The Urban Flower Farmer

Guest post: Emma Davies, staff photographer

It was a joy to work with Emma Sousa recently as she rebranded her business to become the Urban Flower Farmer. She is a dedicated and successful florist, growing her own and sourcing locally whenever possible. This shoot took place on 15 May and used all British grown flowers and foliage.

What do you love about using British flowers?

Emma: "When I first looked into using British Flowers it was their green credentials and seasonality that attracted me - I wanted to be more eco friendly. But once I started using them it was the variety, the slight irregularity of them and of course the scent that you often get from home grown blooms, as well as their eco credentials of course."

Where do you source your British flowers?

Emma: "When I first looked into it I found it hard to find a grower near to me, being based in London. I started growing my own and now I am into my second season and I haven't looked back. I am a really small scale grower who primarily grows for my own business but occasionally I buy in from other bigger growers like Clowance, Smith & Munson and Lambs when I don't have something or I need to top up for really big events. I recently got the most amazing peony and stocks from Lambs in Lincolnshire - they beat the imported ones hands down, for size, scent and longevity."

What would you like to see change in the industry?

Emma: "I think people are becoming more aware of where their flowers come from but I think it is a very slow process and there are so many people that don't even think about flowers and their origins. It would be nice for the government to recognise flower farmers and support them more, however large or small scale - and I am a big fan of labelling where your flowers come from. If they are British grown then shout about it.

It amazes me how many people really don't realise that the flowers they are buying are shipped from all over the world from places like Kenya - people are actually quite shocked and once you sow the 'buy local' seed they would much prefer to support UK growers. We also used to have an amazing industry in the UK but unfortunately like all of the farming industries here our growers are having a really hard time and not getting paid a fair price for their product. That is where the smaller scale grower comes in for offering customers something unique."

Is there anything you'd like to add about the industry generally?

Emma: "I think that despite being a really tough industry to make a living from, the majority of florist/growers do it because they are not only exceptionally talented at what they do but because they are really passionate about making a difference, however small. The joy that flowers can make to someones life, albeit for a few days or a couple of weeks is just incredible and shouldn't be underestimated - they have the ability to uplift a person in ways you just can't imagine."

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Emma offers beautiful bespoke flowers, specialising in Wedding and Event floristry.  She is passionate about using seasonal flowers which is how the flower field came about and why she started to grow sustainable flowers in 2015. She is passionate about the environment and takes inspiration from the world around her.

Visit: UrbanFlowerFarmer.com
 

As a child she loved to draw and paint and went on to study Printed Textiles at University. When she left she fell into a completely different career as a Fashion Buyer, fast forward to today and she has grown a successful floristry business in London and now grows flowers in urban spaces around London and Hertfordshire. In 2017 Emma re-branded and became The Urban Flower Farmer and continues to grow her floristry business travelling around the UK for wedding & events large and small.

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If you are a florist who uses mostly British grown flowers and would like to be featured on The British Flowers Book blog, please apply here: British Flowers Book Shoot Application

The April Photo shoot

April is the season of Tulips, Narsissus, Anemones and Spring in full flow (and Flower). This year even more so than usual as the weather warmed up really quickly and everything came at once. As the last of the Tulips fade round the country now, here's a look back to last year, and the Photo shoot that we did with Caroline Davy.

Each month last year we got a talented florist, and gave them a couple of buckets of flowers for them to make seasonal displays with. With little direction and even less warning of what flowers they were likely to be getting, the bouquets and arrangements reflected their style and ability to work with seasonal flowers.

Last April as the colours warmed up and the buds turned into leaves, we gave Caroline Davy a bucket of Flowers including 

Apricot Parrot Tulips, Ballerina and White Triumphator Tulips, Narcissus Cheerfulness, Anemone, Hellebore seedheads, Honesty, Amelanchier, Beech, Trailing Akebia, Physocarpus and Spirea.

