What’s happening- A catch-up over coffee and plants.

Showing up in the difficult areas.

Hello my flower loving friends, I wanted to take a little time to let you in on what A Bunch Of Wild is up to this year. First off, for those that are new here and have found me through my friends publications- welcome to my little piece of creative seasonal musings. I thought it might be nice to let you know a little bit about me. My name is Emma and I’ve run A Bunch Of Wild since 2016. What started as a flower growing business has morphed beautifully into many things. A former event stylist and interior stylist/photographer, I also ran a beautiful boutique selling flowers, plants, antiques and art. Now I’m a garden writer and visual storyteller helping those with a creative hobby turn their craft into a business. I mostly help other florists but I also work with makers/artisans. My passion for photography and capturing sustainable floristry through the seasons is what drives me, I love sharing images to inspire someone to pick up a garden fork, sow some seeds or cut some flowers to make something lovely.

Over last year this journal developed from an occasional post, to a monthly one and now it’s every week where I share something seasonal with you. I have come to love writing as much as photography. I guess it was going to happen eventually, I love creativity. Having spent years struggling with dyslexia and being told I was just stupid as a kid for not being able to read or write- actually did me a favour in some respects as I turned to art and later photography. I was the arty kid never the academic one and I was happy with that. Over the years and with the help of auto correct I’ve got by. It was my youngest daughter telling me constantly to write a book and me telling her I wasn’t cut out for that, that lead me to thinking ‘do I really believe that?’ and the answer is no. I guess there must have been quite a long lasting effect from school as I’m now past mid 40s and I’ve only just realised that I share and write three publications and write for three instagram accounts. I can honestly say I’m a writer now- as quite simply, I write! What blows my mind is that people read it. I love creating images, stories and words for A Bunch Of Wild so you will continue to get a free weekly seasonal post from me.

When I’m helping someone get themselves out in front of people to grow an engaged audience, I tell them to show up and document their life. I’m often met with a strong reaction of not wanting to be in the limelight. I completely understand this, however, practice makes things easier until it’s no longer a chore or a dreaded task, it becomes the norm and feels natural. It’s making new little habits, bit by bit and getting into a new routine. This is the same if you’re sharing images or like me- writing posts. For me, the photography was easy. My difficult area was the writing. When my friend told me she’d expect something weekly from me as a journal entry, my first reaction was I can’t do that, I can’t promise that, not every week. Then I thought about it and knew she was right. So how could I get in that mindset to write every week. It started in my favourite coffee shop with a chai latte and it happened with lots of images (my easy) and a few words. This soon became a weekly ritual that I looked forward to and is part of my working week. For an hour or two each week, I sit in the coffee shop, write my newsletters (I have three for each business) and create the content to go with my instagram posts. If you told me now I had to stop this practice I’d be most upset, yet if you’d of said to me six months ago I’d sit down and write every week- I would of told you I don’t have time for that, don’t be silly.

This post comes from a chat with that same friend, over a lot of coffee, with me telling her to show up and take photos everyday to create a habit. Her first reaction was no! I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing this with you. She has a beautiful business and takes meaningful images but struggles to find the energy to invest in her photography. We put up arguments in our head and most of the time get in our own way- like me not writing for so long, telling myself and others that I can’t write. The thing is, you need to do the thing over and over to actually prove to that bossy voice in your head that you can actually do the thing, take the photos, write the post, do the video. It’s just making whatever it is, whatever your doubt -into a nice little ritual that you can look forward to. My friend blends her own gorgeous tea, so I suggested she take a photo each day of the tea she makes for herself, just to form the habit of doing. The photos will be the documentation of a lovely ritual. Who doesn’t love tea… I’m not asking you to take up smoking or create nasty habits, I’m asking what lovely things can you bring into your life that will make things a little bit better, what could you turn into a lovely thing you look forward to? I’ll leave those ideas with you.

On garden news, my thoughts are turning to what to grow this year. I need to make one of my raised beds deeper and there’s an area under the old apple tree that needs clearing, I’d love to ramble a rose up through the tree, I’m thinking Pauls Himalayan musk, it’s a fast prolific rose with tiny white/blush flowers and an amazing scent. I’ve also fallen in love with a rose called Dannahue by David Austin which I discovered during a walk around Wrest Park last summer. I feel like I want as many of these as I can plant and I’m already wondering where to put them. Already I’m dreaming up arrangements with them, imagining them spilling over an antique urn or just casually strewn across a table.

Yes, I want to create some new rose beds, it’s going to be a year of roses. I was looking through Beals roses last evening and there are some real beauties. I’ve bought roses from here for years and the quality of them is outstanding!

Turning my attention to the new big flower bed that I’m designing with my husband, I’m after lots of structure that will give winter interest, lots of grasses, a mixture of hardy perennials and glorious roses. The design is a mix of where contemporary meets country. Following a limited palette, I prefer pastel tones and pale shades of lilac/blue as these colours come alive in the summer evening and appear to just glow. So beautiful when I’m sitting out late enjoying a glass of wine and smelling the roses. The new planting will repeat its way down the bed and slowly morph into more damp loving plants as it gets nearer to the river, it will be a transition to naturally meet with the woodland garden and I think will be really interesting. It’s going to be a year long project to get it right and settled, adjustments made along the way. Actually the garden is a constant adjustment, a never ending challenge and I love that. Why would you ever want to be done… Where do you go from done? It’s much more exciting to let things develop without an end goal.

I stand in the middle of the main garden in it’s soggy state, looking down towards the wood and thinking how nice it would be to remove the fence that separates the two. I know it can’t be as we’d lose the dog and the deer would come and eat all the new roses. So I’m wondering now if I can plant a load of hydrangeas in front of the fence… more Annabelle’s maybe, I do love hydrangea Annabelle, I still have the huge skeletal flower heads in the gravel garden and they are so interesting, so delicate and beautiful.

I’m planning on opening the garden again for tea and flower mornings this summer, something to look forward to. I’ll put the dates up in spring as places will need to be pre-booked.

Are you making plans for your garden? Maybe you’re just thinking about putting a seed order together or where you can put another bed. It’s an exciting time of the year, the anticipation of spring, the joy is to be found in the anticipation, in the seed catalogs over a cup of tea, don’t wish this time away. It’s the moment we get to be gentle and do all the comforting things like sitting in a coffee shop writing. Wishing you a lovely week.

Emma x