many growers out there that are too small to host online sales, or just don’t want to have a sale, but are willing to trade or sell one-offs. So communicate in the comments, let’s help each other out. I’m on the hunt for Vista Kestyn, Arnside Rose and Pearl Diver if anyone has those! Ahahah I don’t even think they’re around anymore.

Anyway, connect, share, trade… Happy Friday!

01/24/2024

Thank you for such a positive response on my last few posts, it’s been wonderful to reconnect with you all, and I appreciate you following along. It’s been a very introspective time here and if you haven’t read my previous post, take a minute to skim over them. But now that we’ve looked back, I’m excited to look ahead and leave 2023 behind. This year is looking quite bright and busy, to be honest.

💍Weddings - We are in the process of producing and planning some incredible weddings for 2024 season. Color is definitely back and we’re exploring a whole spectrum of color palettes this year.
🥔Dahlia Tuber Sale - Our dahlia tuber sale is coming up March 4th! We’re busy splitting here and we are going to have so many amazing varieties available, I’m beyond excited.
👨🏾‍🌾Farming - The crop plan is looking so good! I will share it with you when we’re finished with it.
📊Corporate Events - With the number of large production weddings we have on the books, our schedule is looking pretty full but I am foreseeing some last minute corporate jobs filling in the gaps.
🌷Fall Bulb Sale - It’s coming in October, I’m excited to see the trials for this year to see which varieties make the cut for our fall offerings.
👨🏾‍🏫Education - We’re still crafting a curriculum for “The Flower Hat University”. This project is taking much longer than I ever anticipated, but it’s going to be so worth it. In the meantime, we have smaller pieces that we will be putting out throughout the year, so stay tuned for that.
🗣️Speaking Engagements - I am currently booking speaking engagements for fall, so if you have a conference or summit, or meeting, or garden club that you think would be a good fit, reach out! I’d love to connect.

What I am mostly excited about is having a plan! It seems like I am finally getting out of a rut that I’ve been in for a while and going towards a really exciting year! Thanks for being here.

01/23/2024

It seems like so many of you enjoyed the list of designers that have inspired and shaped my design career. I figured it’d be only fair to have a list of farmers that have also impacted my career as a farmer. These growers have gone through so much in their own careers and I believe we have bonded through the struggle that is being a flower farmer. As with the designers, I don’t have enough characters to list how much I admire this group of people. And also as with the designers, this list is virtually impossible to compile, knowing that there are hundreds of inspirational farmers out there, so don’t take this list as anything beyond a simple list of 20 farmers. There are many more out there and I encourage you to find farmers, especially in your area. localflowers.org is a great place to find them, slowflowers.com also has a directory and floretflowers.com has a great collective as well.

side.farm.flowers

Again, there are many, many more out there, so be sure to tag them in the comments below if they inspire you so we can all follow them.

Happy Tuesday my friends!

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01/22/2024

My 20 Favorite Instagram Accounts to follow - I’m doing by something a little different today. I don’t post content from other accounts but today, I wanted to share with you the accounts that inspire me to become a better creative. These designers have been a source for inspiration for me, some since the beginning of career, some more recently. Regardless, they’re all masters at what they do and I wanted to take a minute to acknowledge that. I don’t have enough characters here to describe why I follow them or why I love their work, but just take a minute to browse through their pages and also, research their work outside of Instagram. We all know we all have a life that spans far beyond the squares so be sure to check out their websites as well. I could only add 10 photos to this real, but I’m adding all their handles below. Some you may know, but if you don’t, be sure to give them a follow.

Picking 20 designers is almost an impossible task. There are so many amazing florists out there, that I follow, that I love, that have been left out of this list. All are incredible. These have been the designers that helped shape who I am today as a florist and I hope you’ll enjoy this list. If you have designers you love, let me know in the comments below and we can all follow them too.

Happy Monday!

01/21/2024

My very first wedding - I thought long and hard about whether I should post these photos. They were taken December 25, 2011. The wedding was December 26, 2011. I was 26 years old.

I’m so proud of how this wedding turned out. I used “Sahara” roses, waxflower and seeded eucalyptus. It makes me happy to say this was my first wedding.

