(bright music) - I'm Katie Lila.

I make art displays out of fresh cut flowers.

Wow!

This is looking so fabulous!

Flowers really are nature's art, and I love using them as my medium.

So fun!

Like these little fantasy flower worlds that people can interact with.

Oh my gosh!

This is stunning, I want this for my bedroom wall.

It's hard to be around flowers without smiling.

I love looking at something and being like, "Ooh, how can we make that into something that could be in a flower installation?"

Whoo, okay.

Okay, it's hot out here, people.

It's hot.

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it gonna go?

How's it gonna play out?

Whoo!

We did it!

My install team is amazing.

They just (snaps) jump in action and fill in all the weird requests.

So, come follow the blooms with us.

You never know where the adventure's headed.

- [Announcer] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by... (delicate music) (delicate music continues) - [Announcer] Slate Flosser, a daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes, and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser.

The Other Toothbrush.

(calm music) - [Katie] In this episode, my daughter, Ayva, and I head across the country to the gorgeous Florida Springs to meet up with my friend and fellow flower designer Ashley Rodriguez, the owner and lead designer of Garden and Grace Florals, a bespoke floral design company specializing in weddings, editorial design, and well-known for creating out-of-the-box, large-scale floral installations.

In particular, underwater.

Her beautiful work and connections to a great water-savvy team have established Ashley as a go-to designer when wanting to go into the deep.

Before we jump in, we must first tromp through the swamp to forage local flora for our own underwater display.

We also visit a community garden, a great place to grow and source your own flowers.

We're setting up the perfect photo of a magical creature: a real-life mermaid.

(lighthearted music) (lighthearted music continues) Ginnie Springs, outside of Gainesville, Florida.

I didn't know what to expect.

And coming here is, whew, it's breathtaking.

The water is all of these gorgeous shades of blue.

The trees are their own sculptural art pieces.

It just feels like a gorgeous canvas ready for us to play in.

Oh, this place is awesome!

(gasps) Oh my goodness!

- Whoa!

- Look at this thing!

(Katie chuckles) Wow!

- What?

- What is that?

- That is a banana spider.

(Katie gasps) Yeah, they're huge.

(laughs) - What else lives out here?

- We can expect many more of those.

- [Katie] Okay.

- We also have a lot of water moccasin snakes.

So watch where you're walking.

- Okay.

Okay, good.

- This is also, as you can tell, very tropical, swampy kind of environment.

- Yeah.

- So, what we're gonna wanna make sure to do is wear these bad boys.

- Okay, put the boots on.

- So I brought some for you.

- [Katie] (chuckles) Thank you.

- We're gonna be going through water.

We're gonna be walking in mud.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna give your shoulder- - So, please, yes.

(laughs) - [Katie] 'Kay, so remind me what we're looking for.

- So, at this property, we're on about 43 acres.

- Okay.

- And we have a lot of different type of foliage, greenery, but what I would really like to show you is the palmetto palm.

- Yes!

- Typical tropical Florida greenery.

- They're like the big fronds.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

- So we'll use those.

We have also all kinds of just beautiful, natural, you know, we have Spanish moss hanging down.

Lots of different unique environments because it's such a large property, so.

- Sure.

- [Ashley] We'll venture through, and we'll see what we can find.

- So Ayva's middle name is Fern.

- Oh!

How cool!

- Ayva Fern!

- Ah!

There you go.

- So we've gotta get some ferns going.

- Yes, for sure.

All kinds here.

- All right!

(Ashley chuckles) Think I'm ready.

- 'Kay, let's go.

(laughs) - Let's go.

- Florida's got a short growing season 'cause it's hot.

Summertime is not it.

So we are going to forage on Ashley's property for some of the greenery we use and just some of these gorgeous palmettos and all sorts of interesting things.

I'm excited because I haven't really done that before, where I get to go out.

I mean, you know, I've tried to sneak people's plants before, but I've never actually just been given the right, "Come to my property and cut whatever you want!"

That's awesome.

And she knows the way, so even better.

At first, I was, my whole body was tense.

I was like, "What are we doing here?

