Lauren Beck is the former editor of Dockwalk and was with the publication from 2006 to 2023. At 13, she left South Africa aboard a 34-foot sailing boat with her family and ended up in St. Maarten for six years. Before college, she worked as crew for a year, and then cut her journalistic teeth at Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal online. She loves traveling, reading, tennis, and rooting for the Boston Red Sox.
Looking to combine beauty and lower your onboard budget? When you combine those two with a sustainable product, you’re hitting the winning trifecta. Former Chief Stewardess Joanna Hirst works with Ethereal Blooms to offer the interior crew a gorgeous alternative to fresh flowers — preserved flowers.
“Our specialty is mixed arrangements that look fresh,” Hirst says. The preserved flowers solve many flower issues on board, including stew’s time, maintenance, and storage. “It’s like the easiest sale in world. I just turn up and I’m like these are six months old and they’re like, I want to hug you,” Hirst says. (I can vouch for that — when we met at the Palm Beach boat show in March, Hirst was carrying her preserved 18-month-old wedding bouquet — and it was stunning.) As Ethereal Blooms describes it, the flowers are “foreverlasting fresh flowers bio-preserved to bloom for up to 12 months in the vase.” Added bonus is that no water or maintenance is required, so you can literally set it and forget it.
The flowers are cut and preserved at their facility (usually the farm where they’re grown) using procedures that use the flower’s own natural processes. “We invigorate it with natural oils and often will use photosynthesis to do it,” she says. Obviously, these processes extend the life of these flowers far longer than the average fresh flowers, which may only last from 7 to 10 days, plus they save you the cost of constant flower sourcing and having fresh flowers delivered or flown in. “Most yachts are saving like 75 percent of their usual flower budget, especially for big yachts,” Hirst explains. The flowers can be ordered everywhere FedEx delivers.
“Most yachts are saving like 75 percent of their usual flower budget, especially for big yachts,” Hirst explains.
Hirst began working with Ethereal Blooms while she was still on board yachts, but stepped off boats full time during the pandemic to work with the company. “I kind of just banged on the door until they let me in, and they were too busy for a long time, but I couldn’t let go [of] the idea,” she says. “Bio-preserved real flowers really are the future of floristry. And they’re an amazing resource for yachts because they bridge that gap between luxury and practicality in a way that owners and captains can’t help but be impressed by.”
Hirst is based in Fort Lauderdale, where Ethereal Blooms will soon have a base. Check out the many options — it’s a win for the planet, your bottom line, and the interior crew.