Eco Flower Deliveries Midhurst West Sussex

It’s the first day of Spring and it’s hard to believe it but ‘Leckie’, our all electric van, is covered in snow.

We’ve had ‘Leckie’ since August and we absolutely love him. He fits perfectly with our company values and since we bought ‘Leckie’ he’s really helping us to achieve our goals of running a sustainable, eco friendly business. We can deliver flowers, plants and bespoke arrangements within a 20 mile radius of Midhurst so do call if you’d like to book a delivery as we always have a gorgeous range of seasonal flowers and plants in stock as we do daily deliveries to the Cowdray Farm Shop (literally 5 minutes from our studio) where we supply all of the flowers and plants.

We no longer use floral foam in any of our work as we’ve worked hard to achieve amazing floral displays without using this non biodegradable, single use, plastic.

This year we’ll be growing more of our own flowers and we’ll also be running some flower courses for anyone who is interested in learning how to create glorious, seasonal, eco friendly arrangements. 

Sign up to our newsletter on our home page if you’d like to be kept informed. 

Yellow Flowers

Okay, so I’m well aware that many people have an intense dislike of yellow flowers. I do understand this dislike but I think it stems from an historical poor use of yellow in flower arrangements and the fact that yellow was off trend for many years.

Not any more though as yellow is currently enjoying its moment in the sun and for the last few seasons has been on trend in both fashion and home furnishings. With the proliferation of dark walls in interiors and dark backgrounds in print design a pop of yellow can look fabulous.

Here are a few of my favourite seasonal yellow flowers for February. 

Mimosa

Witch hazel

Mimosa wreath

Gorse

Witch Hazel, mimosa and lilac

January Wedding Flowers at Cowdray House

Hellebores are simply amazing plants, surviving the British winter and continuing to flower in sub zero conditions. I’ve been selling lots of these gorgeous plants all through the winter at The Cowdray Farm Shop and I think I’ve used them in most of my winter events and weddings. 

Well, here they are again in this lovely winter wedding at Cowdray House.

We used plants on the table and cut hellebores in the bouquets tied with jasmine, paperwhite narcissi, white lilac and a sprinkling of floribundas roses.

The floral candelabra, made naturally without floral foam, lined the banqueting table. 

The fire was lit and we dressed the huge stone fireplace with ivy and candles; it was a perfect and romantic small winter wedding.

Archie’s caterers proved the wonderful food and hospitality.   

Hellebores and  ranunculus

Bridal bouquet of hellebores, white lilac, jasmine and floribundas roses

Banquet with floral candelabra of spring flowers

A Christmas Dinner at Cowdray House

This was a very special dinner at Cowdray House in December. 

It was glamorous, festive and fun and in addition to providing the flowers and dressing the Buck Hall for Christmas I actually went to the dinner. 

The food was absolutely sublime and provided by the fabulous Caper and Berry. What a great evening it was! 

Thank you to Cowdray Estate for letting me post these lovely photos of the event taken by a Chris Orange Photography. 

Audi A8 Launch at Cowdray House

Well, we’ve been flat out again since the last event I posted so I’m trying to play catch up again!

This event was very special as it was a dinner for motoring journalists and VIP’s to celebrate the launch of the new Audi A8 in the UK.

We created a large central autumnal tree and decorated the huge fireplace with a garland of autumn leaves and berries. The tables formed a cross shape and were filled with a runner of autumnal flowers, hips and foliage with decorated candelabra to co-ordinate.

I hope you like the photos! 

Winter White Wedding at Cowdray House

Amy and Andrew married at Cowdray House in Midhurst, West Sussex on November 18th 2017.

Candlelight was really important to Amy and Andrew and over 300 candles were used to create this fabulous romantic wedding.  

The ceremony took place in the cathedral like space of Buck Hall and we decorated the huge fireplace with ivy, seasonal greenery and white hydrangea heads. Candles were used on top of the fireplace, in the fireplace and lining the aisle; it looked absolutely stunning and so did the gorgeous Amy.

We stayed on site to turn the room around for the dinner with the caterers, Caper and Berry. The guests retired to the drawing room for canapés and champagne and within an hour the room was transformed with candleabra, white hydrangeas and hundreds of candles along the 108 foot of banqueting tables.

I can’t wait to see the official photos by Hajie as mine came out a little pink for some reason when it actually didn’t look pink!

