The Florist interview - Dawn Antingham of Poppies and Peonies in Horsell

Can you tell us a bit about you and your business?

I’m Dawn, and i’ve been a florist at my shop in Horsell near Woking for 9 years. We’re a small shop at the end of a parade of mixed businesses. We sell bouquets and plants to walk- in customers, for online sales and for telephone sales. We do events, - Weddings and Funerals locally in the Woking area.

Who do you buy your British flowers from? and what proportion of the flowers in your shop are British?

I buy from Claire at Plantpassion, Andy at the Chobham flower farm, and Smith and Munson. About 50-60% of our flowers are British in the main season. We would like to make it more.

Who’s your ideal customer?

One i’ve nurtured over the years, who was very entrenched with what was “expected” from the Dutch, and who now is delighted with seasonal British blooms. We have regulars who know when our deliveries from the British will be in and come looking for what’s new and interesting

What changes have you seen in the last 6 years (since the British flowers book was published) in what you are buying and what you’ve seen from growers?

More choice, a wider range of what’s available - Foliage as well as flowers, more quantity and more flowers farms. When I started nine years ago, I know nothing about British (what I could get hold of ) so now I feel it is better promoted.

What do you think you and your customers will want from British growers in the next few years?

Quality and choice, and ideally all through the year, our customers want British all the time.

Dawn can be found At Poppies and Peonies, or @poppiespeonies on Instagram

The Grower interview - Carol Siddorn of Carol’s Garden Cheshire

Who are you, and where do you grow?

I’m Carol Siddorn, of Carol’s Garden, in the South West corner of Cheshire close to Wales and Shropshire. We grow on 2 acres of light, sandy, acidic land, which we rent along with the house on site. We have maybe 1/3 shrubs and trees, 1/3 perennials and 1/3 annuals and polytunnels.

What is your season?

Because of our light soil and polytunnels, we can start selling, mainly to florists, in mid March, through to beginning of November (depending a bit on frosts). I do a few sales outside of this season, mainly for regular florists, but I don’t now do Christmas wreaths, workshops or winter weddings.

Who’s your ideal customer?

My ideal customer is a regular wholesale wedding and event florist. Someone who loves locally grown flowers, is excited by the variety we can grow, and who trusts me to put their orders together to their colour and design brief. They will be confident, creative designers, who love to work with what they get rather than from a spreadsheet. 

What changes have you seen in the last 6 years (since the British flowers book was published) in what florists are buying.

• I’m seeing much more colour - from soft pastels in peach, pink, lemon and lilac, right through to brights including cerise, orange and yellow. 

• Almost all the florists who buy from me are using exclusively foam-free mechanics, often looking for longer foliage for broken arches. 

Carol can be found At Carol’s Garden

Cut and Condition - Sunflowers

Sunflowers are available in lots of gardens across the UK and the world each summer, but what makes a Sunflowers last in the vase? When is the right stage for picking? and how do you treat and transport them.

Sunrich Sunflower in bud

If you’re planning to send your Sunflower blooms by post, or pick them for wholesale market sale, then you’ll want to pick your flowers when they are coloured up, but still in bud like the picture above. If the petals have started to unfurl, then they will continue to open in the vase.

At this point they can be safely packed in a box, and these varieties are the best to travel without water.

Sunflowers that have just opened

If you are selling your sunflowers directly, then you can wait until the petals are unfurling, and the centre has grown. If the petals are facing forward, you can tell that the Sunflower is still fresh

Reflexed Sunflowers

But by the time the petals have reflexed and bent backwards, the centre is likely to have been visited by bees, and the blooms will not last as long. I would only use this for an event, or display.

What's available from Artisan flower farms in the UK in May

A Normal May would have tulips to start the month, but this year, most of the country had a warm April, so they are finished in most warmer counties

May is a difficult month for those without Polytunnels, and even with them, the weather plays a big part in what is available. At the beginning of the month, most growers are relying on Perennials and bulbs. Bleeding Heart, and Perennial Cornflowers, Ranunculus and Alliums, and Camassias are key in the Hungry gap week that usually happens the first or 2nd week of May

As the month progresses, more perennials appear, including Aconitum, Aqueligia and Centranthus, with Annuals and Biennials starting to build in bigger numbers after the middle of the month

There are also flowers on shrubs that are likely to save the day in May:

Choisya, Viburnum opulus, Spirea, and Physocarpus, - but be warned, foliage shrubs tend to be very soft this month

What's available from Artisan flower farms in the UK in April

This April has been warmer than usual so a larger range has been available

April is the key month for all kinds of Tulips from commercial and Artisan growers. Fringed, Parrot, Double and tall single tulips in almost every colour are available during this month.

