Flowers from the Farm are delighted to be working with the Royal Horticultural Society to stage the RHS Flower School at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. Over the six days of the show, from 4th to 9th July, the dedicated flower-filled marquee will host free floral demonstrations and hands-on workshops sharing the beauty of British cut flowers.
The RHS Flower School with Flowers from the Farm promises to be a spectacular celebration of scented, garden-style British cut flowers grown by over 30 professional flower farmers within 30 miles of the showground. Every single stem of cut flower and foliage - both fresh and dried - in the RHS Flower School has been grown by members of Flowers from the Farm, the not-for-profit membership association championing artisan growers of local, seasonal British cut flowers. Grown outdoors in their natural season, these blooms have a relaxed, informal, characterful beauty and are the most sustainably-grown cut flowers that money can buy.
From the awe-inspiring suspended floral installations to the magnificent urns bursting with colorful summer blooms, members of Flowers from the Farm will be showcasing the beauty of British flowers through foam-free, sustainable floral design. Every morning at 11 am, visitors can watch floral demonstrations by creative farmer-florists, who both grow and arrange their own flowers. The morning line-up includes Alice Antcliff from Meadowfolk, Jill Houston of Little Park Flowers, Katie Stone of Featherstone's English Flower Company, Bex Partridge of Botanical Tales, Camila Klich, and Marianne Mogendorff of Wolves Lane Flower Company, and Paul and Helen Stickland of Black Shed Flower Farm.
In the afternoons at 2 pm, some of the country's leading florists will be getting creative with the flowers and foliages from Flowers from the Farm members and talking about how British-grown flowers inspire their designs. The London celebrity florist line-up includes Leigh Chappell, Simon Lycett, Shane Connolly, Rebel Rebel, and Alice McCabe.
There will be the chance for visitors to get hands-on and floral for free at 1230H and 1530H every day by creating your own buttonhole or mini posy corsage of British flowers under the guidance of the Flowers from the Farm ambassadors. Ask them about their lives in flower farming and how to find your local flower farmer at www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk.
Debbie Scott, Co-Chair of Flowers from the Farm, said: "We are thrilled to be working with the Royal Horticultural Society at this year's RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. Flower farming is an emerging new career in horticulture. Membership of Flowers from the Farm has more than doubled in the past 3 years to number over 950 independent flower farms across the UK. And as numbers have grown, so availability and accessibility has improved, and we estimate that 85% of the UK population are now within 30 miles of a flower farmer."
Buying from a local flower farmer is the most sustainable way to buy cut flowers. Flowers from the Farm members grow their flowers and foliages outdoors for the most part in their natural season, with no artificial light or heat and none of the air miles of hothoused imports.
For more information:
Flowers from the Farm
www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk