IS THE BEAUTY OF THOSE FLOWERS ON YOUR DRESSER SURFACE DEEP? CHARLIE NEARY MEETS A BRITISH FLOWER FARMER WHO WANTS US TO THINK SUSTAINABLY WHEN BUYING BLOOMS
THE AUTHOR Charlie Neary is a Worcester-based freelancer content creator working for a range of British brands.
There’s nothing that brings as much joy as a beautiful fresh bunch of flowers. Whether you’re buying them yourself, are lucky enough to be given a bunch, or you subscribe to a letterbox delivery, the joy and beauty of a vase full is something that goes unmatched. But that beauty might all be surface.
For many of us, the flowers in our home are picked up as part of the weekly shop or from the big-name local florist. Year-round, there’s a plentiful supply of bouquets; roses in February and an abundance of tulips in March – all uniform and perfectly matched for under £10. And let’s not forget all that plastic wrapping.
But Roz Chandler is quietly leading a revolution from her flower farm in Milton Keynes – part of a new army of British flower growers who are determined to make a difference in how we consume and enjoy flowers.
Field Gate Flowers started life with just three long beds which were inspired by a one-day ‘Grow your Own’ course. Today, Roz’s house sits surrounded by a five-acre flower farm, where every bloom is grown naturally and in season.
We caught up with Roz as she was out planting dahlias. “Smell these,” she says to me, inviting a small bunch of stocks to my nose. “Beautiful, right?” Indeed, the scent of the freshly picked stocks is delightful, but they’re flowers – that’s meant to be a thing.
“Of course, they’re meant to smell,” Roz says. “But when was the last time you picked up that scent around the flower displays in your local supermarket?”
“You see, one of the most significant differences between British-grown flowers and the mass-produced wholesale flowers is the scent. They don’t have the smell you’d expect because they aren’t allowed to grow naturally.
“And we’ve all just got used to that,” she adds. “We’ve forgotten that flowers are supposed to smell.”
She’s right, of course, but it’s something I hadn’t thought of before.
Local and sustainable
Roz is an industry-renowned expert, but more than that, she’s deeply passionate about British flowers and wants everyone to know why buying British is best for you and the planet.
The cut-flower market here in the UK is worth more than £2 billion a year, and with more than 7,000 florists occupying a space in the UK’s flower industry, it probably won’t surprise you to
