By Sally Sola, Founder, Cheltenham Flower School
Flowers are beautiful, right, and there really is nothing quite like them. For me, that distinctive scent a flower shop has smells like home. Beautifully scented Roses and other seasonal flowers are like nothing I can describe. And then there is that feeling I get when I enter a freshly stocked Dutch lorry, a chilled lorry filled to the brim with flowers of every colour and variety; I am like a child in a sweet shop!
Now take all those things and put them outdoors in a flower field in the UK. It changes everything and takes it to the next level. The first time I set foot in a flower field I was transported to another world. Delicate blooms dancing in the breeze as Butterflies as Bumble Bees weave their way through their beautiful petals.
I paint a beautiful and romantic picture because this is all true.
However, there is far more to consider about British grown and, for me, Cotswold grown flowers. This is a fast-growing industry that many may not have been that aware of before the pandemic, but the truth is they have been there for some time, and they play an important role in the UK flower industry. These growers offer different varieties of flowers than you might perhaps see in your local supermarket, which allows a different kind of floral design options, be those in a vase arrangement or bridal bouquet.
You may be thinking that locally grown means cheaper and yes, at times they can be. But to run a commercial flower field, regardless of how big or small it is, is a hard task. The time spent planting those tiny seeds, potting on, taking the leap to plant out and then try to prevent the rabbits or slugs eating those beautiful flowers is tough. And this is before you begin to contend with the Great British weather in all its unreliable and unpredictable glory. This is not an industry for the faint hearted, it is hard work, often cold and wet. Much like floristry it is not glamorous, and it is certainly not “playing” at anything. And this is before you consider the scale of the industrial setups in the Netherlands or Africa. Compared to fields which stretch over hundreds of acres, local, British, fields are mere postage stamps. And this smaller scale means higher costs per flower for the growers.
So no, locally grown British flowers are very often not cheaper than their foreign equivalents, but my goodness they are beyond beautiful. They are grown how flowers are meant to be grown, with their natural scent and bendy stems to boot. But, more importantly for me, buying locally grown flowers does reduce my carbon footprint which means that they are a more ecofriendly choice. If you take a moment to think about what goes into flying those flowers, in cooled units, from Europe or Africa into the UK and then transporting them up the roads and into the buckets in a supermarket or flower shop, you might get an idea of the carbon footprint which mainstream flower options have. I am not pretending that locally grown flowers are carbon neutral, but they do take a lot less energy to get from the field to the florist.
And there is also the fact that these local growers are just that; small, independent businesses. So, when I buy from them, I know that the money I give them is going back into their lives and their business and not going to a multinational or their shareholders. Backing local businesses means I am supporting local communities here in the UK, and that goes further than just the growers. It means the local UK suppliers which those growers use, and it means the staff they employ, and it means that buying local means the money helps grow and support a wide range of local businesses and communities.
More creatively, they challenge me and present me with an opportunity to work with what nature has given me that week. I don’t ever know for sure what I’m going to get, except the rough idea of what the farmer has given me of what is available before I arrive. It is only when I get there and see what they have been able to cut and provide me, that I know what I am going to have to work with. And on top of that, there is the chance to see and be in the actual fields and environment where those flowers have been growing in. All this feeds into me and my creative process and allows me to create designs which allow the flowers to truly be themselves.
A good example of this is the flowers used in my branding photos. I bought flowers grown less than 10 miles from my doorstep. They were the best available to cut from the field when I needed them and were cut the night before I collected them. These flowers, you would agree, are stunning. They in turn inspired my brand designer to create a colour pallet based on them, from which my brand identity was born. That combined with all the questions I answered and details I gave her about what my business represents, created a brand identity influenced by nature. The fact that my company offers floral workshops, inspired by nature is no coincidence. My branding and whole identity is inspired by nature.
Buying British grown or even locally grown flowers offers a different and perhaps far more beautiful experience. This I think is something that is to be enjoyed and celebrated. The fact that you are supporting British farmers and their households whilst making an environmental difference is something which makes this something which I always try to do, when the seasons allow, which I always get a greater degree of satisfaction from.
If all of this leaves you wondering why I buy any imported flowers at all, and why don’t I buy solely British flowers, well, that is a whole different blog post for another day. For now, I choose to celebrate the British growing season and all it has to offer.
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