Cut Flower Care

Cut Flower After Care

stating the obvious (or so I thought) !

A very quick blog I have felt obliged to write after a quick chat with my Dad. It went something like this.....

ME: "So how are Mums flowers looking (that I gave her for Mothers' Day) ? Did you find a nice vase for them?"

DAD: " They are still looking lovely, I've just left them in the plastic you put them in "

ME: "What ????" .........

or something like that, some artistic license may have come into play! 

Anyway you get the gist ! I was a little shocked that my parents didn't immediately unpack the flowers from the cellophane living vase, I had wrapped them in for their transportation to Oxfordshire, and put them in some ice cold water. I then began to wonder how many other people do not know what to do with flowers once they have received them? 

So forgive me if I am stating the obvious but it appears some people need a little nudge.

Tulip 'Belicia'

Home Grown Scented Narcissi

If you are lucky enough to be given flowers or if you have treated yourself (and why not) when you get them home if they are wrapped (however beautifully) please unwrap them and put them in a vase/jug/pint glass!/vessel of your choosing of COLD water. 

I advise that you also re-snip the ends off (on a slant).

If you re-fresh the water every few days and re-snip the ends at the same time then you will be amazed at how much longer your blooms will last. Also keep them out of strong direct sunlight (a sunny windowsill isn't a great spot, despite them looking pretty there). Next to a (turned on) radiator is also less then ideal.

So to summarize the obvious: 

- Unwrap from cellophane, etc

- Place in vessel of cold water

- re-fresh water regularly (you will be surprised how quickly they drink it up)

- re-snip stem ends (on a slant)

- place somewhere cool to prevent the water heating up and the flowers 'cooking'

- enjoy your blooms for weeks 

- oh, and of course buy seasonal, locally grown blooms which should be super fresh. 

consider yourselves nudged !! 

Tulip 'Belicia' in cold water!

Tulip 'Belicia' 

Chloe x 

Mary's (Presteigne) Wedding

A disgustingly long time has passed since my last blog.

Seeing as I am in the last few weeks of my 'quiet time' for the flower growing I thought I would make the most of it and actually blog those blogs that have been waiting in the wings for far too long.

So lets start at the beginning.......   my first ever 'solo' wedding project with BareBlooms . This was June 12th 2010 (I am ashamed it has taken me this long to give these pictures an airing!)

Groom with a border of  Clematis Armandii

the Groom awaits his bride

The Ceremony

The wedding ceremony took place at The Judges Lodging Presteigne (Powys), which very conveniently (for me) is  just a few doors away from my house! 
I arranged all the flowers for the ceremony room and all bouquets and buttonholes. Some of the flowers were grown by me but most came from my lovely flower growing friend Nada at The Hatch.
After the ceremony everybody walked across the road to St Andrews Church to have some photo's taken. There just happened to be a church fete going on in the church yard which gave a lovely fun, relaxed atmosphere. The wedding guests also benefited from some rural charm entertainment!

Church Fete

Church Fete stalls

Pick a Card.....

Bride and groom

Bride and her Bridesmaid

The bouquets were made up of seasonal (of course) blooms. Including Peonies, Alchemilla, Astrantia, Orlaya Grandiflora, Valerian, Roses..........

Mary

Also conveniently the Brides Mother (my neighbour) lives just as close and it was all back to hers for drinks in the garden, the fete theme being carried on with a spot of bunting.

bunting

Confetti time outside Mary's mothers home

Throwing of the bouquet

the 'catcher' !!!! 

The guests later when on to the reception at a nearby village hall which had been decorated with more bunting and lots of colour.

If only all weddings were on my doorstep like this one! 


I promise to follow up this blog with some more detailed photo's of the flowers for all you floral types.


I'd like to thank Mr and Mrs Patel for letting me use their lovely photo's. 


(please do not reproduce any photo's without permission).

Lovely talented Friends

I consider myself very lucky to have the kind of friends that bring me round gifts. Even better when they are talented  enough to bring their own hand made gifts.......

Christmas Cards from Hannah Madden

My lovely friend Hannah Madden popped in with some of her Christmas cards for me the other day. I must steal my mother's well used phrase and say they are "too nice to use" !! I think only very special people will get one of these for Christmas!

hanmade

Hannah and myself worked together on BareBlooms Cut Flower Seed Kits back in the spring. Check out the hanmade blog and see what other lovely gifts Hannah has on offer. You can catch her on etsy and folksy and this Friday (2nd Dec) Saturday (3rd Dec) and Sunday (4th Dec) you can catch her at Presteigne arts and craft fair.....catch me there on Saturday and Sunday (I'll be the one looking very cold outside with some festive wreaths, etc .

an 'Orange' convert

Now I would never have described myself as an 'Orange' fan. To be fair I don't dislike any colour, but ask me that question (which children so often do) "what is your favourite colour" and the answer wouldn't be Orange.
 However I have been really pleased with the prolific Dahlia 'New Baby' which I have grown for the first time this year. It has indeed changed my mind, and in the case of this little beauty I am loving it in all it's 'Orange' glory!! 

Dahlia - New Baby

Now the weather has changed and the Autumnal winds have picked up I think this little Orange beauty is the perfect way to embrace the new season. They are like little Pumpkins in flower form!

