Trust in the “Original Intelligence” Says Author Behind New Book on Flowers

Jill Brooke is a Swiss army knife. An award-winning journalist, author, editor, and former on-air CNN correspondent, she has bylines across the New York Post, CBS, and a variety of design, architecture, and lifestyle magazines.

In the past decade, Brooke has turned her focus–and writing and research chops—to flowers. She is the founder and editorial director of Flower Power Daily, a floral news website that explores flowers’ role in design, pop culture, wellness, and more. Her new book, “The Genius of Flowers,” will be available on Amazon starting September 8. Comprising 18 chapters, the book highlights how, in Brooke’s words, “flowers have been collaborators, connectors, and co-hosts of human civilization.”

Straus News sat down with Brooke to discuss her new book, her career, and her journey from reporting at the Post and CNN to running several publications of her own.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: “The Genius of Flowers” will be your third book, and you’ve been running Flower Power Daily for about seven years now. How did this passion emerge?

A: Let’s be realistic, we live life in chapters. I couldn’t afford to do this at any other part of my career. Even when I was editor-in-chief of magazines or I was covering the entertainment industry for CNN. And even at the [New York] Post ... where I was a radio and TV columnist.

My mother had exquisite taste, so style has always been humming in the backdrop of my life. I also have an art history degree, and I always looked at how flowers intersect in all parts of life. But I needed to have nice things like, you know, insurance and things as I was raising my kids. And medical insurance. And paychecks.

People have a lot of great ideas. They just don’t necessarily have financing.

Q: You write regularly for Flower Power Daily online. How much overlap can people expect between the book’s content and your website’s content, and how did you decide what to include in the book and what to omit?

A: I was just speaking to my publisher today about what I didn’t include ... People have limited attention spans. And that’s reality. And anytime you argue with reality, you lose. So as I wrote in the book, any of these 18 chapters could have been its own book. But I wanted one holistic ecosystem of how flowers intersect in every aspect of your life.

Chapters in “The Genius of Flowers” cover a range of topics, from “How Floral Decor Boosts Happiness” to “Traditions in Honoring Loss.”

A: Flowers have been the underpinning of all human civilization, and they are not just decorations. They are not just ornamental. They beautify our world and our minds. And the science behind it, because I’m a science girl, it’s really quite extraordinary.

Our whole chemistry changes, our neural pathways open up [when we’re around flowers] ... This book goes and gives you ways to apply using flowers for mental health and also to help your relationships, build self esteem, and be more positive about the future because in the world of artificial intelligence, which is like faux blooms–they look good, they can enhance our lives, but they’re not really summoning bees and hummingbirds from the sky or perfuming air with scent and soul– hat is the key: trust in the original intelligence, which is nature.

Q: I’m very curious about how you decorate your home. What do you like to wear and do to bring flowers and nature into your life?

A: I am never not in floral clothing. I can show you that my nails even have a flower, which I get a zillion compliments on. I also have it on my toes.

Jill’s nails are lilac, with a daisy on each ring finger.

If a friend is going through a breakup or they’re going through a health problem or I see the political spectrum, I get so upset about it and I know I have to recalibrate, so what I do is I immediately reach for something floral. I will wear a flower dress and I always feel happy and I feel that I’m connecting to the heartbeat of the most beautiful part of Mother Nature.

Q: We were talking about life in chapters. What would this chapter of your life be called?

A: “In bloom.” When I sign any of my emails, it’s “keep blooming.”

Jill told me more about maintaining faith in her skills and abilities whether she’s reporting, or editing, or establishing herself as a flower historian.

A: Most people had been just focusing on the florist and their beautiful designs. I realized, wait, 90 percent of all the work is already done when the florist gets the flowers. I’m interested in the researchers, the breeders, the growers. They had never really gotten editorial love before. So digging into that, I not only made so many friends who are now part of the book and generously donated their pictures and their expertise, but I was able to have a fuller understanding of the flower industry and to be the flower historian I am. And a journalistic background, doing what I’ve done before and also the vast amount that I read anyway, really helped me.

And more importantly, what I think I’ve done really well in this book is that, like a tweezer, I’ve pulled the threads out of some of the most brilliant minds in science and breeding and flower growers. ... I think what I’ve done really well and what people are enjoying about the book is, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve never looked at it like this’ because I’ve interviewed so many people in the course of my career.

Q: I’m curious about who you’re most excited to have read this book. Describe the person that you want to pick up this book, or think should pick up this book.

A: For a long time, people have thought that flowers just benefit women. But samurai, generals of Japan, had to learn flower arranging in order to be a samurai right because they taught you focus and connection to nature. For military veterans after World War I with PTSD, therapies were formed by being outside in nature.

There is not one socioeconomic group in the entire planet that doesn’t benefit from knowledge and connection to flowers. And furthermore, the garden always teaches you that the world is full of diversity, and there’s beauty in many different shapes and forms. That’s what makes a garden beautiful.