Buck Hall dressed for the Wedding ceremony

Buck Hall dressed for the wedding dinner 

Macaron tower by Sylvia’s Kitchen

Autumn Dinner at Cowdray House

I really enjoyed creating the house and table flowers for this very special dinner at Cowdray House in October. It's an amazing time of year to be a florist as there is such wonderful material to work with and bringing the outside in as the days grow shorter is always appreciated by the guests.

I designed this dinner to come alive after dark when the candles were lit to create a real 'wow' factor. I used layers of candlelight that would illuminate the flowers, seedheads and grasses and although I didn't manage to photograph the table when the candles are lit I have seen photos that were taken that night; it really did look gorgeous and the feedback after the dinner was fabulous.

The Dining Room at Cowdray House

Hall Flowers at Cowdray House

The dining table flowers

Autumnal florals, ferns and grasses

I thought I'd share this little arrangement that I gathered for the house last weekend. It's a gorgeous palette and contains everything I love about autumn; grasses, bronze and pink tinged foliage, horse chestnuts, poppy seed heads, sanguisorbia, browning ferns to name just a few. Mixed with a few pale pink chrysanthemums (yes there are some really beautiful ones) and a few appropriately coloured roses in mustard yellow and apricot; I think it's a really lovely combination.

I made the little footed teracotta vase on a pottery wheel and the colours co-ordinate beautifully with the embroidery I made back in 1991. Hand thrown, hand sewn,...! 

Autumn Heather Wreaths

Autumn wreaths are now incredibly popular and this week we've been making lots of gorgeous autumnal heather wreaths for orders. Our red and orange wreaths decorated with seasonal foliage, rose hips, physalis and seed heads are still popular but the demand for our pink, red and chocolate wreaths, inspired by the heather woods where I live in Midhurst, West Sussex, has been very high indeed. We've also been making some beautiful dried wreaths which will last throughout the year. I love making the dried wreaths and they look beautiful propped on the mantelpiece or hanging on doors around the house.

This will be the last week for our autumn wreaths as we've been working on our Christmas collection which we'll launch at Cowdray Farm Shop on Saturday 2nd December when they're holding their Christmas tasting day. 

If you'd like to order a wreath for collection or delivery do get in touch!

Birthday Banquet at Cowdray House

I realise I've got some serious catching up to do on my blog posts to get everything up to date!  

Back in a June we worked with lovely Mauricio and his team at The Admirable Critchton on a fabulous birthday banquet for their clients who were staying at Cowdray House for the weekend.

The colour theme was rich reds and oranges with an abundance of candlelight and the tables were set in a horseshoe shape around a dance floor. 

As we left Cowdray House a team of actors were rehearsing their steps for the murder mystery game that would be unfolding throughout the evening. The stage looked set for a really fun evening and I understand that the clients had a really fabulous time.

 

A Dinner at Cowdray Ruins

Last week was fabulous. 

I was invited to design the flowers by The Admirable Crichton for a private party who were staying at Cowdray House for the weekend. 

The dinner on the Friday evening was held at Cowdray Ruins, a place I absolutely love. It's a blank canvas with regard to flowers as it is all wonderfully old brick and dirt floors.

A simple green fern theme with wonderful grey linen cloths, green water glasses and lots of candlelight was requested by The Admirable Crichton and the result was simply beautiful.

Greenery is super fashionable at the moment but it doesn't always work in any setting. On this occasion, without any green grass or garden to compete with the green stood out against the red brick and with a simple vase of white foxgloves, fern and orlaya on the bar and a couple of vignettes of white foxglove plants and candles the Ruins came alive and was ready for a sensational dinner. 

Summer Polo Event at Cowdray House

Last Friday I had the pleasure of providing the flowers for a summer polo event at Cowdray House on Cowdray Estate.

Hosted by Cowdray Polo Club with catering by Caper and Berry there were canapés on the lawn followed by a dinner in the dining room of cowdray House.

I brought in some wonderful rhodendendrons from the gardens of Cowdray House and decorated the tables with seasonal peonies, aquilegia, hellebores, lilac to name a few of the ingredients. 

Its always a pleasure working at the fabulous Cowdray House! 

Brainwave Charity Clay Shoot at Cowdray House

The annual fund raising event for the Brainwave charity took place at Cowdray House last week and I provided the seasonal flowers for the delicious lunch which was provided by the wonderful Jacaranda Catering with fabulous wine provided by Nyetimber.

April Flowers and the Tasty Woodland Treats

What an amazingly sunny April we've had so far, the garden is in full bloom and the sun has been shining, although I hear that there may be some frost next week which I don't think we're prepared for!