Starting out is never easy. I battled insecurity, imposter syndrome, lack of knowledge, lack of vision, lack of experience… The list is so long, but at the core of it all, I had drive. I had found a passion that propelled me forward and against all of these negative thoughts and feelings, I continued to show up for myself and for a career that I believed in so much. I had the confidence that I could do it, and I knew I’d figure out how because I always have. That takes perseverance and hard work. It takes ambition and curiosity. It takes HOURS of practice and dedication. If I look back on my time on this journey, I can confidently say that I have spent a significant amount of hours dedicated to becoming a better designer. Every Instagram live I’ve ever done was an opportunity to practice, every weekend I've spent in the studio when no one is around is a chance to hone my craft. As I always teach my workshop students, don’t wait until you have a paid job to practice. The violinist does not tune their violin in the middle of the concert.

And yet, even after all these years, I still battle some insecurity, some imposter syndrome, but I’m now far more equipped to deal with them. I know where it comes from and I’m usually ok dealing with them because I know how to find a solution to the issue… most of the time.

If you’ve dealt with these feelings too, you’re not alone. You do, I do, everyone does. It’s not a weakness. It’s an opportunity to grow from it and become a better professional.

Have a great Sunday and be kind in the comments! Ahahahah

01/20/2024

For our final arrangement today, I wanted to share an arrangement that I don’t think gets enough credit! Ahaha This is probably one of my favorite arrangements I’ve ever made. I love the color palette, the shape, the ingredients… I’m telling you, if you can grow “Leycesteria Formosa”, do it! I think it has great potential to be a cut greenery. It’s the chartreuse greenery on the left of the arrangement. I believe it needs as much heat as Hibiscus “Mahogany Splendor”, which unfortunately we don’t get here in Bozeman. I tried and it barely got to 2 ft. It’s really easy to grow from seed and I’d recommend trying it. Other ingredients in this piece include: Sweet Peas, “Bracken Rose” dahlias, Lilac Zinderella Zinnias, Astilbe, Graciella Soapwort, Chinese Forget Me Nots and Spray Roses “Sahara Sensation” that were ordered in. I hope you like this as much as I do.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me today. I hope you enjoyed it. Soon, we’re going to talk about crop planning more as we finalize our own. Happy Friday friends!

01/19/2024

This arrangement was part of a 3-day workshop that I taught here on the farm. In the workshop I teach students about The Flower Hat business model, which is to incorporate local flowers into arrangements designed with flowers brought in. I wish I had the space to use 100% local flowers all the time, but our climate, short season, and very limited space are not conducive to that model when compared to the number of pieces we need to create within a season. During the demo portion of the workshop, I talk through my process to create a centerpiece, from picking vessels, to mechanics, to color theory, to logistics and schedule for a wedding week. In this particular piece, I used White Ohara roses and brown lisianthus and added Flower Hat grown blooms: Foxglove, dahlias, phlox, geranium foliage, celosia and zinnias. Local flowers make such a difference in design work. I have never been able to get foxgloves, for example, from wholesalers in the same quality as the ones we grow on the farm. That fresh, farm to centerpiece concept really makes a difference. I remember attending ‘s workshop a few years back and something she said really stuck with me: “Your arrangements are always going to be as good as the flowers you start with”. And she’s absolutely right. This is why choosing the best flowers is crucial, this is why flower conditioning is so important. This is why learning about harvest stages and treating and amending your soil appropriately is key. If you are a florist and can’t grow some of your own flowers, reach out to a local farmer in your area. You’ll always get the best flowers locally. If you need help finding farms near you has a great Collective on their website, you can also check localflowers.org for a directory as well. I hope that helps.

01/19/2024

This was a mock centerpiece for a wedding a couple years ago. I struggle with mockups so much, because it’s truly never the same as what the final product will be like. Usually we’re meeting with clients 3-6 months before their wedding for a mock up and the seasons are just off. This was in May, for a wedding in August. But what a mock up does is give you a really good grasp on colors, style, vessels, textures… I just always tell my clients, don’t hold on to any of these flowers, but more importantly, take this sample for its visual appeal and overall aesthetic. In this specific example, I paired some ordered-in flowers with Flower Hat grown “La Belle Epoque” tulips (which are impossible to replace!), blooming branches, phlox, “Bridal Crown” daffodils, petunias (that I probably cut from a nursery plant), Ranunculus and heuchera leaves.

