National Florist Day is held at the same time as British Flowers Week (BFW) which is great as we can champion both causes at the same time.
The brainchild of New Covent Garden Market over 10 years ago, BFW has just been taken over by Flowers from the Farm (FFTF). They started life as a collective of small growers and are now becoming an official trade association in order that they can bring more formality and procedures to the ever (pardon the pun!) growing number of independent florist farmers as against the large UK growers who are mainly based in Lincolnshire and predominantly grow for the supermarkets.
However, whilst UK flower production accounts for around 15% of total UK sales, neither we nor they would ever claim that buying only British is the perfect solution, especially for commercial florist shops who need high-volume, year-round, high-quality supply and guaranteed delivery times … weather can and does play havoc with UK production as so much of it is outdoor grown.
Yes, sales can and will go a bit higher but to grow enough to serve the £2.3billion UK flower industry would require huge greenhouses and use equally huge amounts of heat and light which is no longer a sustainable or scalable Northern European practice.
In short it is better to grow, and grow well, what does work in the UK and at the right time of year than force a crop. And why, courtesy of the FFtF growers, between April and October you’ll find the most an amazing A to Z of flowers – Amaranthus to Zinnias and pretty much every letter of the alphabet in-between.
As with everything fresh, the golden rule of thumb is always buy locally and seasonally when you can and when you can’t, make sure you buy from responsible florists who use accredited overseas growers so you can be sure that best practices have been observed.
