British Flowers Week is back!

This campaign run by New Covent Garden Market in London, is returning for it ninth year between Monday 14th and Sunday 20th June 2021.

The week long festivities will celebrate the beauty and variety of British cut flowers, foliage and plants, as well as the florists, growers and wholesalers who make it all possible.

Would you like to get involved?

British Flowers Week Windows

To get involved this year The British Flowers Association encouraging businesses and the public to decorate their windows with British flowers in their home or places of work; preferably where passers-by can enjoy them from 14th to 20th June.

Whether it’s with a single stem, a bouquet made from garden flowers or a spectacular display, a decorated window with show support for the British flower industry this June.

To get involved create a British Flowers Week window with British flowers, foliage or plants, from the garden, a local grower, florist or wholesaler.

Once you’ve created your design take a picture of your British Flowers Week window, share it on social media using #BritishFlowersWeek and tag @MarketFlowers to show support for British businesses and go in the draw to win fantastic prizes.

The Hiden Collective and British Flowers

We love Ethical British Flowers!

Our supply chain is very simple, trackable and energy efficient.

We order flowers either directly from the grower or from a British flowers wholesaler and in that way the grower will only cut the flowers that are preordered.

We also buy only what we can sell and if we have any spare blooms, we donate and brighten the life of the residents of an elderly home close to our studio.

This process allows us to deliver the flowers to your doorstep in the minimum possible time and for you to enjoy the flowers at their freshest.

Our flowers never sit around in a  very high energy consuming warehouse fridge like in many cases when you purchase imported flowers.

The classic supply chain can keep flowers in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks with the relevant energy use.

Talking about waste… the classic supply chain will waste approximately  1 in 3 stems, and if you scale this up  on a yearly basis you are  talking  about millions of blooms, wasted land, labour, resources and fuel.

We only use seasonal flowers and so we can’t source hundreds of varieties of flowers.

Each season has its own bloom star and we can guarantee that they are looking stunning as ever, like the scented garden rose between early May and late autumn.

We are experiencing an Ethical British Flowers revolutions with lots of new flower growers  opening every month across England.

After many years of decline, the British Floral Industry is starting to truly starting to bloom again and we love being a part of it!

The more the independent flower growing movement thrives within the UK, the more accessible home-grown seasonal flowers will become and the less we rely so heavily on importing. 

Shifting to locally grown blooms to decorate our houses, work spaces and weddings has the potential to lower the carbon footprint of the industry and give us better control over the working conditions in the fields where our flowers are grown.

Chicken wire is much better that floral foam and should be the first option when you are going to create a floral arrangement.

Is reusable, is more economical, the flowers are able to drink naturally and is much much better for the environment.

A win win for us and the planet.

Step by step to how to use chicken wire in a floral arrangement:

• Cut a square of chicken wire and fold it into a cushion shape, making sure that all the sharp edges of the chicken wire are twisted towards the inside of the cushion to avoid damaging the container.
• The size of the chicken wire required depends on the size and shape of the container. Unfortunately there is not a specific rule to follow but I am sure that after few attempts will much easier.
•  Place the chicken wire cushion into the container and if you have the possibility you can fix it with floral tape or with any other tape that you have available. The best method is create a cross on the wire with the tape and stick the end on the container. Try to use as little tape as possible and try to not make showing that much or you will need lots of flowers and foliage to cover it.
• If you decide to use a transparent glass vase a good trick is to line the container first with large simple leaves or a twist of trailing ivy to conceal the wire.

• Add water to your container and possibly includes some flowers food. Start your decoration by adding you foliage, make sure that the stems are long enough to reach the base of the vase and so they can drink easily and last for long time.
• Once you are the majority of foliage add your flowers and use the last foliage where required.
• Every few days or whenever you fill that is need it top up the water in the container.

Do you wonder why floral foam is not good for the environment?

Read here our blog post THE GREEN ALTERNATIVE TO FLORAL FOAM

SME Elite Business Awards 2021 – we won!