I didn't know it was gonna be this crazy."

And then slowly I just fell in love with it.

You know, it just engulfed me.

The sounds and the cool water and nothing was actually trying to eat me besides a couple mosquitoes.

And then it was just beautiful and pristine, you know?

Nothing... You couldn't see anything besides nature.

You couldn't hear anything besides nature, and that's hard, it's hard to get to.

- So right here is our beautiful pond area.

- Yeah!

- And you can kinda hear the frogs and turtles.

- Yes!

- But I love this for us, potentially.

- Okay, this is, yes.

- For a fern.

- You can even see it's, like, glistening from the rainfall.

- Right, in the morning.

- They're huge here.

And so- - Oh, they're beautiful.

Those are gonna look awesome.

- I think so, yeah.

- I think, yeah.

- Okay.

- The effect they'll have.

- All right, I'll let you do the honors.

- All right!

I'm excited.

I've never- - They're long too.

We can get 'em really nice.

- Foraged my very own fern.

(Ashley chuckles) That's cool.

- So glad.

(both laugh) - Yeah, you got- - Is that good?

- All sorts of goodies.

Let's see, what do you think?

(Ashley chuckles) - Any of these, yeah.

- These guys.

- [Ashley] So this is really, I think, good.

We could get a couple more of these.

And we'll be set, 'cause they're so big.

- I know.

- This is awesome.

No problem.

- All right, now we're on the lookout for fronds, right?

- Yes, yeah.

- Okay.

- Let's do some palmettos.

(lighthearted music) So, it starts to get really deep here.

(laughs) - [Katie] Okay.

She's got her shoes off.

- All right, we're ready.

- We're ready!

(laughs) - We're good.

(chuckles) Now, this is an adventure.

Right?

- It is definitely an adventure.

(Katie laughs) So now we're getting into what we call Cypress Alley.

- Yeah!

- We have all kinds of beautiful cypress trees around us.

Call these cypress knees.

- [Katie] Those are so cool!

- Yeah, they're very cool.

They're all around this area.

And people actually cut these down.

Sometimes knowingly, sometimes not, but it's actually illegal to do so, because they are, really, a natural resource, right, that we wanna maintain and keep around, and people don't realize that, so.

- So which one is the cypress tree?

- So we have a couple around here.

This is really the perfect example, though, here.

And this is really the perfect stereotypical North Central Florida cypress, right?

You can see kinda that swampy image of the tree, you know, roots going up from the water.

It's really a classic kind of Florida image.

So this type of palmetto is exactly what I think we were both thinking would be beautiful for this design.

They're huge.

They will do really well in the water.

And they're definitely local to this part of Florida.

What I love, too, is you can actually see how they naturally dry.

- Yeah.

- And so I also come out here and I forage and I dry them myself, I get them dried.

So maybe we could even use components of that because it's a different shade and color.

- Yeah, that's fun, I like that.

It's so crazy.

You know, I only see this stuff at the wholesaler usually, right?

In Washington, of course.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- And even the dried ones.

I'm paying like- - Oh, they're expensive.

- Like 15 bucks a stem for those.

Right?

You know?

- Yeah.

It's so true.

- So I'm just like, what?

There's like thousands of dollars here!

(chuckles) - They're everywhere.

And even, like, these ferns, you know, that was a spot in our property I'd actually never foraged before.

And here we are, to your point, this would've been $30.

(laughs) - [Katie] Exactly!

- [Ashley] And it was pretty easy to get ourselves, so.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, the great thing about these palm fronds is that they are so native to this area that they do well really in and out of water.

And so particularly in the water, they keep their shape, they are able to withstand, for example, in the springs, with the currents, the movement, you know, they're really sturdy.

- Right, yeah.

And so they're also great to work with 'cause of this super sturdy stem.

- Right, it's so strong.

So you can put that in chicken wire, you can do all kinds of things with it, hang it upside down.

They're also, for that reason, as I mentioned before, great for drying.

So I use these all year round in different designs and it's really fun.

- Yeah, so versatile.

