Look at these beautiful roses – they were imported from
Kenya and I bought them in Sainsbury’s for the first of my workshops based on
supermarket flowers. Although I prefer to buy seasonal English flowers, in the
winter months the choice becomes very limited and I turn to other sources,
including supermarkets. The size of the cut flower and houseplant market in the
UK is estimated by Mintel to be about £2.2 billion. It is further estimated
that about 70% of UK cut flowers are sold through supermarkets. Research by the
Garden Museum suggests that only 10% of all the flowers sold in the UK are
grown in the UK – this is down from 50% in the 1980s. The large majority of
flowers sold in supermarkets are imported from Holland, Kenya and Columbia. In
practice, many of the flowers coming through the Dutch flower market are
imported into Holland from developing countries. These bright red alstroemeria were
imported from Columbia.
Should we be worried about this? Of course we should. We
are in danger of losing our British flower growing industry completely and our
high street florists are in serious decline. This is mainly because supermarket
flowers are ridiculously cheap. They are cheap because most of them have been
grown in developing countries where growing costs are less than in the UK (the climate is
hotter and the labour costs are rock bottom low) and also because of the
supermarkets’ buying power which drives growers’ prices down. However, there
are a number of ethical challenges associated with flowers imported from
developing countries. A War on Want Report, ‘The human cost of cut flowers in
British supermarkets’, published in 2007 provided evidence of very poor working
conditions for flower workers (largely women) in Columbia and Kenya – these
included very low pay, exposure to toxic chemicals, repetitive strain injuries,
forced labour and job insecurity. Concerns were also raised about the use of
huge amounts of water to cultivate flowers at the expense of small-scale
farmers growing other crops. These concerns are supported by a number of recent
academic papers about the cut flower industry in a range of developing
countries. For example:
I am pleased to say that we can all do something about
this by buying flowers certified by the Fair Trade Foundation. This is an
independent, non-profitmaking organisation which licenses the use of the fair
trade mark in accordance with international standards. It states ‘Our vision is of a world in which
justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and
practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and
dignified livelihood and develop their full potential.’ It works to achieve
better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair trade
for farmers and workers in the developing world. When flower farmers achieve
fair trade certification they commit to implementing better pay and working
conditions and to farming in a more sustainable and safer way. When you buy
fair trade flowers you pay an extra 10% (the fair trade premium) for your
flowers and this goes back to the flower workers for projects to support them
and their communities. All the roses pictured here and used in my
workshops were sourced from fair trade farms and if you look on the flower
packaging it will tell you exactly where the flowers came from. If you then
look on Sainsbury’s website you can link up with the Fair Trade Foundation to
find out what the fair trade premium (10% of the cost of the flowers) achieved
for the flower workers (things like schools, vaccinations, clinics and water
purification). For example:
I decided to concentrate on using fair trade roses for my
two workshops. First of all we made a contemporary arrangement in small square
boxes. I made these by covering juice cartons with pretty vintage paper. For
the Christmas workshop I used a Christmassy vintage paper. Here are the boxes.
And here are the arrangements – they work well either
spread out (pretty with tea lights set in between the boxes) or pushed together
into a block to make an impact.
We also made a simple, but effective arrangement of three
roses in a pretty glass bottle. We used Belvoir cordial bottles for this – they
have a vintage look about them with the name Belvoir pressed into the glass.
These look great if you place three in a row along a window sill or a
mantelpiece.
Then we made a wilder arrangement in a glass jug using
fair trade roses, alstroemeria and seasonal foliage. Supermarkets sell hardly
any foliage (and if they do it is tremendously expensive) so we used foliage
gathered from around my house. For the first workshop we used holly, ivy and
yew (be careful with yew as it is very poisonous!).
We also used white English alstroemeria from Cornwall (to
go with the pink roses). I was delighted to find that Sainsbury’s was selling
this when I went flower shopping (though they didn`t have it when I went
shopping for the second workshop). Again, the packaging was very informative
and provided details of the grower and his farm – the flowers were super fresh and
very lovely. Another hit for Sainsbury’s as far as I am concerned. So here is
something else we can all do – buy British flowers whenever they are available.
For the second workshop we used the bright red
alstroemeria from Columbia with white roses. The foliage was ivy, holly and pine
(including few pine cones…..very Christmassy). Here are some pictures from both of the workshops:
And here are some of the workshop participants – all looking very pleased with their beautiful arrangements.
I would like to finish this blog on an up-beat note. There
has been a lot of interest in British flowers recently and many people are
beginning to see what growing in our own country has to offer. Last spring
(2013) the Garden Museum in London ran an exhibition with the title of
Floriculture – Flowers, Love and Money. This included ‘a celebration of domestic
growers, an industry which has all but vanished but may be revived by a new
generation of eco-aware creative growers’. Then New Covent Garden ran a British
Flowers Week in June last year – this featured British peonies, delphiniums,
sweet peas, stocks and foliage (see my blog of June 2013, including my own
contribution to the week). More recently my wholesaler in Cornwall – James at
Flowers by Clowance – reported that the current BBC series on the Great British
Garden Revival has led to an increase in orders for English flowers. Fantastic.
He also told his customers about the Great Flower Farmers’ Meet Up in Devon a
couple of weeks ago. 100 British flower growers met together for what sounds
like informative sessions about developing businesses, mutual support and a lot
of fun. This makes me feel more optimistic about the future of the industry. Finally,
as a contrast to the Kenyan roses, here is a picture to remind you of what a
spring bouquet made with only English flowers and foliage looks like – soft, fragrant
and colourful. Simply lovely.
So, my challenge to you all is to buy British flowers and
Fair Trade flowers whenever you can. As consumers we have a lot of power if we
act together and we can make a real difference to the lives of flower farmers
here in the UK and also around the world.
