Flowers
A flowerless room is a soulless room, to my way of thinking; but even a solitary little vase of a living flower may redeem it.
Vita Sackville-West
The British cut flower industry was in freefall by the 1970s. Imported flowers were becoming more available with more exotic blooms at generally cheaper prices. In 1970 there were 120 chrysanthemum growers registered in the UK and by 2013 they had fallen to just three. However, overall demand for cut flowers increased over that same period with most of that business going to imported flowers.
However, today the consumer has become much more aware of the problem of air miles and is missing the wondeful scent of freshly cut British flowers absent from imported varieties. Brexit has rekindled a love for home grown produce and we believe this market segment can expand rapidly in the coming years.
The inspiration for this line has come from visits to Carol’s garden in Cheshire where Carol and Paul enthusiastically (if not a bit compulsively) cultivate over 500 different varieties of garden and wild flowers. Yes wild flowers! As wildflowers have been decimated in our hedgerows, they have become more sought after in our flower arrangements. It is interesting that Carol works with nature instead of in a monoculture fashion producing so many hundred of each bloom in regimented rows but finds that the more forward-thinking florists are happy to take what looks best at the time rather than place orders for so many dozen daffodils for example. That method suits our intentions and we look forward to reporting progress in this area this season.