I loved this color palette, and the container was so important for this specific wedding. This vessel is from .ceramics and they’re a joy to arrange in. Design wise, I think it’s important to look back and understand how you could improve. For me, as much as I love this design and there is really nothing ‘wrong’ with it, if I had to do it again today, I’d probably reduce the amount of different flowers in this one arrangement. That’s not because it’s too busy, but it’s because I’m learning that simplifying designs has a big impact on efficiency. It also leads to a more aesthetically pleasing design, that’s easier for the eyes to digest while still being an effective display. These days, I’m going for 4-6 different flowers and that’s about it. How about you? Do you prefer a simpler arrangement or do you usually gravitate towards adding various different flowers? There’s no wrong answer, it’s all about personal style. Let me know below.

01/19/2024

Now that you’ve seen some of my early arrangements, I’m breaking down some of my latest. The road to a design style that inspires me has been filled with hours of research not only on pinterest, but also in my garden. Understanding seasonality, shapes, color theory and textures has become the pillar that holds my design style. I’m always looking, I’m always observing, I’m always watching. I can’t explain quite how my brain works but when you’re in a creative realm, you know that everything can be inspiration: the way a particular tree grows that you drive by every day, the shape of the mountains, a specific cloud shape you saw in the sky, the overhead view of a braiding river… Everything has movement, everything has a shape and it all comes together to inspire you to explore more while honing your craft. Or at least it does to me.

I noticed when I used to order all my flowers in, all stems were straight, and I understand the reasons. But over the last twelve years, I’ve learned to embrace “wonky” stems and honor their curves and their grace in my arrangements. And I’m usually looking for those in my garden too, especially small zinnias and phlox.

Throughout the day, I will be posting other arrangements that I have made that are a product of this curiosity, of this exploration that begs the question: “Who am I as a floral designer?”.

Growing my own flowers has become a huge component of my design style. Yes, in the winter we don’t grow anything and order all the flowers in. And it’s really fun to open a box of flowers, or many, a week. It feels like Christmas morning a little bit. But going into your garden in the summer and cutting flowers you grew yourself… nothing compares. In this design, I paired imported roses and waxflower with echinaceas, phlox, zinnias, scented geranium, snowberries and japanese anemones from the farm. These were centerpieces for a really cute wedding. Also, yellow! I hope you like it.

Happy Friday friends!

01/18/2024

It’s been so fun to read all of your stories on how you came up with your business names. Thanks for sharing your stories with me.
Today, I’m sharing some of my very early arrangements, most I’ve never shared before. As I was looking back through these photos, the word that kept coming back to me was “curiosity”. I was so eager to make this business work, I lived and breathed flowers. I read every book by Judith Blacklock, Jane Packer, Martha Stewart, Preston Bailey, Paula Pryke… I spent hours and hours on Pinterest and Flickr, researching, investigating, analyzing photos of works of different florists. This was way back when Instagram hadn’t taken off yet. I dove deep into the world of flowers and tried to learn everything I could by researching, experimenting, making mistakes, trying again.
It’s very obvious that I had a “style” back then. I loved color blocking. I was really inspired by the work was showing at the time as well as . I was trying to set myself apart from retail florists, I wanted to do something different, something that inspired me and this was my way of doing so.
Once I learned I could order from wholesalers, I set up an account with , and that’s where most of these flowers came from. Lauren was one of my favorite sales reps I’ve ever worked with, she helped me more than she’ll ever know. She was so patient as I asked as many questions as I could about wholesale flowers. I was curious, I wanted to absorb as much as I could and she shared so much of her knowledge with me in a kind and respectful way.
As I look back on these photos, I’m glad my black backdrop is gone. It worked at the time, but as I started growing my own flowers, I embraced a different style of design that is more natural and with that, the backdrop and the lighting also changed to be softer, more graceful.

