Stocking Local, Shopping Local.

The chilly start to spring hasn’t stopped the arrival of the locally grown cut flowers to our flower stand, and it is always such a welcome sight to see the freshly cut flowers grown just miles from the shop back again. One of the main perks of being a florist is working alongside the seasons, and being in tune with how the weather is effecting the progress of the cut flowers locally. I can remember how glorious the weather was just over a year ago when the country was in a full lockdown, and as I worked from home to make the seasonal bunches to deliver, the plentiful choice of flowers from Kate (of Northumbrian Flowers) arriving from late March was fantastic. Everything has been a little later this year with the bitterly cold start to spring. 

Now, we are in May, and so far, the tulips, blossom, ranunuculus and narcissi have been going down a treat, and as we wait for the weather to warm up and longer days we can anticipate so many more flower types to come – aquilegia, orlaya, lupins, delphinium, foxgloves, ammi, grasses, roses, peony, salvia, dahlia, chrysanthemum to name just a few of the flowers to come over the coming months from local growers. We will also have flowers grown especially for us to dry and use in our dried arrangements over the course of the summer.

Since opening in June 2018, it has been one of my top priorities to source flowers grown from the local area. Having built up good relationships with several local growers it is really exciting to start stocking their produce once again. This will continue throughout the summer until mid October and will be supplemented by our dutch supplies so that we can continue to have a well stocked stand of flowers.

There are many reasons to use locally grown

• Buying local from us allows us in turn to support other small local businesses.
• Sustainability – all grown within 30mile radius of the shop. No cellophane wrapping, no air miles, no costly shipping.
• Freshness – cut from the ground and delivered to the shop within a few hours.
• No pesticides or chemical sprays are used on the flowers – helping our local biodiversity to thrive.

Any cons?

• Some cut flowers may have a shorter vase life, but often the reverse is true and you will find, with the tulips for example, that they last far longer in the vase than their Dutch counterparts.  

I should also mention that as well as the cut flowers, we are once again selling plants grown from seed by Kate of Northumbrian flowers - try growing your own veg - we have courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs currently. We also have perennial plants - peonies and roses, and also annuals such as sweet pea seedlings, and later in the year cosmos and other easy plants you can grow and use to cut your own flowers from. 

We hope you enjoy the flowers as much as we enjoy them here in the shop!

Pip and The Flower Folk team