The bowing heads of the Parrot Tulips were the focal points of the displays, and were balanced by the spring foliage that was just emerging.

The March Photo shoot

Each month last year we got a talented florist, and gave them a couple of buckets of flowers for them to make seasonal displays with. With little direction and even less warning of what flowers they were likely to be getting, the bouquets and arrangements reflected their style and ability to work with seasonal flowers.

In March it was the turn of North London Florist Emma de Sousa.

The middle of March last year was cold, the weather hadn't yet decided to warm, and yet the bright colours of the blue, pink and yellow flowers meant we immediately felt that this was Spring.

With shorter stems on the bulbs of the Hyacinths and Iris, Emma used petite displays to show off the range of textures. The Blousy double ducat daffodils, and the dark pink Hellebores were mixed with scented rosemary and hebe foliage in the bouquet.

And with a nod to post wedding celebrations, Emma and Vanessa Styled a going away suitcase theme.

To ensure all the seasonal treasures were used up, Emma fashioned a beautiful hair circlet with Eucalyptus and Hyacinth florets

The ingredients available to use in Mid March were. Golden Ducat Daffodils, Blue Hyacinths, Pink Tulips, Pink Hellebores, Muscari, Camellia in bud, Rosemary, Hebe, Euphorbia Wulfenii, Eucalyptus and Viburnum Tinus.

March on a flower farm

Guest post: Emma Davies

I know it's wrong to have favourites, but I do love it when the blue flowers start to appear. These images were all taken last week. Indoors:

And outdoors:

It'll be coming up so fast I won't be able to keep up, soon. More behind the scenes next month.

Claire hard at work. Try as I might there is just no way to make acres of black plastic look photogenic.

Hellebores for cutting

As a grower, the Hellebore is one of my favourite flowers. The main reason for that, apart from them appearing as one of the first flowers of spring, and being so beautiful and delicate, is that I get to enjoy them for several weeks before i cut them to sell to florists.

Hellebores mostly have heads that hang down, but if you prop them up in a bouquet, or hold up their heads, then you can see the wonderful flower detail inside the petals

Unfortunately while they've got their wonderful pretty faces on, as every florist knows, they are notoriously tricky to keep them conditioned, and the heads often flop and can't be revived.

This makes them difficult to use in anything other than same day events, and means sourcing them is time consuming.

Tips for keeping them in the best shape include, keeping them in deep water, scoring the stems lightly so they take up more water, and keeping them cool but not cold (if you've seen hellebores in a garden after a frost, you'll know the fridge isn't the right place for them)

However wait a little bit longer, until the seed heads are forming, and the Hellebore becomes a much easier to work with flower stem.

or for a double, the seed pods aren't always so apparent 

When they get to this stage, the vase life will be a lot longer, (often over a week) the stems stronger, and longer, and although the colours are slightly muted, they are still strong. 

and because i'm a member of the #Helleboreappreciationsociety, here's a few more pictures to brighten up your day

The February Shoot

Last year, each month, I gave a couple of buckets of flowers with a theme to a talented florist. Their brief to make what they liked to show off the flowers. All of them only got a couple of days notice of what they were likely to be getting.

February's florist was Jay Archer.

Jay has been a loyal supporter of my flower farm since it started, and her bubbly personality and go get it ethos are the reasons that she is so much in demand as a Wedding florist, and by other florists as a tutor and mentor at her Flower School.

Because she regularly uses a majority of British Flowers and Foliage, she was a great florist to give the February challenge of a restricted palette of colours and material.

I've been waiting to post this on the blog, because unlike last year which was mild, the cold winter has meant that the Anemones that we used weren't available at the beginning of February. They are though this week, so now we can show you this great blend of Winter Tulips, Anemones, and Narcissus.

The red Valentine theme was carried through to the foliage as well, with Skimma Rubella, and Dogwood stems. and Pussy Willow, Senicio and Eucalyptus gave silvery tones as well, which showed off the white flowers.

