Wednesday 15 December 2010






It's been an incredibly busy 2 months with some wonderful events and flowers! The workshops go ahead next week and I am very exciting to impart my passion and knowledge onto others :-)

Thursday 21 October 2010

Christmas Flower Workshops - Make your own Wreath!




We shall be running Christmas Floral Workshops in December - please let us know if you are interested and for more information. Should be a great festive evening for you and your friends - plus you leave not only with a gorgeous wreath for your Christmas table, but also with the skills to do it again next year!

White and Red Wedding with Freesia and Gerbera






This beautiful wedding at St. Giles Church Northampton was a joy to work on. The combination of gerbera, freesia and eucalyptus not only looked elegant, fun, quirky, but it also smelt divine! The gold handles and pearl trimmings added that extra bit of luxury. The church was dressed with pedestals and pew ends to match the bridal party.... A fantastic day all round, for a lovely couple.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Garden Party Wedding






Congratulations to Sarah and Adam on their amazing wedding day. Purple and clover was the theme, along with wildflower garden party elements. The bouquets were made up of veronica, cornflower, freesia and lisianthus. Buttonholes incorporated thistle and stephanotis and the whole look was really effective!

Monday 27 September 2010

Busy times!






It was lovely delivering purple wildflower wedding flowers last week. I especially love working with thistle and stephanotis.

Equally adored creating the anthurium arrangement and yellow/blue table arrangement today too!

Tomorrow is all about the Iridium 10th Anniversary - bring it on!

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Making an Impact



Next week Flora's Garden is privileged to be doing the flowers for the 10th anniversary of consulting company Iridium (www.iridiumconsulting.co.uk)

The venue is the Rennie Mackintosh House 78 Derngate (www.78derngate.org.uk) and the flowers are certainly set to make an impact on the day! Bold colours and linear structures should make for some eye catching pieces :-) Photos to come!

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Mini bouquets!




I loved delivering these mini bouquets to some lovely friends recently... nice way to say 'thanks' for those little but still oh-so-important moments in life... love you ladies!

Sunday 5 September 2010

Purple heaven :-)




It was a long but exciting day on Friday organising and arranging garlands and table ends for a wedding vow renewal that evening. The end result looked great and I was very pleased! Thank goodness for my trusty florist asisstants - priceless :-)

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Colourful bouquets





What a lovely varied range of bouquets and buttonholes I've delivered this month, quite a few newborns so congratulations to those families :-)

Tuesday 3 August 2010

White wedding!





Congratulations to Claire and Simon Lister who got married at the weekend. The wedding was beautiful and the bride looked stunning as you can see in the pics! The flowers used were akito roses, delphi dianthus, and ivory lisianthus with a skirt of soft ruscus. The button holes were akito roses with lisianthus along with teal ribbon curls and pearl pins. Lovely!

Friday 30 July 2010

Bouquets Bouquets Bouquets!






Mmmmm I've been working with dried lavender today - the whole workshop is filled with the aroma, it's gorgeous. Had some lovely bouquet requests recently - purple and red, country lavender, I love it when I am asked for something specific but get to add a little twist of my own too... creativity at it's best!

Monday 26 July 2010

Article in Princes' Trust Mentor Quarterly Update

My Big Career Change: Administrator to Florist & Business Owner

I suppose you could say it all began when I was 17 and I was asked by a relative the obligatory question: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?!’ Growing up itself seemed an ominous prospect let alone the idea of an actual career. My love of English literature and reading lead me to answer ‘perhaps a writer…’ shortly followed by ‘…or a florist?’ To which most people would laugh light heartedly. It may have started light heartedly but it has developed over the years from a suggestion, to a dream, to my reality. I now own and run Floras-Garden.com, my very own Creative Online Florist.

I finished my degree in English Literature with a feeling of excitement and apprehension; I was going to enter the world of work with the advantage of a solid education and bag loads of ambition to go with it. However, around the time of the recession we all know it wasn’t as easy as that. I was lucky to land a job but it was at this time when I began to take a look back at my real dreams – and floristry was one of them. After making the decision that floristry was a creative and colourful industry I was eager to explore, I searched for a training programme that would suit me. I signed up for the prestigious private tuition of Judith Blacklock. I felt ready to step into the world of self employment. And so that’s exactly what I did.

The Princes’ Trust Business Programme was where I turned next. I was given endless support with marketing, accounts, branding and general business advice. The support was priceless and boosted my confidence incredibly. Equipped with my confidence and business plan I finally felt able as a florist and as a business woman. I went to a dragon’s den style panel and secured myself some investment with the Trust to help me with start up costs. This has enabled me to set up a website www.floras-garden.com, carry out some marketing, set up a workshop and allow me to buy all the initial materials needed for such a business. The mentoring began a few weeks after this and has been the key factor in keeping me motivated through the more difficult times. I soon realised that self employment can be an intimidating and isolating prospect; my mentor has not only given me business knowledge, but the most valuable gift any new business owner needs: encouragement. Through the mentoring I have gained confidence and realised my potential. I have also been able to talk about my weaknesses and how these can be addressed – it’s so vital to be able to recognise that you cannot be perfect, but that this is ok!

I have since had a feature in a local cultural magazine and have numerous wedding and events bookings as well as selling gift bouquets weekly. A few of my clients have defined me as their ‘personal florist’ and are constantly enhancing my reputation through word of mouth. The orders and bookings are now snowballing and I could not have done it without the support provided by my friends, family and The Princes’ Trust.

Sunday 25 July 2010

Fire!


Had some lovely 'fiery' coloured bouquets to deliver this week. I loved using the gold feathers!

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Luxory


My favourite rose is the Luxor. Nature's genius art.

Recent Bouquet Orders





From bottom up:
Firstly we have a lovely country bouquet with violet stocks and soft asparagus fern...
Second is a simple yellow rose wrapped bunch...
And last but most beautiful, a luxury passion rose mass hand tied...

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Spanish Delights



What a lush and vibrant area Manilva is! I saw some fantastic flowers and gardens on my trip to spain recently. A lot of rich purples and pinks - my favourite! I really recommend the area - Port Duquesa and Sabinillas not only have some beautiful views but fantastic food and local people too!