Tales From A Farmer/Florist Part 3

A Bunch Of Wild - Seasonal floral styling and garden design

Hello my flower loving friends, I’m glad you’re still following along with my story of how I found myself growing flowers for a business. If starting a career as a flower grower wasn’t tricky enough it was about to get more difficult. I hadn’t even started selling flowers yet, hadn’t got to that point as I’d run out of space!

Land comes at a premium! This was the aspect I struggled over the most- it took me ages to find somewhere to grow my flowers. I contacted the local council who didn’t really understand the concept. I live quite near a private estate and they did have something but it had a public footpath running through the middle and was full of dear and rabbits, idyllic but not for growing flowers. A friend offered her garden but I was dubious to accept as it wasn’t concrete enough- if she wanted to move… People kept telling me to get an allotment which I did in the end but there was a lot of hoops to jump through. First off, most allotments don’t let you profit from your plot, it’s an ancient law as allotments were to provide local people with the means to support themselves by way of growing produce and keeping chickens, not to make a living from. And then there’s the waiting lists. I was up against sexist chairmen who wouldn’t speak to me because I was a woman. I even got my husband to contact one who had been ignoring me to prove that it was because I was a woman- he replied straight away to my husband surprise surprise, once he found out it was for me we didn’t hear from him again. I couldn’t believe it. Undeterred though I carried on researching and eventually found a site in the next village. The head of the allotments was lovely and really interested in what I wanted to do, you see back then flower farming in the uk was relatively new- in that it hadn’t been done for years, not since the uk started mass importing flowers. There were a few plots I could choose from and he suggested one in-between a few very well kept plots that were worked daily. I had my space.

The baffled look of amusement on Larry, Bull Dog Dave and Steves face was one I’ll never forget. “You want to do what, grow flowers” Bull Dog Dave said with a toothy grin leaning on his digging hoe. These three fine gentlemen were to become my new best friends over that first year. It was hard going, my plot was heavy clay. Steve told me it was all about timing with clay, when to dig, plant and water. “You cant dig it when it’s too wet, you’ll break your back” he said. Bull Dog Dave came over and piped up “you’ll need a digging hoe” and presented me with his to borrow until I bought my own and Larry would spend ages telling me what weeds I really didn’t want. They were my unlikely support team. I’ll never forget Steve panicking when there was a drought and my dahlias started wilting in the fierce morning sun (they were still young plant). I turned up in the evening and they were fine and proceeded with amusement to listen to Steve telling me how they all perked back up again once the sun had lost its intensity. Dahlias do this- it’s their way of reserving water taking it to the roots. I’d regularly turn up to my plot finding them all smiling and chatting amongst my flowers. I remember barely getting on site and Bull Dog Dave running over saying “have you seen your dahlias” (he was talking about the Cafe Au Lait, “It’s got flowers the size of that” he gestured with his hands “like dinner plates”. The thought always makes me smile.

So I had my land, I had my flowers and now I just needed to work out how I wanted to sell them. I ran through all kinds of scenarios, doing exclusively weddings, supplying exclusively to florists, in the end I decided I wanted to sell them myself directly to my customers and I knew my customers would be people like me- that just love natural looking arrangements. My next challenge was getting in front of an audience. Back then Flowers From The Farm was relatively new, I was the first one to join in Bedfordshire and for quite some miles surrounding. It was all about getting the word out why British grown seasonal flowers were best! And the way i took this to my little part of the UK was by having a pop-up flower stall in my village every Saturday. The word soon spread that there was a flower lady selling her garden flowers on the street outside the jewellers.

It was all quite basic but I was a sell out and very soon I had regular customers and was making up bouquets and doing workshops. I took on a couple of farmers markets which were great fun and I opened a little flower and plant stand outside my house. I was slowly getting the message out there, although I remember one lady walking past with her friend saying ‘those lady’s flowers look lovely but they don’t last’. I was deeply upset at the time but you learn to grow a very thick skin. It did make me inwardly roll my eyes every time someone asked how long will they last. They’re garden flowers, they haven’t been treated with chemicals, yes you will have to look after them, change their water and appreciate their fleeting beauty. It’s all about educating people on another level, things don’t last forever, beauty fades but it’s no less interesting. Garden flowers dry beautifully in the vase and then you have round two! In the end I realised that my message was getting out and that I couldn’t change the opinions of everyone- they simply weren’t my right people- and that was ok.

My endeavours were starting to pay off and I was starting to earn a living selling flowers and giving workshops but I’m always looking for ways to grow, so what’s next…

Join me next Sunday for part four in Tales From A Farmer Florist. If you’d like to see what I’m up to now please visit me on Instagram and if you enjoy reading my posts then please feel free to share them with a friend.

Emma x