This amazing foam free arrangement just shows that winter flowers don't have to be small and understated.

Eucalyptus, Silvery foliage for winter movement

I've just finished delivering my Valentine bouquets. I've had that lovely amount of orders that means i've made money and been able to have a wide variety of ingredients, but not been on my feet for the 13 hour days that i know a lot of florists will have been putting in. The barn has been wonderfully scented with Narcissus, Rosemary, Sarcococca, and even some Daphne, but actually one of my favourite scents at this time of year is Eucalyptus.

I planted some Eucalyptus the first year, so i've been able to prune some every winter. But this year, my seed grown plants are now large enough, so i've great silvery foliage to foil the winter flowers

Whilst you're unlikely to get the seeded varieties from British Growers, other varieties are available throughout the winter from both Commercial and artisan sources. 

From November to February/March is when it will last the longest in the vase as the foliage is hardened off by that time of year. If pruned in late summer or autumn then the leaves tend to be soft and droop quickly.

As well as giving a pleasant scent when newly cut, it also adds movement to bouquets and vases.

The British Weather, and how it affects flower growing

When we took photos for the January and February photo shoots last year, it had been a really mild winter here in Surrey. We only had 5 frosts the whole of the 2015/2016 winter season.

This winter season 2016/2017, it's been the opposite. The earliest frosts i've known, and 4 of them in November, and then an Easterly wind (usually South Westerly here) has meant that the ground was frozen solid for 9 days in January.

When we started to write this blog, we promised ourselves that we would only write about those flowers you could truly get hold of at that point in time throughout the country. There would be no photos of imports pretending to be British Flowers, no fudging the issue.

But The British Weather is what growers and florists have to deal with when dealing with British Flowers. 

That may mean that crops are delayed from their usual timings.

That may mean there are less flowers produced than planned, as flower production slows down when it's cold.

Conversely it speeds up when hot, so crops can go over quickly or open faster than planned in the summer

And then there's rain, and hail and......

Yes it's not as easy to know for sure what British Flowers are available on a chosen date as if you're buying from the international wholesale markets.

We hope however that the information that we'll give you this year on this blog and in the book, will help you to work with the British Weather.

Does the fact that it's been a freezing January mean that British Growers have had nothing to sell?

Well no, The daffodils from Cornwall have been fantastic. The Scented Narcissus have smelt gorgeous. The Alstroemerias have continued to bloom in greenhouses in Cornwall, Sussex and Lincolnshire. Tulips of all colours have been picked daily all over the Fens, and foliage, branches, and forced bulbs have been used from all corners of this Island. 

The British Weather will do it's worst, but there's always something available.

January at Hilltop Farm

Guest post by Emma Davies

Shooting the images for The British Flowers Book is a fabulous way to spend my time, but now and then I get the opportunity to take photographs that will never be used in the book. They are of dead stuff, or the light is beautiful but wrong, or the flowers are the wrong colour, or they are just not flowering yet.

I don't want to let these photos sit on my hard drive and never see the light of day. From time to time I'll share them here. Just beautiful photos; maybe behind the scenes, maybe the wrong thing at the wrong time.

The images in this post give a flavour of what Claire's field looks like in the middle of January. First, some beautiful dead stuff:

Contrast this with the signs of life appearing:

Saracococca, Scent for a January Sunday

For the last few weeks, every time i've walked past the polytunnel i've had a whiff of scent, even when it's been freezing cold.

The reason is, that my shrubs of Sarcoccoca are in the shade of the hedge, and although the glossy green foliage isn't much to write home about, and the flowers are small and often hidden, the scent is amazing.

I wouldn't suggest using too much at a time in your winter displays, just one stem is plenty to give a lovely fragrance. but it is a great winter addition. 

Easy to condition, with a long vase list, and the fragrance lasting when cut for up to a week, this is a great winter addition. It can be used out of water for buttonholes, looking great with Narcissus or Alstroemerias.