We’re proud to announce that we won the award for ‘Best Eco-Friendly Florist & Gift Hamper Retail Business 2021' at this year's SME Elite Business Awards.

SME means small to medium enterprise and as a small ethical business (we’re only a year old!) we work hard to bring you the best we possibly can.

We’re all about customer service & want you to have the best experience with us.

Being acknowledged for our trustworthiness means so much to us.

Especially by an organisation like SME UK.

We’re proud to say that we’re officially the UK’s most trusted Florist brand.

Peony is the flower queen on Instagram, the hashtag #peonies has been used 2.8 million times.

They're also a limited edition flower, growing and blooming in a very short space of time each year, which makes them all the more special.

We love how Peonies can go from tight, spherical shaped buds to lush, fluffy flowers that don't need support from any other blooms to look good in a bouquet.

They're the Cinderella of the flower world going from drab to fab but they don't lose their fanciness at midnight.

Want to know more about these stunning flowers?

We've rounded up few fact about peonies:

The name Peony

The word Peony is derived from the Greek word Paeon.

Paeon was the physician of the Greek gods, under the apprenticeship of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine.

During their lessons, Ascelpius became enraged and highly jealous of Paeon’s talents.

In order to save Paeon from his mentor’s envious wrath, Zeus transformed Paeon into a Peony flower.

Peonies in history

Peonies are native to Europe, Asia and Western North America.

Early in Chinese history, the peony was considered the national flower (it is now officially the plum blossom).

Members of the Tang Dynasty of China began breeding peonies in the imperial courts in the 7th century BCE.

Their popularity spread to Japan in the early 11th century and to France and England in the 18th century.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, peonies began taking off in popularity in the U.S. as well and became Indiana state flowers. 

Peonies Herbal Remedies

Peonies have been used for herbal remedies across Asia and Europe for thousands of years.

In fact, the roots and seeds of peonies have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat headaches, asthma, convulsions, liver disease, and several more ailments.

Peonies Flowers Meaning

Brides love Peony for their beauty and fragrances and also for their symbolism.

Peonies represent romance and love, and are considered a good omen for a happy marriage.

Peonies are also the traditional flower for 12th wedding anniversaries.

Interestingly, the flowers represented shame and shyness during in the Victorian Era.

In China and Japan, peonies stand for strong and positive virtues such as bravery, honor, respect, nobility, good fortune, and prosperity.

Peonies flowers are edible

In China, the petals are parboiled and sweetened for use as a tea-time delicacy, in summer salads, or as garnish for punches and lemonades.

Peonies Tattoo

The peony for many centuries has been one of the most popular floral symbols used in tattoos.

For instance, in Japanese and Chinese body art you’ll often find an interplay between powerful animals and mythical beasts (such as lions and dragons) with delicate floral components.

The peony is one of the most popular floral symbols representing the intersection between power and delicate beauty.

Peony flowers open up to three times their original size

Cut Peonies when arrive to a florist are tight, golf ball sized buds but these quickly unfurl to reveal the gorge puffy blooms you know and love.

Each petal loosens up so the flower can open up in all its glory.

Spring is in full swing, the clocks have bounced forward, the house windows are more often open, you are starting to leaving jumpers in the drawer, you can feel the rays of the sun on our faces and the nights are lighter and it's beginning to feel as though summer is just around the corner.

Spring flowers start slowly and then in late spring there is an explosion of stunning flowers in bloom, and they have a big positive impact on our moods. 

Like most growing living things, British grown flowers are affected by the seasons, the weather, and other regional natural changes. 

As a result some of the flowers listed in this early Spring flowers seasonal guides may not be available at a certain time.

Would you like to know more about  British flowers?

Are you curious to see the difference between emissions of CO2 between British flowers and Dutch flowers?

Have a look at our BEST BLOOMS - BRITISH BLOOMS  blog post and I can promise you that after that you realise how much more CO2 has been produced by the imported flowers you will always want to source British Flowers.