Ranunculus from Cornwall – I put lots of these beautiful,
delicate flowers into my Mother’s Day bouquets. Mother’s Day is celebrated all
over the world and mostly in the spring. According to Wikipedia, the UK version
of the celebration derives from 2 sources. The first is religious, dating back
to the 16th century, when mothers were re-united with sons and
daughters released from apprenticeships and work in service in order to attend
their mother church. The celebration declined with the Industrial Revolution,
but was revived after the Second World War by the second source – US soldiers
spreading knowledge of the American celebration of their mothers. The religious roots
mean that the date of our Mother’s Day is linked to the church calendar and it
is always held on the 4th Sunday of Lent – it could be as early as 1
March or as late as 4 April! Like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day is a fantastic
opportunity for British flower growers, especially as interest in seasonal
British flowers is expanding. My Cornish wholesaler told me he clocked up
record flower sales this year as well as selling 1,200 bunches of Cornish
foliage. Just look at the reason why – here are a couple of images of the tulips,
ranunculus, white and yellow narcissi (avalanche and soleil d’or), alstroemeria,
eucalyptus and pittosporum which made up the raw materials for my bouquets and
flower workshop:
In the workshop we made grouped bouquets which we then
placed in pretty Heron Cross jugs. The great thing about these bouquets is that
you can look at the bouquet from different angles to see different groupings of
flowers. I warned the workshop participants that their tulips would grow
several inches in the vase and their bouquets needed to allow space for this.
Just look at the growth in the third picture below - at least three inches (picture taken today, five days after the
workshop):
The idea was that participants would give their bouquets
to their mothers, but I thought daughters and nieces deserved something pretty too, so
we also made small posies in jam jars:
Then we put the jugs into green presentation boxes and
everyone took a few photos:
I really like this picture of one of the participants who
looks particularly pleased with her creations – and so she should be, they were
lovely, and skilfully made.
I will finish this blog with a picture of a humble bunch
of daffodils that Mike bought for me yesterday from our local supermarket. I see these as a symbol of optimism
for British flower growers. Daffodil is the common name for the genus of flower
called narcissus. The wonderful thing about narcissus flowers is that they grow really well
in Cornwall, Devon and the Scilly Isles. The flowering season lasts from November
to May and this means that they catch four great markets – Christmas,
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter. When the Garden Museum ran their
exhibition – Floriculture – Flowers, Love
and Money last year they presented some interesting facts about the UK
narcissus market. The UK is the world’s largest producer of narcissus cut
flowers and exports them to many countries including Holland, Germany, Scandinavia
and America. The UK also produces half of the world’s narcissus bulbs and
exports 10,000 tons of them annually (worth around £7 million). Overall,
growing narcissus flowers adds around £23 million to the UK economy. Hurray for
our flower growers, the wholesalers who distribute the flowers and the florists
and supermarkets who stock them for us to buy. Enjoy your daffodils – the
season will soon be over!
