Local Flora wins Sustainable North Bay award

After touring the small store, tucked next to United Markets in San Anselmo, Assemblyman Jared Huffman presented Local Flora with this month's Sustainable North Bay award.

"Your stuff is beautiful," said Huffman to Local Flora owner Silk Vom Bauer. "You're showing that clearly you don't have to sacrifice the artistic and aesthetic quality for sustainability."

The floral shop focuses on local and native plants -- with around 60 percent of the plants coming from the greater Bay Area, said Bauer. The shop reclaims all the water it uses, recycles, and using recycled and organic materials in the wrapping. In just one small example of the creative ways Vom Bauer tries to bring sustainability to the shop, instead of using the non-degradable foam that most florists use to hold arrangements together, she uses small pieces of tape and lattices made of branches.

Vom Bauer also works with local residents to buy the surplus of things growing in yards and along the streets. A graduate of UC Berkeley, with a degree in landscape architect, Vom Bauer is an expert at making recycled and reclaimed pieces beautiful.

The only place she feels like they've "gone backwards," she said is in the fact that she used to have a biodiesel car for deliveries, but business grew too much and they had to get a bigger delivery van. Unfortunately, there are no biodiesel delivery vans that she could buy.

Along with the shop next to United Markets, Local Flora offers bouquets at Good Earth in Fairfax during the winter.

Though the assemblymember awards a Sustainable North Bay certificate every month, this was the first florist that's been honored. After presenting the certificate, Huffman bought desk bouquets for his staff.