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.

Spring florals

It was an incredibly busy March in the flower studio with Mothering Sunday in the first week and Easter in the last.

These events are huge 'peaks' in the flower business and although it's exceptionally hard work it's also really enjoyable. I loved this year more than any other as in addition to the fabulous variety of spring flowers I get to play with for my flower bouquets and bunches I also get to design planted bulb arrangements which I absolutely adore.

Magnolia blossom

Bridal Crown Narcissi and Muscari planter for Cowdray House

Planted willow basket with Bridal Crown Narcissi for Cowdray House

Bringing the outside inside is even more important when Easter is cold and wet, as it was for at least some of the bank holiday weekend. Watching the bulbs grow and unfold their flowers and witnessing the flowering branches of forsythia, chaenomelis, cherry blossom and magnolia burst into flower is sheer joy. 

I've lost count of the number of Easter 'trees' I've made this year for the displays at Cowdray Farm shop and Cafe, clients, friends and myself. Branches of contorted willow, birch branches with catkins, real painted blown eggs and sweet little birds make fun Easter arrangements and, after Easter, you can remove the eggs and enjoy the branches which will burst into leaf heralding the arrival of Spring. 

Spring and Bringing the Outside In

Iris at Home

Yes, it really was one of those March days today that Dickens so beautifully described.

The wind was biting but the sun was warm and gave the promise of sunny days ahead. And so, spring is officially here and April is close and all manner of bulbs and plants are tentatively  poking their heads out of the ground to check on conditions.

The 'wild' native primulas are blooming on the banks next to my flower studio and I was very excited to see the heart shaped leaves of the wild violets lining the lawn today.

A friend sent me a photo of a glorious display of Scillas over at Uppark (I think it was Scilla Siberica but I can't be sure) and it made me want to plant some of these fabulous bulbs in my own garden. Unfortunately, my suppliers have sold out so I've bought them in as a cut flower today instead and have been adding them to my bunches at the Cowdray Farm Shop.

The flower studio is fully stocked with bulbs of tulips, narcissi, iris, hyacinths, muscari, crocus, lily of the valley and, my all time favourite, Frittilaria. I really love putting together bulbs planters and spring wreaths and it's been extremely busy at Cowdray as the customers, like me, have been bringing the outside in.