The Best of British - British Flowers Week

British Flowers Week is New Covent Garden Market’s annual celebration of the British floral industry. From June 26^th-30th 2023, the event shines a spotlight on indie growers, florists, wholesalers and designers in the flower supply chain.

At Grace & Thorn, we’re proud of our heritage and the support we receive from the local community and suppliers.

To mark British Flowers Week, we sat down with the guys from Minnow and Wolf, a Hampshire-based grower whose passion for petals turned into a successful flower farm supplying the very best of British blooms.

 

I'm Hannah from Minnow and Wolf Flowers. My partner Chris and I have a one-acre flower farm in Hampshire where we grow chemical-free flowers that work in harmony with nature and the seasons. 

 

 

We believe in growing/buying British flowers for so many reasons. Mainly because of the huge benefit to the environment but also for quality. Our flowers have long, strong stems and smell incredible: you just don’t get the same scent from flowers grown overseas. 

 

 

We’re so lucky to have such a wide choice of British flowers that should be celebrated, from paper-white daffodils in February to intoxicating garden roses in June. We also have so many wild flowers in our hedgerows, from oxeye daisies to poppies and foxgloves. These flowers make great arrangements but they are also essential to pollinators. 

 

 

When working with British flowers, I think the wilder the better. The general rules apply, including stripping the stems of any foliage you don’t need, cutting the stems at an angle and using fresh water. We recommend using grasses and ammi majus (a superb annual bearing dainty white flowers reminiscent of lacework) in arrangements to create a wild meadow feel. 

 STYLING TIPS FOR SUMMER

 

We like to keep our flowers wild and free, but if you want to create a neat arrangement, try filling a bowl or vessel with chicken wire and secure it with floral tape. You can then add your foliage and flowers and they should stay in place. Flower frogs are tools designed to give floral structures stability, and they’re really good at helping you to create something extra special.

 

Right now, our flower field is full of roses, nigella, larkspur, poppies, snapdragons and cornflowers. The dahlias are in the ground and will flower from July. We also have hundreds of sunflowers loving all this heat at the moment so it won’t be long until the field is full of bright yellow and orange flowers.