Archive | Floristry

Blogging Backwards

After falling somewhat behind with the blog this year I have decided to catch up over these quieter winter months starting with the latest news and working backwards.

The reason for this retrospective is that it has been another incredibly productive and creative year in which I have experienced new flower varieties, projects and flowery people. All of this has been well documented with more breathtaking pictures by Clare West and I had pleasure of two other photographers capturing the farm with Eric McVey visiting for the Creative Process Workshop in August and Mark Lord in September.

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So starting with Autumn which is usually my ‘burnt out’ season when I am not as productive and inspired as I would like to be. Always a shame as it is probably the best time to create the really wild and ‘grown in’ arrangements that I love. So, this year I decided to prolong the marathon of growing and arranging all the way through October and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt like I had a whole new palette of plants to play with.

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Our bountiful orchard and the native hedgerows surrounding the plot provided plenty of fruiting branches of sloe, hawthorn, damson, crap apple and pear to give scale to the larger arrangements. Dahlias in colour-coordinated patches made any bride’s preference possible although everyone seemed to be drawn to the coppers, creams and peach varieties.

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Texture and variety is easily achieved by the end of season with a good selection of berries in every colour provided by a large purchase chez Kolster a couple of years ago and lots of half hardy annuals looking pristine undercover in our tunnels.

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There will be more on what we were growing, picking and arranging in my next post which will include a beautiful early morning shoot of the G&G team on a busy Friday in September, photographed by Mark Lord.

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The end of the season was rounded off by a trip to Japan to enjoy the ‘fall’ colour in the strolling, tea and dry gardens of Kyoto, Kanazawa and Okayama and whilst hiking a bit along the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route.

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I would love to add Japanese maple to my long wish list of things to grow but my alkaline soil and exposed site would not be to their liking.

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We saw a wholly different world of Chrysanthemum varieties carefully pruned and trained, in some cases even bonsaied. I have had a couple of years off from growing them but I will definitely be back on board in 2016.

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Of course a lot of our time was spent exploring gardens and seeking out flowers but we did still find plenty of time to enjoy discovering the food, textiles, pottery, hot springs and overall otherness of Japan.

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The warm weather and refreshingly polite and friendly people was an added bonus. I am now smitten and am already thinking about returning next year to learn more about this fascinating country and it’s appreciation of natural beauty.

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I have had Japan on my wish list for a long time after researching Japanese garden design whilst working on a hospital courtyard garden. The principles of design I learned then are reflected in their approach to floristry. The Japanese aesthetic of asymmetry and ’empty’ space are essential to composition, creating a ‘wildness of nature’. The sense of harmony between the plant materials, container and setting and the emphasis on greens are all principles I would like to incorporate into my work.

So I signed up to a class at the Ohara School of Ikebana in Tokyo. It was an amazing coincidence to find myself sitting next to Chickae of Okishima and Simmonds! Her Japanese heritage coupled with a few classes already under her belt got me thinking about an Ikebana themed collaboration next year….

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The lesson was based on Basic Hana-isho, which is a beginners form of Ikebana. We worked with an impressively large pinholder, called a kenzan in a shallow container and just five stems of shooting hydrangea and bouvardia which we used to create two compositions – the rising and inclining form. Stems are always positioned in a line as I think it is intended to be viewed from one angle.

So Japan has left me with a yearning to return, a lot of large Kenzan, a long plant list and a strong desire to make my own vases….looks like I am going to be busy.

 

 

 

On 27/11/2015 07:39, Rachel Siegfried wrote:

Blogging Backwards

Tablecloth Bride – seasonal snapshots from summer weddings

I have done some requests for wedding photos from some of our brides this year as we often don’t get to see full story of their day amid all the bridal hustle and bustle of the summer season. Afterwards, it’s great to observe how many plans were fulfilled and dreams achieved, especially as many of our brides do some arranging themselves. So, I just thought it would be fun to see some of the real brides with their bouquets from this year.

