Creating freedom and doing what feels good. Plus faffing with lots of spring blooms.

A little bit of what you fancy.

Hello my floral enthusiasts, how are you?

We are surrounded by blooms here as Lilly brings all hers home from floristry college. Some we oooh and ahh over, some I wonder what on earth they’re thinking. There is so much waste in the traditional floristry world and it really hacks me off (being polite, I’d like to swear). I’m glad I can educate my daughter about the sustainable way to do things and it doesn’t get more sustainable than growing your own flowers. Still, I felt it was important for Lilly to attend floristry college and create lasting friendships with fellow students.

I’m coaching Lilly right now on the business side of things and encouraging her to find her freedom with how she want’s to create. We talk about flowers she loves and colour palettes and how with practice- a style unique to her will start to form. I encourage exploration into what she really wants to create, what lights her up and what she will never tire of? We also talk about which aspects of working with flowers interests her. The idea of her own floristry van comes up and selling directly on the street. I can appreciate this as that’s how A Bunch Of Wild started but it was under a gazebo on the street. It was lovely as I got to know my customers and form a real bond over garden flowers. Of course I encourage a creative career to be a varied one, to have a go at things that interest you, not going all in on one thing too soon- if ever. Some of us aren’t cut out for just ‘one thing’.

I do love the spring colours and the anemones, all together the flowers look charming but I’m put off by the uniform straight stems and odd scent, it’s not a natural rose garden scent, I can’t even explain it, it’s just odd- like they’ve tried to make them smell like roses. Still, I’m grateful for flowers in the house although this is the only time of year you will see imported blooms in my home, I will always choose garden flowers over imported, chemically treated ones.

On garden news I started my sweet peas off the other day, around a dozen and I will start another batch in a months time. My seed delivery has arrived so I need to get the greenhouse ready, find my nans old potting tray, clean my seed trays and buy my seed compost and vermiculite so I’m ready to go. A few years back I hosted a seed sowing evening at the (then) local to me village hall, I’m thinking of doing this again but this time from my greenhouse. If this is something you’d be interested in attending just drop me an email or a dm to let me know. Last evening I started going through dates for workshops and my flower and coffee mornings. Last year the pottery classes were popular, I’ll be sending out a questionnaire soon about what you’d like from my classes and my newsletter.

I love to keep things varied and we’ll be back doing markets in Ampthill again, the first one is on the 15th of March in Find (behind Ampthill Emporium). At some point I must get back in my studio, the calling to get clay back under my nails and paint in my hair is strong! I adore having a varied artistic career, like I said, sometimes having multiple things on the go and not just one can be really fulfilling. I have found in the past if I try and put all my efforts in one area then I’m utterly miserable. I need all the things to nurture my creative soul, they actually feed off each other- the garden, photography, styling, art the list goes on. My job description- I’m a creator. It’s getting to be the norm now that this is a way of life and I’m so relieved for the younger generation. In my parents day you had to choose a career and that was it till you retired. I remember telling my dad I was giving up my salon and becoming a stylist and florist/flower grower. He thought I’d gone quite mad, even more so when I decided to go back and take pottery, but by the time I opened our Ampthill store he thought it the most natural thing and was incredibly excited. The world is changing constantly yet time remains short, it’s important to make the most of it. If you want to be rich then maybe a creative life isn’t for you- but if you want a rich life then it definitely is. I’ll leave you to ponder that one.

Emma x