I had my first sniff of spring when my flowers for
Valentine’s Day were delivered. There were yellow and white narcissi, tulips in
all sorts of colours, pink alstroemeria, bright yellow daffodils and anemones –
red, white and blue. The picture above shows some of the Valentine’s bouquets
ready to go – not the usual florists’ offering of red roses flown in from
Holland or Kenya, but British spring flowers and foliage. I made smaller
bouquets than usual at a more affordable price (£20). I received great feedback
about the flowers (both their freshness and their scent) and here they are
closer-up:
Last Saturday was St David’s Day, the feast day of the
patron saint of Wales. Mike and I are in Wales this week and we were here on St
David’s Day. Lots of people pinned daffodils onto their clothes – daffodils are a symbol of Wales and so are leeks! The daffodils make a lot of
sense because they are growing everywhere this week and are a wonderful sign
that Spring is here at last. I`m not so sure about the leeks – but I think they
are used to make a traditional Welsh soup. We are staying in Hay-on-Wye and I
came across this arresting shop window display at Booth’s Bookshop. It included
daffodils, a leek and a poem about Spring:
A new flower shop has opened in Hay called Dandelion
Wishes. It is in an old building by the castle. It is just the sort of shop I
would like if I had a retail space. Just look at the gorgeous narcissi,
daffodils, ranunculus and the spring flowers growing in pots. You can also see
the Welsh dragon on the flag in the background.
Here is the bunch of daffodils that Mike bought for me,
and here is the arrangement I made with them using the foliage and berries I
could find around the house.
The arrival of Spring has made me think about flower
workshops and flowers for Mother’s Day. If you look on my website you will see
new dates for spring workshops (including a workshop for making your own
arrangement for your mother on Saturday 29 March) and my offers for Mother’s
Day flowers (bouquets at £30 and £20 and posies at £16). I will finish this
blog with a picture of a bouquet of grouped flowers in a vase which we made in
a workshop about this time last year. We will be making something similar to
this in my Mother’s Day workshop later this month (but in a different jug).