Although most of the single varieties will stay upright on rigid stems, other varieties are designed to hang, swan necked like Dutch masters

In April, Anemones and Narcissus will continue, and Ranunculus and Poppies from Polytunnels will be joined by lots of blossom from shrubs on the field. Below are photos of my April favourites, Apple blossom, White lilac, which always comes out before my May purple. Spirea Bridal wreath, and Choisya Aztec pearl.

The colour in flowers will be from:

Tulips, Narcissus, Wallflowers, Ranunculus and Early Bluebells

The next batch of blooms are budding up on the field, and just some sunshine is needed for the Outside crops to take off

What's available from Artisan flower farms in the UK in March

March is the very start of the season, so not all farms will stock these flowers.

It’s the 2nd week of March, and flower farms are just starting to have signs of life. Here are some of the things you may find available from your local flower farm over the coming weeks, -do check the Flowers from the Farm website for your local supplier, or the Book for larger wholesalers.

Hyacinths will be available from Artisan and Commercial suppliers this month. With amazing fragrance, these are shorter stems that pack lots of scented punch.

Anemones, Muscari, Narcissus and Fritallarias are all bulbs that will be making an appearance this month.

And outdoors:

Hellebores, Leucojum, Viburnum, Euphorbias, and foliage from Rosemary, Senicio, Eucalyptus, Choisya and Pittosporum.

There are lots of crops coming up fast, currently protected by environmesh, so by Mother’s Day at the end of the month, there will be more to be found.

More bulbs, waiting to flower.

Leucojum, The Snowflake. For late February and March

Leucojum, or the snowflake are often mistaken for the snowdrop (Galanthus) but they usually flower a couple of weeks later, and have longer stems, which make them great for bouquets.

These dainty bells have buds which open up along the stem, so you can often get to 4 or 5 flower heads open as the buds bloom.

Often available at the same time as the first Anemones, Hyacinths and Hellebores, they are quintessential early Spring blooms

They have soft stems, so if are best used as an inner ingredient in a bouquet, so that tieing them with twine or spring doesn't bend the stem.

Getting the best from your Hellebores as cut flowers

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.

February is the main month for Hellebore flowers to appear, and for colour in the garden at the start of the season, hardiness in bad weather, and being able to take most soils, they are hard to beat. They 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, and the anthers are still frilly 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

Hellebore foetidus

Hellebore Foetidus is a flower that I'd come across lots in client gardens. It was hardy, didn't mind some shade, flowered in the middle of winter (it's often flowering in my garden on the 1st of January or before, and continues until March) and is a lovely green colour that goes with just about everything.

Helleborus Foetidus

I hadn't thought of it as a cut flower because of the name, Stinking Hellebore. Foetidus means smelly (fetid) so why would you want that in a bouquet, and sure enough if you stick your nose near one in a garden, you probably won't keep it there for long. 

BUT, if you cut it into water, and condition it changing the water at least once, the smell dissipates and in its place you have a lovely branching stem, with green flowers often fringed with burnt red. Excellent as a base for a winter bouquet or stylish display base. 

So I transplanted a whole bunch of seedlings, and now I have a full bed of stylish green winter flowers which support my delicate winter flowers in bouquets. This year we planted even more, so hope to have them for florist sales by next year.

If the leaves escape from Hellebore blight (black splodges) they are also a wonderful shape for floral arrangements.

Here Hellebore Foetidus frames the paperwhite narcissus

If you’re a grower, watch out for them seeding themselves very early in the Spring, they are difficult to grow from seed as they need winter vernalisation.

Pretty in Pink July flowers

We’re 3 years on now from when a lot of the photos were taken for the book. I wanted to know how relevant it was to what i’m growing now. So last week I toured the field spotting everything that was available that went with the July colour layouts from the book. This is what’s available in the middle of July for Pretty in pink July flower themes.

Variety names (where known)

Top Rose Eglantyne, Astrantia, Clary Sage Pink Sundae, Accrinolinum, Malope Blushing bride, Cornflower pinkie and classic romantic

Right hand side, Scented Pelargonium, Flowering Moroccon mint, Bells of Ireland, Centranthus Alba, Hordeum Jobatum, Linaria Canon Went, Larkspur,

Bottom, Scabious Rose, Phlox, Daucus Dara, Jasmine, Achillea, Berried Hypericum, Sweet Pea Anniversary,

Left hand side, Ammi Major, Veronicastrum, Veronica Pink Spires, Antirrhinum Pink trumpets, Antirrhinum Potomac Ivory, Oregano, Alstroemeria.