Dahlia - New Baby

Dahlia - New Baby

Dahlia - New Baby

Dahlia - New Baby

The blue 'ball' jar that one of my Brides has lent me for her wedding this coming weekend just sets those shocking Orange blooms of nicely.

Orange and Blue

An early Happy Autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc, etc.

Sunflowers and Fennel...the perfect partners.

I recently had the pleasure of decorating St Marys Church, Pembridge (Herefordshire) for a small wedding. Pembridge is renowned for its 14th Century detached Bell Tower and the town is well worth a visit if you are ever passing through this way.

                            

The 14th Century approach 

the sign says it all!

Near the other entrance to the churchyard  is the Old Chapel Gallery and just outside of town are the lovely Westonbury Mill Water Gardens which are also worth a visit, though unfortunately I haven't been to either this year (yet).

The wedding was a small affair on a minuscule budget so I wanted to keep it very simple and of course seasonal. I felt if one was lucky enough to be getting married when the Sunflowers were out then it would be a shame not to use them (and luckily the bride agreed!) So pew ends (well chair ends) were made up of Sunflowers and Fennel wrapped up in brown paper and raffia.                  

Sunflower and Fennel

Sunflower Pew End

Pew End in it's rustic wrapping

The Pew Ends stayed in situ in the Church. There was an evening concert taking place there that day as part of the Presteigne Festival. So I was happy for them to get a second viewing. 

The Seasonal Arrangement that was placed at the Church entrance was whipped over to the reception venue after the service to get a second use (and save money). The spice jars of Sweet Peas which adorned the church windows were later placed in the centre of the reception tables.

Seasonal Arrangement

There's the Fennel again!

Spice Jar of Sweet Peas 

A visit to the 'Darling Buds of Hay'

I recently met up with a lovely lady called Layla through friends of friends etc (always the best connections). I soon realised we had met each other a few years ago when we were both debating about launching ourselves into business to satisfy our passion for flowers.
 It has been a pleasure that our paths have crossed again and a joy to find someone down the road from me to whom I can talk flowers non stop and their eyes don't glaze over!


 My flower growing has been rather disrupted this year by a house move upheaval in late April (busy seed sowing time) and another move on the horizon in a few months (busy bulb planting and hardy annual sowing time)!!! This has left me rather short of flowers for some events so I have been very lucky that Layla has helped me out of this pickle, and even entrusted me to run free (skip with excitement) through her flower patch with a pair of scissors! 

A little snippet of the cutting patch

This week I decided to take my good friend and stunning photographer  (http://www.sabinaruber-photographer.com/)Sabina with me to visit Layla. A good excuse for a 'work' outing!

 Anyway we talked plants and flowers for more time than any of us realised. Needless to say fueled by cake and cups of tea!

 It was a stunning Summer's Day, and as evening approached Layla suggested we all went outside and picked ourselves some flowers to take home. Sabina and I didn't need asking twice! 
 So here are a few photo's of our 'bunches'. Of course all photographs are my amateur snaps (not up to Sabina's standards!)

Sabina snaps our finished articles

Sabina gives Layla a few camera tips

Our finished bunches, guess who's is who's?!

It was interesting to see how different our finished bunches were we were all faced with the same flowers and time, but were obviously drawn to different colours, shapes and textures on that particular evening.

Layla's arrangement

My arrangement

BareBlooms and Darling Buds of Hay

I started cutting near the dark Sweet Peas which then lead me to carry along complimenting their rich colour. I couldn't resist a few Nigella pods, Bupleurum, Achillea and Scabious to add to the mix! 

Layla Robinson can be contacted about the 'Darling buds of Hay' on ....layels@hotmail.co.uk
Please take the time to check out Sabinas stunning work on her website here.....http://www.sabinaruber-photographer.com/

Hay on Wye - Fair on the Square

The Flower Co-Operative

BareBlooms had their first outing as the Flower Co-Operative during the Hay Festival. We were not on the Festival site itself but right in the middle of town at 'Fair on the Square'. Thanks to all of you that came along and took some flowery goodness home with you.

Chloe arranging a seasonal bouquet

Pretty Tea Cups full of Business Cards

It was really lovely working with Cath from http://www.breconblooms.com/ for the first time and Amber from Grove Farm Flowers. I am so used to working on my own that it was a welcome change to share my passion with these lovely ladies. I also had my good friend Lucy Gaze keeping me company on the Monday (pictured below). I hope Lucy will be able to become a more regular BareBloomer in the future!

Lucy Gaze

Seed Kits and Acidanthera bags
with Allium print from Hannah Madden

We had lots of positive feedback from the many people visiting the festival, as well as a few shop owners who were buying up Peonies and stocks before Cath had a chance to get them out of her car!
The Flower Co-Operative website is in the process of being put together, I will be shouting from the roof tops once we are up and running!

BareBlooms Seed Kits

We had to deal with high winds on the Sunday and rain on the Monday (typical Welsh borders weather) despite all this we managed to come home with only one bunch of Delphiniums (which I now have brightening up my home).

Amber from Grove Farm Flowers

Monday - in the rain!

Alliums, Sweet Williams, Stocks, etc


Thanks to the lovely Lisa at http://thepennycones.blogspot.com/ for my special bow tie to wear on the day!!

Pennycones Bow Tie