- So I think between these palm fronds, the great ferns we got earlier, we have everything we need, I think, to make a really cool installation.

So let's head back to my studio.

We'll see what we can do.

- Yay.

Okay.

Excited.

I'm used to creating in a space I'm familiar with, around elements I'm familiar with, I know where to find what I wanna find and who I wanna work with.

And this is like a grab bag, right?

It's just this big surprise party.

And it's brought out this sense of wonder in me.

It feels vulnerable and open and thrilling.

And it feels... It's just, you know, pulling me forward, and like, what are we gonna discover next?

(gentle music) Okay.

Bonnie, Ashley, tell me about this community garden.

It's incredible.

- It really is.

We love it.

I'll let my mom share why she loves it.

- Sure.

- But it is an amazing space that the City of Gainesville provides to anyone at no cost.

And so my mom actually found out about the community gardens and is sort of like now the unofficial steward (chuckles) for this garden.

- Nice!

- I have no full sun at my living place, so this was a great place.

And now, I had planted flowers, so there are flowers up and there are flowers coming up.

And now it just keeps morphing, and I keep growing it and I keep getting more flowers.

- Okay, Bonnie, but did you ever think that your garden plot (Bonnie giggles) would provide for an underwater mermaid wonderland?

- No.

- That's the question.

- And I am, like, so thrilled when I see anything that grew become part of something that beautiful.

I figure I'm the paint, she's the palette, she makes the art.

- I love it.

- And I just, I do my thing.

So, and I think gardening especially, it creates that, you have to be a little more patient, you have to slow down a little bit, which has not been my forte over the years, certainly, the way I worked.

- Sure.

- So as a retiree, it is definitely good for the soul, always good to be in nature.

- [Katie] Yeah.

- This community garden is amazing.

Ashley and her mom are stewards here, and I can tell it's just a real connecting place the way they've talked about it.

And I'm excited to see all the different things people are growing.

You know, there's veggies and fruit and herbs and some lovely flowers, of course.

We don't have tons of flowers, but you can do a lot with a couple bundles of flowers.

Okay.

Girls, what are we putting underwater?

- All right, so on the list is Queen Anne's lace that we actually have in some really cool jewel tones, which I know we kinda had talked about.

We have some beautiful orange cosmos that we're gonna look at.

- Those look really vibrant.

- Yes, exactly.

And possibly some buckwheat.

We'll see kinda what we wanna sprinkle in.

(warm music) So I do a lot, as you know, of underwater floral installations.

I am super excited, though, for this one to do something with you in the springs.

- Flower design is difficult enough, and now we're gonna add submerge it all.

These are the moments you're like, "Okay, is it gonna come together?"

Right?

(laughs) - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Pressure is on.

- That's right.

- But I think we can do it.

- [Ashley] So I'm almost thinking too.

- [Katie] Yeah, that's fun.

- [Ashley] We have, like, a ring that we can use.

Maybe orchids.

Strong, cool flowers, palms, dried and fresh, maybe.

- This?

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Oh yes, just a little something.

Is that good?

You liking it?

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Love it.

I'm thinking that we could do some really cool super tall pillars, almost, of, like, kelp tropical florals.

- And then how deep will we be in the springs?

- [Ashley] So we'll be at least 8 to 10 feet deep.

- [Katie] Okay.

- [Ashley] Because the highest pillar that we'll create is actually eight feet, so we'll want that to be able to fully sink.

That will also give our mermaid the ability to have her super long tail be splashing about.

- Yeah.

- And we'll have plenty of room for that.

So there you have it.

- You have it.

- This is how you make a mermaid set underwater.

- And that's how it's done.

- It's very simple.

(Katie chuckles) Super simple.

It's so fun working with Ashley.

I feel like I found a soul sister on the other side of the country.

And it's just, you know, great bouncing ideas off of each other.

I think it, you know, gets my brain juices flowing and going and back and forth.

She has brilliant ideas, I love her work.

But fun to be in the same space and making something that probably neither of us would've come up with on our own.

But together there's some good, what's the word I'm looking for?

Synergy, thank you.