If you feel like sharing some lessons you’ve learned, let me know in the comments below. I’m sure you’ll inspire others in our Flower Hat Community.

01/17/2024

One of the questions I get a lot is “why did you name your business ‘The Flower Hat’? At this point, I have owned three businesses in my floral career.

The first one was “Flor”. I thought that was a really cool name paying homage to my Brazilian heritage. It means “flower” in portuguese. The logo was a calla lily, in honor of my grandfather. When I owned “Flor”, I felt really singular and alone, even though I had an amazing partner by my side. Owning a business can make you feel like that and I thought the name was appropriate. It was my very first business. I owned it from 2011-2014. It didn’t take long for me to realize that, no one knew how to pronounce it, and I had to explain what it meant every time. Also, there is a national flooring company with the same name.

Around 2014, my partner and I moved to Bozeman, MT and decided to join forces. He was an interior designer. We thought it’d be the perfect combination, and in 2014 we founded Kirkham & Co. I loved this business so much, but I felt as if it sounded like a law firm sometimes. We owned it for 2 years, until it became incredibly hard to advertise for both branches of the business as they were vastly different from each other. In 2016, I knew I had to go out on my own.

Summers in Bozeman are sunny and at 5,000ft in elevation it can get quite hot. I had a collection of hats that I would wear in an attempt to make my sweaty self look presentable and still fun while delivering weddings. Everyone knew me by these floral print caps, so when the time came to name my business, the first one that came to mind was “The Flower Hat”. I went through pages and pages of brainstorming names, and I remember my friend Erin at telling me “Your business name doesn’t have to be cool, it has to be memorable”. And I went back to “The Flower Hat” and everything fell in place and here we are today!

I’m also very excited to officially announce our new logo! Scroll and check them out.

I’d love to hear a little bit about how you picked your business name.

Let me know in the comments.

01/16/2024

Once I jumped from the corporate world to owning my business, I very quickly realized that the hustle was real, but also that I had the freedom to take it anywhere I wanted. However, the most exciting paths the business has taken were not at all planned. It was a matter of listening to what my customers wanted. I did have a plan, but in that plan, I allowed room for flexibility. I wanted to be a corporate florist for restaurants, hotels and corporate events. Instead, I went down the road of doing weddings and daily/retail deliveries. I really didn’t want to do weddings, but the joy I have found in doing them has allowed me to grow in that capacity in ways I never imagined possible. Weddings are stressful but if you can find a really great team to help you, they can be quite rewarding.

In the beginning I said “yes” to every job. I wanted to learn, I was hungry to learn. I knew those early years would be intrinsic to my growth as a designer. As the years went on, I started saying “no” to jobs that I knew I wasn’t going to learn or grow from, but in the beginning every job was a stepping stone to where I am today.

Today, The Flower Hat has seven departments, all of which were born from listening to what you needed and wanted from TFH.

Weddings - So excited for all the beautiful weddings we have scheduled for this year!
Fall Bulbs - Coming October ‘24, this is our assortment of fall planted bulbs we recommend for a cutting garden
Dahlia Tubers - Coming March ‘24 - Wait till you see our offerings this year, I can’t wait to show you
Education - We have been working on educational material for the last 2 years, and I’m excited to show you more, hopefully next year
Retail - Our studio offers arrangements for pick up or delivered to a neighboring town.
Speaking Gigs - this is probably my favorite part of what I do! I love traveling to speak to flower farmers and designers.
Farming - Our farm produces flowers for our studio from May - October.

As we move forward in the ‘gram, I’ll dive into the nuances of each of these wings. Have a beautiful day my friends!

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Address

80085 Gallatin Road, Ste G
Bozeman, MT
59718

Website

https://linktr.ee/theflowerhat

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The Flower Hat is a floral design studio and flower farm located in Bozeman, Montana. Established in 2016, The Flower Hat is a culmination of passion for locally grown flowers and love and talent from owner and head florist, Julio Freitas. The studio creates custom seasonal florals for weddings and events, sourcing flowers from all over the globe, with an intrinsic use of local flowers.