Spring Flowers and Weddings

February really flew by and now March is here, Spring, Mothering Sunday and soon it'll be Easter.

It was a really busy month for my flowers and plants at Cowdray Farm Shop and I've been super busy this year with weddings and events work, visiting some amazing venues with wonderful wedding planners and beautiful brides to be. I'm so lucky to have been booked for some wonderful, wild, whimsical weddings this year and look forward to sharing these with you as they happen.

Unusually, I've had many early requests for my Spring wreaths this year, I absolutely love making them so I'm very happy. Here's one I put into Cowdray Farm Shop last week, It's made with mimosa, paperwhite narcissi, broom and forget me nots and the scent is fabulous.

The Last Flowers of Early Spring

I love change, I love the next thing and I don't spend much time looking backwards.

Maybe years spent in the fashion business had that effect on me but I find change exciting and seasonal changes really thrilling!

So, May has been an amazing month for new flowers but, before we move onto that, its time to say goodbye to some of the flowers that have served us well in early spring.

I made some of these bottles a few weeks ago for a PR job and already the tulips have finished, the hellebores are now looking raggedy in the garden the forsythia is now in full leaf. The ranunculus are hanging on but it really is time to move on as there's so much more available in May and by the time we get to June? Well, just watch this space.....

Bottle vase of Aquilegea, Hellebores, Ranunculus, Spearmint, Fritillaries, Sweet Peas and Forsythia

Aquilegia and Other Spring Flowers

It's Aquilegia week at the flower studio.

I'm selling lots of different varieties at the Cowdray Farm Shop both as plants and as cut flowers. I find them endlessly fascinating and love photographing their unique form.

They are fabulous garden plants as they self seed and pop up year after year. They've been present in every garden I've ever owned and yet I've never planted any until this year. It's been fun selecting new varieties for the cutting garden.

I've been making up posies with aquilegia, salmon parrot tulips, forsythia, fritillaries, ranunculus and hellebore. I love this palette of washed out lemons, peach and off white; fresh and uplifting!

My Spring Favourites

It's been an incredibly busy start to the year but I always make time to photograph my flowers. I love capturing flowers in season and have been documenting some of my favourite spring flowers. I've been using all of these in my bouquets at the Cowdray Farm shop.

Fritillaria Meleagris

One of my all time favourite Spring flowering bulbs is Fritillaria Meleagris.

You may have heard them referred to buy their common names of Snakes Head Fritillaries, Dropping Tulip, Chequerboard Daffodil or Chess Flower; all rather accurate descriptions of these gorgeous little nodding flowers.

Unlike most Spring flowering bulbs which like well drained soil, Fritillaria Meleagris like damp conditions and are happy to be planted at the edges of damp woodlands or in wild flower meadows and will flowers from March to May.

The exquisitely beautiful native wild flowers are members of the Lily family and their colours range from pink and white, purple and white to plain white. I love the purple and white chequerboard ones.

I've planted up some Fritillaria Meleagris in lovely zinc bowls to sell at The Cowdray Farm Shop, on The Cowdray Estate, here in Midhurst where I provide all of the cut flowers and plants. I'm also including the cut flowers in the bouquets I sell as I love to surprise and delight customers with something unusual and seasonal.

I have a little bunch of these glorious cut flowers on my own kitchen table as I like to test the vase life of all of the flowers I sell. I'm happy to report that they are looking fabulous on day 5 and they look set to continue for at least another 5 days!

It's a floral life!

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