I feel like there's an undertone of a theme for this whole project, is look around you, use what you have, and make it work.

Going into Ashley's home studio, you know, just rummaging for the things we need, grabbing some stuff out of the yard, playing with ideas.

It's awesome, you just take what you have and make something fabulous with it.

(warm music) - [Ashley] All right!

Today is the day.

(chuckles) - Hoo!

We are here at the beautiful Springs of Florida.

And the weather is perfect.

- This place is awesome.

- Not a cloud in the sky, as you can see.

The water is super clear, we got here very early to make sure that that's happening.

- Yes.

- And we have Luna Marie, our mermaid, here, so we can go ahead and start getting set up underwater.

- Okay.

Awesome.

(Ashley giggles) - And then what we can do to start is maybe like we were talking about in the studio, put some color, add some more stems into the base pieces.

- Yeah.

- Before we get them into the water.

- Okay.

- Once we get them into the water, there will likely be some that float up.

- Sure, then we'll finalize.

- And we'll keep assessing.

- Right.

- But yeah, but I think that'll be a good plan, and we can continue to kinda tape and, you know, add things in as we go.

Great.

(warm music) ♪ Hey ♪ - [Katie] Why don't you do these?

- Perfect.

- And I'm gonna try, since we just have a little bit of the beauty bush.

Oh, this is looking fabulous, Darling.

- Thank you.

(Katie laughs) - [Ashley] I know!

- So fun.

- It does!

It really looks good.

- Put just these in really focal spots.

- Strategic.

- Yes, I think- - Yeah.

- [Ashley] I think that's the key.

And yeah.

- Make sure you really push down the stems as much as you can so that the leaves get caught in the chicken wire.

- Sure.

So the leaves act as their own anchor.

- Anchor, yep.

- Okay.

- Precisely.

- Our foraged pillars are looking good.

Before we move them into the water, it's finally time to meet the mermaid, Haley Smith, professionally known in the mer-world as Ms.

Luna Marie, a tattooed mermaid and free diver who lives here in Florida.

She has been mermaiding for eight years and never thought she would have inspired so many people.

Mermaids are the peak of wonder, aren't they?

We all want to hold onto that.

I met a mermaid today.

You don't say that every day, right?

It's fun and amazing and magic.

I mean, it feels as magical as if I was just swimming out in the ocean and met a mermaid.

Luna Marie!

- [Luna Marie] (gasps) Shell-o!

(both laugh) - Hello!

This is my first time meeting a mermaid.

- Oh my gosh, well, this is my first time meeting a human.

- (laughs) Right, all right.

(Luna Marie laughs) Ah, it's a big moment for both of us.

Okay, I have this lovely headpiece.

- Oh, this is stunning.

Did you make this?

- [Katie] Yes, yes.

Ashley and I made it for you.

And I heard you loved orchids.

- I do love orchids.

And it matches my tail.

- [Katie] Right?

We though the vibe was perfect.

- Oh!

- Can I crown you?

- Absolutely, please.

- Okay.

- Please do.

- Okay, this is stunning.

I love your long, beautiful locks.

I feel like... Okay, I was wondering about these, like, feathery ferns, but I'm loving them.

- Yeah, I think they're gonna look really pretty in the water.

- Yeah, I think it's, like, perfect.

- Especially when my hair kind of, like, flows out, and they'll flow out with it.

- Yeah.

- I think it's gonna look epic.

- Yeah, especially in that blue and the green.

- And when I put that tail on for the first time, I just was like, "This is it."

- You put your tail on for the first time.

- Mm-hmm.

- You've arrived.

- Yes.

- And then where did the journey take you?

- So it took me into this huge community of, which I didn't know existed at the time, the mermaid community.

And it's also a lot of the free diving community and photography and, you know, I've got to meet a lot of amazing people.

And to be really honest with you, like, I didn't realize some of the skills that you needed to do mermaiding, at least safely.

They think, "Oh, that's so pretty," but they forget we're holding our breaths.

- Right.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah, so it's this, like, superpower.

- Yes.

- Really.

- It feels like that sometimes.

- Yeah.