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PHOTO BY CRAIG AND KATE

I did become rather attached to hurriedly pinning on a linen tablecloth from Habitat to photograph my bouquets before they rushed off to a busy dressing room. The bouquet looks better when held, retaining its shape and the oatmeal tablecloth set off the flower colours very well. The resulting silhouette is not terribly flattering though, maybe it is about time I bought a real dress or perhaps it’s high time I made one.

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Anyway, back in the real world, here are a few of the brides from this year with their bouquets.

Kate decided upon whites and greens for her wedding in May, her bouquet included my favourite ivory Peony ‘Duchess de Nemours’ and a lacy umbellifer called Orlaya which were also used in the hair and table centre flowers which the family arranged into our Weck jar selection.

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Meg chose corals and yellows for her wedding which was perfectly timed for Peony ‘Coral Dawn’ and Icelandic poppies combined with golden Philadelphus and honeysuckle.

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Kate Townshend’s bouquet had a base of Spiraea and Jasmine with sumptuous Peony ‘Kansas’ and Sweet Williams for the deep pink element and scent from a Japanese Sweet Pea variety called ‘Oyama bicolour’. To complement the lace on her dress I also included Astrantia and Orlaya.

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I like to include as much variety, scent and texture as possible in my bouquets – it is hard not to with so much in the garden to choose from. Consuelo’s brief was soft corals, pinks and creams with silvers and greens. I included a few different varieties of roses and dahlias with some peach Hypericum, dusty miller and pineapple mint. Panicum ‘Frosted Explosion’ and Jasmine combined to give the bouquet a wild finish.

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Cecilia’s bouquet in September was a ‘pick of the garden’ creation. She did not have a colour theme and just wanted a very natural, spontaneous combination. The week before we wandered around the garden and she pointed out some favourites and left the rest to me. This is my favourite way to work and what we are really all about.  I call it ‘going with the garden’ and it often produces the most stunning results.

Photo by Craig and Kate www.craigandkate.comPHOTO BY CRAIG AND KATE

Thanks for those brides who got back to us and shared images of their special day, watch this space for more Real Brides…

A Vintage Season

I know it has been an age since my last post, I guess I have been busy with the doing rather than the thinking or writing about it. Anyway, now things have slowed to a respectable part time (!?) pace I have some reflecting and planning to do.

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2014 will go down in my memory as a vintage year for growing cut flowers, the weather was almost perfect – come on no farmer ever says perfect! We got off to the earliest start in our 7 years in business with an abundance of spring flowers for Mothers Day.

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Our April and May weddings had plenty to choose from, with June varieties flowering early to close any tricky gaps.

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Rain and wind held off and there was very little damage overall, the flowers just soaked up the sun and bloomed their socks off. At the other end of the season the mild autumn meant further extension of flowering, with no signs of frost for a good month longer than normal.

Fortunately I had plenty of demand to keep the G&G team busy with the cycle of sowing, planting, picking and arranging.

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And there was plenty of subject matter for Clare West whose seasonal photographic diary enabled me to view the garden and flowers with fresh eyes.

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There will be more from Clare in the coming months, we are presently planning a flower photography course for next year, so watch this space!  It will be aimed at growers and florists who want to ‘up their game’ with breathtakingly beautiful images for their websites and learn more about how their cameras work.

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Our weddings this year included lots of our popular ‘buckets and bouquets’ option which has urged me to run a new course next year for DIY brides who want to brush up on their arranging skills (DIY Wedding Flowers).

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Speaking of courses I was amazed at the popularity of my two new ones this year – Flower farming for Beginners and Flower Club – it certainly demonstrates a rising trend for local, seasonal flowers whether as a business venture or just for fun.

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I am also toying with the idea of running a monthly practical workshop called a ‘Grow Along’. Attendees will join our team for a half day of hands on seasonal tasks in the cutting garden. There will be tips on everything from propagating techniques, favorite varieties, timings for continual flower, effective watering and feeding, support, best tools and equipment and much more.

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It will be a great opportunity to learn as you grow, whether for profit or pleasure.

Thank you to Clare West for the images in this post.