I can remember as a very junior florist (well more of a sweeper and tidier really) getting in the delivery van with an ever-changing array of delivery drivers, and going to the railways station to collect long, heavy, white cardboard boxes to bring back to the shop. Opening them up they would be filled with Guernsey freesias in mixed colour bunches, Cornish narcissi, snowdrops, violets and primroses wound with black cotton and in late summer, Nerines. Local growers coming by in dilapidated vans with dahlias, sweet peas and gladioli wrapped in white tissue.
Fast forward to the 1990s/early noughties and huge Dutch lorries would park precariously in Stamford’s narrow streets for me to clamber aboard with the junior to pick the flowers for the week. Jewel-like arrays of flowers, packed on box-like shelving to choose from: 'Grand Prix' roses, 'Stargazer' lilies, bright coloured gerbera in rackets. Hans trying to convince me that I was getting a good price because I was his favourite customer (not because they were an odd shade and had been kicking about since he left Harwich!). Climbing back down the steps with armfuls of flowers to cut and condition in the shop.
Leap forward again and the advent of the web shops that we can access via laptops, tablets and phones from pretty much anywhere (often the bath in my case) making the convenience of buying flowers so easy for a busy floralpreneur. Supermarket-style shopping for flowers. Whilst this has without a doubt make it much easier, I do miss those heady days of touching and feeling the flowers I was buying. Or getting little hints and tips as they were dropped off, or being told how hard they were to grow this year, the triumphs and failures of working with the soil.
I think it has added to the disconnect many of us feel when buying our flowers; when I started I knew that Dan was the dahlia man, as big as dinner plates or neat tiny pompoms. Bob brought us sweet peas on long twisty stems, as fragrant as can be and always had a mint in his pocket for me and a twinkly smile. Web shops just don’t have the same people connections or romance and I wonder if that is why many florists are now starting to buy again from small scale local growers.
We are on the cusp of a change again in this ever changing industry; florists looking to connect with growers who have the same passion and expertise for growing the flowers they use in their designs. Even the large scale growers such as Marginpar are realising this and producing newsletters to keep florists abreast of new developments and introduce the people who work for them. With this in mind I am about to embark on a series of “meet the grower” articles; from tiny growers with small plots to large scale growers, we will meet them all. Who knows maybe you will find your own Dan or Bob and bring back the romance of buying flowers from real people.
Viv Bradford trained in West Germany in the late 1980s before returning to the UK, where she has pursued many roles in the industry from running retail premises, teaching floristry, working in wholesale, business coaching florists and running an award-winning studio florist specialising in weddings.
Viv also created and runs Facebook groups Flowerphiles for experienced florists and The Floristry Geek for students and those new to the industry, which concentrates on educational content.
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