(Luna Marie chuckles) And I mean, kind of like flowers, right?

People just, "Oh, they're so pretty," but they're so much work that goes behind- - Yes.

- Making these beautiful designs, you know?

So I feel like that's a real similarity, right?

You're this beautiful swimming wonder, but you're holding your breath.

Okay, this is fabulous.

- I feel fabulous.

- Okay, see you soon.

- Oh, thanks, Katie.

- Great to meet you.

She's 100% in it, and authentic and just loves everything about being a mermaid.

The team tasked with helping us capture this photo of Luna Marie is Water Bear Photography.

Their crew consists of Kimber Greenwood, photographer, her husband, Will Greenwood, as videographer, and also Jules Maue, underwater safety specialist.

They excel at producing high-quality water-based media for film, advertising, and other ventures.

Their ethereal work is absolutely stunning.

We are counting on their skill and expertise to get an amazing shot.

People, people, we've got a lot of people on this shoot.

We've got a dive crew, you know, safety person, underwater videographer, underwater photographer, and then we've got more people.

We've got Luna Marie.

Her husband, Mike, comes with her and is her, you know, safety personnel.

And then we've got our film crew, you know, which is a pretty good footprint.

And Ayva's with me, super fun, on this trip.

Ashley and I, you know, so there's a lot of people making this happen, you know?

Everybody's doing their part.

(relaxing music) - So the big thing that we're gonna be doing is weighting the bases down, and how we do that typically is with these really cool underwater diving weights.

- Yeah.

- So they're made for the water.

- They're super heavy.

- Yes, exactly, very heavy, which is what we want, especially for the currents with the spring, just to make sure that we're not getting too many wobbly things going.

- Okay.

- And then we have basically kind of a solid operating procedure of trying not to disturb the sand at the bottom of the spring so that we can get the best shot.

- That sounds super easy.

- Right, so it's gonna be (Katie chuckles) very simple, all underwater.

(giggles) - Put these down in the sand, don't disturb the sand.

- [Ashley] Yeah, exactly.

(Katie chuckles) (bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - (exclaims) I'm really surprised how exhausting it is.

I feel like I'm pretty fit and I swim a lot, but this is, like, next level, 'cause you're just trying to move stuff around and swapping everywhere.

It's hard.

(chuckles) As you can tell, I'm super out of breath.

During this whole shoot, I feel like there was all these challenges, right?

There's the people, and the people are fun and exciting and they all wanted to hear what we were doing, but also pests, right?

They're like ramming their paddleboard and their kayaks into the mermaid's head, and, just, it's crazy.

And I'm like, "Back it up, back it up."

And then there's Luna Marie, who has this tail that's gorgeous, but it's trying not to hit the design, trying not to fluff up the sand.

Just all these elements of challenge.

And I just thought, oh, if we could have it a little easier, but then that's it, right?

That's life, that's art.

There's always gonna be a lot stacked against us.

But then there's this still beautiful shot.

And the juxtaposition of those two is stunning.

And I think there's something there.

There's something, just this core of calm, even though it's all going crazy around the outside.

(bright music) (bright music continues) If you would've told me a year ago that I'd be in Florida creating a big wonderland for a mermaid, I don't know if I would've bought it.

So I love this unraveling, this unfolding of just something new, something different.

And it does feel like this manifestation of unspoken dreams, you know, this idea that finding new places, following the blooms to places I had never been before, it's super exciting.

(bright music) You know, this photograph, it feels like a love letter to the water, the springs, to wonder, to curiosity, and just putting it out there in the world and hoping it sparks.

It sparks all sorts of things for lots of people.

You know, saying goodbye to Ashley, she had these beautiful thoughts that, she said it was so rewarding to push through those challenges, to push her limits, and to see something larger than life that she was able to create with this beautiful team.

(bright music) - [Announcer] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by... (delicate music) (delicate music continues) - [Announcer] Slate Flosser, a daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes, and tongue cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser.

The Other Toothbrush.

- [Katie] For more information about this and other episodes or links to follow my flower adventures on social media, visit flowersforpeople.co.

(bright music) (bright music)