I'm writing this whilst looking through the window into the garden and it's filled with lilac, clematis montana, apple blossom, viburnum opulus, bluebells, whitebells and unfurling ferns.

I live next door to the woods so the wild garlic which lines the path into the woods has also found its way into the garden and spread under a tree. It's in full flower and I've been looking at recipes for pickling the flower heads and making pesto from the leaves.

While I'm on the subject of food (for free) I've just passed a patch of wild stawberries in flower and the wild bilberries are now a gorgeous pink colour so it won't be long before the crop is ready. Living next to the woods and walking through them each day with the dogs is such a bonus!

It's so exciting to see the English bluebells all over the garden and the white bells are incredibly pretty with the unfurling bright green ferns catching the light.

The peonies are on the way soon......happy days indeed!

Whitebells and ferns

Apple blossom

Bluebells, whitebells and ferns

Unfurling ferns and bluebells

Wild garlic  

Whitebells and bluebells

Wild strawberries

Spring Wedding at Cowdray House

As the preferred florist at the glorious Cowdray House in Midhurst West Sussex, we know this venue rather well and can wholeheartedly recommend you to book your wedding or event there; its a really wonderful house in an incredibly beautiful location and you won't be disappointed.

Last week we provided the flowers for Sally and Tom's fabulous wedding at Cowdray House. 

The theme was wild wood with plenty of greens and branches with new shoots emerging. We used seasonal flowers in whites, ivory and champagne with touches of blue. The flowers included anemones, frittilaria, ranunculus, jonquils, hellebores, bluebells and spirea.

We decorated the huge fireplace in Buck hall with branches of greenery, with a sprinkling of white flowers. This is where the wedding ceremony took place and the aisle was lined with candles in glass.

After the ceremony, the wedding party and guests had canapés and champagne in the gardens and other rooms of the house whilst Jacaranda Catering and our team laid out the banqueting tables for the dinner. We all achieved a very quick turnaround and the room was ready in just over an hour.

Spring Bridal Bouquet

White frittilaria, anemones, ranunculus, spirea make a very lovely and relaxed bridal bouquet.

I've added a few sweet peas for scent and some caramel coloured frittilaries and it's ready to meet its bride!

Flowers for Mothering Sunday at Cowdray Farm Shop

What a lovely, sunny weekend it's been for a Mothering Sunday.

I provide all of the flowers and plants for the award winning Cowdray Farm Shop on the beautiful Cowdray Estate in Easebourne, Midhurst, West Sussex and with Mothering Sunday and the exceptional weather this weekend it's been a very flowery and busy week,.

Here are a few photos of this weekend's bouquets, planters and plants.  

Lilac, ranunculus, scented narcissi and anemones

Lilac, ranunculus, astrantia, forget-me-nots and clematis

Ranunculus, lilac, scented narcissi and forget-me-nots

Mimosa

Zinc Muscari planters

Scented narcissi, ranunculus, anemones

Mothers Day Competition with Penguin Books

I've just completed a lovely project for Penguin Books who asked me to design some flower bouquets to celebrate the publication of Before The Rains, a new Novel by Dinah Jefferies. 

To coincide with Mother's Day, which is on a Sunday 26th March this year, Penguin Books are inviting you to enter a competition for the chance to win one of these gorgeous orchid bouquets along with a hard back copy of Before The Rains for both you and your Mother.  

Before The Rains is the latest in a series of novels written by Dinah Jefferies and I was asked to design bouquets inspired by the four novels in the series, their covers and their fabulous locations of Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India.

I chose orchids as the fabulous flower of choice as the colours are incredible and these luxurious flowers grow in each of the countries where the novels are set.

I was lucky enough to be sent an advance copy of Before The Rains which was a really brilliant read and I thoroughly recommend it.

To enter the competition click the link below!

 https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/competitions/2017/mar/dinah-jefferies/

Hellebore Heaven

Whether as a garden plant or a cut flower the hellebore is simply incredible. 

From Dec to April these little plants brighten up our gardens with the most exquisite flowers  often when few other plants are in flower.

Plant some today so that you'll have beautiful flowers next winter, you won't be dissapointed!

Magnolia Heaven

Who doesn't love be a magnolia tree in full bloom? 

The Magnolia in our garden is spectacular and makes my heart sing every day when I drive through the gate. 

Magnolia branches are sensational in a vase and I've been selling pink and white branches at Cowdray Farm Shop this week . They're not from my garden though as I couldn't bear to pick them!