Flower Shop Stories: January 2011

"Here's One I Made Earlier"

It must be in the genes. Both my daughter Libby and I grew up wanting to be Blue Peter presenters. And now when we are gathered together with friends, the day before my best friend Pip's birthday, she is one of the first to step up to have a go at making flower arrangements for the party. That's my girl!

Luckily, as we have quite a few to do, she is not the only one. We are staying with a crowd of friends in a hotel in Nothumberland. On the morning of the party some decided on a walk in the driving rain, whilst a few of us decide on some extreme flower arranging. Well, it is not really extreme; lots of coffee and gossip, as I run a very informal workshop.

If you are unsure of what colour scheme to go for (as I was, not having seen the venue) I think you cannot go wrong with white and cream flowers. These look particularly good in candlelight, as does waxy foliage as it reflects the light -as you can see from this glossy ivy leaf.

It is not long after this that I am back running another workshop, this time for some ladies in Solihull. On this occasion I decide to work with lots of vibrant colour. But again I get to see the effect of different light on flowers. As the afternoon stretches out the flowers are beautifully lit by slanting shafts of winter sunshine.

Such an easy idea. A small gift bag, lined with cellophane. Pop in a small bit of Oasis and add three roses and some foliage. In this case a rose called Sudoku and some Australian waxflower.

Perfect for a lunchtime thank you or as favour for a wedding party table.

For colourful hand-ties I chose cerise ranunculus, pale pink parrot tulips and plum anemones.

Even the jug I fill with left over stems makes me smile. This rose is called Upper Secret and reminds me of raspberry ripple ice cream.

Taking french-grey enamel buckets, the ladies of Solihull fill them with crimson spray roses and aubergine coloured astrantia.

By the end of the afternoon everyone seems pleased and proud of what they have made and decide we should all get together for a Christmas workshop. They ask if it is too soon to book me - but I am now used to being booked sometimes as much as 2 years ahead by gardening and flower clubs. At first I was startled into laughing when I was rung by a local club looking for a date in June 2013. I rather wondered whether I would still be here, let alone the rather wobbly elderly gardener on the end of the phone!

The Travels of a Wedding Bouquet

With our wedding taking place in Durham, we had a long drive ahead. So it seemed like a good idea to break up the journey by calling into some of the florist friends I have made around the country on our road north. I particularly liked the idea of a wedding bouquet made up of a mixture of their flowers.

First stop Kate's new shop, Rustic Rose in Sturminster Newton.

Here I gathered hydrangeas, red spray roses, velvety black bacarra roses and plum ranunculus.

The journey would not have been complete without calling into Ted Martin Flowers in Tisbury.

Here I spotted some pale peach roses splashed with deeper pink.

These were added to the buckets in the car.

By the time we got to Miss Pickering's glorious floral emporium in Stamford we badly needed a break, so we whisked her off for a gin and tonic in the local pub.

As usual her shop was looking wonderful and she was full of news of her forthcoming book - which if her blog is anything to go by will be (like Miss Pickering herself) just fabulous!

From Miss Pickering I collected rosemary and myrtle, as well as Grand Prix and Memory Lane roses. The latter being particularly appropriate as Billy Kelly and I got together 10 years ago in Durham, so this really was a journey down memory lane.

A few hours later, the girls were collected from the station and we were happily ensconced in my best friend Pip's house having a noisy family supper.

As we chatted on, I started to make my wedding flowers.

I know it is not the norm to make your own bouquet with your husband to be by your side, but I thoroughly recommend it.

What is certainly not the norm is to see Billy Kelly with a cup of tea in his hand rather than a glass of red wine!

Now this is more like it - the next morning and bucksfizz.

I have always wanted to be Doris Day!

I loved my flowers so. They were a delicious mix of the blooms I had encountered the previous day and they made me smile every time I looked at them.

And I did not stop smiling. I had my girls by my side and my Irishman had married me.

Into the girls' flowers I added some tulips that had been delivered to me by my friend Julie from the Tynemouth flower group. She had arrived the previous afternoon bearing gifts and cards and I thought it would be rather special to have some of her flowers in the bouquets too. So thank you Julie.