Tag Archives | anemones

Flowers, Love and Money

By greenandgorgeous on February 16, 2013 in Anemones, Narcissi

Finally, sunshine and two whole days
working in the garden! My body needs to catch up with my enthusiasm;
as I sit here writing this I am certainly feeling all that weeding
and cutting back.

Everyone was out today, including my
whippet Violet enjoying the straw I have been putting down to make
the paths between the perennials.

Also, my chickens, who have been free
ranging on the cutting beds throughout the winter. I think it might
be time to make an enclosure as they spent the afternoon undoing all
the good work I have done, scratching the straw paths all over the
beds.

On Wednesday I met The Duchess of
Cornwall when she came to open the latest exhibition at the Garden Museum: Floriculture: Flowers, Love and Money, which is all about the
cut flower industry (until the 28th April). I was part of the Magazine
Space Exhibition entitled 'Six Growers' by Howard Sooley.

Howard came to photograph me on a very
cold day in January with not a flower in sight. I think I do have a
bit of a cold-faced expression, as I had to remove many of my favourite winter layers….

He had lots of tips for me on how to
photograph flowers, it is something I do want to improve on this
year. Anyway, he seemed really inspired by Green and Gorgeous, even in
it's winter state of mud and twigs, so hopefully he will be back at the height of summer to take lots of beautiful pictures.

It was a real honour to be included in
the exhibition and encouraging to see British flower growers getting
some recognition. Here are some scented Narcissi from the Isle of
Scilly growers who were one of the six:

If you are in Oxford on Thursday 7^th March, Christopher Woodward the museum's director will be giving a lecture at the Said business school on The history of floristry and the cut flower trade.

We will be introducing our new 'Best of the Bunch' range for mail order next month, which will be kicking off with Anemones. I was able to get hold of a rather special pastel variety this year, here is one just about to open and show it's loveliness.

Rachel Siegfried

Must have Muscari

By greenandgorgeous on April 18, 2012 in Anemones, Cut flowers, Floristry, Muscari, Ranunculus, Tulips

It has been lovely to be back in my studio arranging flowers. I have spent a lot of time over the winter months at my laptop designing weddings and preparing quotes. I have been talking about flowers for months and finally I’ve been let loose.

The last two weddings have been a mixture of pinks and blues. I have mainly been working with anemones, ranunculus, narcissi, tulips and muscari.

The spring flowers are quite challenging to arrange due to their fleshy stems. They are often heavy headed and don’t like being in oasis. I think tulips have the most diva-like tendencies. They take a lot of careful handling and then once I’ve finished arranging after a few hours they’ve moved and pleased themselves anyway. Like true divas though, they know they are worth all the fuss!

I’ve really enjoyed working with the muscari this year. The stems have been long and the graded blue heads have offered a delicacy to the palette. They are a fabulous bridal flower to use as they last well out of water, making them great for hair flowers and button holes. Here is a flower crown created with muscari and lily of the valley.

Here it is again mixed with narcissi and viburnum for a corsage and used with lily of the valley to create a hair clip:

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The anemones have been amazing this year. The fully open heads have been so huge a couple of people have mistaken them for oriental poppies! The stems have been straight and long, perfect for constructing a hand tie bouquet.

It’s always fun to do something big and bold. For last weeks wedding we created three flower balls. I used a base of choisia and viburnum then added ranunculus, anemones, solomons seal and scilla. We also used some magnolia from the family’s garden. They certainly made an impact!

At the other end of the floristry scale, just a few stems in a bud vase can be heavenly too. Simple, natural and beautiful.

Jo Wise

A Happy Hen

By greenandgorgeous on March 14, 2011 in Corsage, Cut flowers, Floristry Courses, Weddings

Finally, after months of winter waiting, I managed to get my hands on some flowers and do some arranging. The season has kicked off for me with a Hen party workshop in a Tudor Manor house near Peppard in South Oxfordshire. The bride, Anna Baldwin has ordered buckets of flowers to arrange herself for her wedding in April, so her chief bridesmaid invited me along to host a morning floristry workshop. As we began Anna announced she'd be keeping her eye out for those who would make the floristry dream team on The Big Day….no Pressure then Ladies!! Joking aside, it was really relaxed and everyone enjoyed themselves. There was some pretty hot arranging going on too.

During the workshop we created a spring posy, flowers in a tea cup and a corsage. I took along some anemones, tulips, muscari and scented narcissi. As for foliage, we had Viburnum tinus and variegated Pittosporum. I would say the anemones were the main attraction. It's been a hard winter and there have been a few losses in the garden, so the rows of anemones that have popped up in the polytunnel bring extra cheer with them.

It was a great way to start the season, so thank you ladies, especially Flo who supplied me with coffee and cake.

Jo Wise