The Task in Hand.....

in the world of a florist you get asked to do a lot of things..'the brief'.....the trick is to interpret the idea of what the customer wants into the finished article..... 

'a jug of milkmaids meadow flowers'...

 'twist a few flowers through a twig wreath'

 we always try our best!

bottle tops and books

ever ones for the quirky ....a basket of decanter stoppers....we like 'en masse' and at some point we will decide what on earth to do with all these!!
books are our great props...although we will sell them...but they are just great for display...giving a little height when needed and of course looking fabulous..we try to colour batch them.....
this gorgeous camellia was in some lovely foliage we got on saturday...we bought it for the lovely glossy leaves so the flowers were a bonus....
and the last of 'the drawers'..all planted up with herbs

The List

 Cool blues seem to be the order of today...but we are changing the shop around tomorrow so watch this space.........

5.30 am yesterday..buttonhole making in your PJ's for the officials at yesterdays celebrations in Hungerford....
and 
the list (for those interested ) from the door wreath featured in the last post..
lilac,viburnum, daucus, fritillia,tulips, roses, scabious seed heads,anenomes, prunus blossom,euco,heather, clematis . 

Flower love

We got the most amazing cloony rannunculus on Saturday....just about everyone who came in the shop loved them....we have found the run of the mill rannunculus to be a bit hit and miss on quality this year, but these big beauties have been amazing with some the dutchman took home lasting over three weeks...we love them when they are big and blousey....like a ballerinas frilly tutu!!

This weeks wreath on the door.....we usually make these up each week from flowers that have just passed their best and we would not sell but are too lovely to put in the compost.....we didn't have many left overs last week so this  is just bits and bobs off the flower table that we thought would look lovely together with some  lilac which was being a bit temperamental....surprisingly it perked up no end when cut short and popped in this...

A Gold Star for anyone who can list all the stuff in this wreath!!

On the garden front, at last that biting artic wind has dropped and there is sunshine..yah!! We have just sown about 1000 seeds and put in 40 peony tubers( that's not them all ahh!!)......now heading for the showers...x

News from the walled garden

it may be still cold but today the sun was shining...yah!!

so it was all go in the garden today..

 the ground cover is going down

while waiting for the BIG poly tunnel to arrive we put up an allotment sized one to get some seeds going ...
while we sat having our picnic lunch...tea from the flask....soaking the sun up when the wind dropped you could even think it was spring...we talked of the things we wanted to grow...an ever increasing list....maybe finding someone with bee hives....putting up some bird feeders.....
we watched three red kites circling high above us....we listened to the baby chatter and the black dog race around barking at nothing..and wondered how everything will look in a few months time....it was once a dream but everyday now it is such a reality....

...we are trying to recycle as much as we can and have hundreds of paper pots at the ready..sweet peas are destined for these ones......

..gorgeous Hellebore Niger ...already thinking ahead these are for cutting next year ....these are the same  variety as we were selling in the shop at the weekend ( sorry now sold out!).
While buying gardening gloves at the garden center yesterday I happened to look at the prices ....we are seriously cheaper on many plants.....we might do a price comparison like the supermarkets..watch this space.

Next week is Tutti Day in Hungerford....we need to redo the shop window in the town colours.... flowers are one of the vital parts of the celebrations so we have lots of work to do....xx

Today..

The reality of the work to be done!!!...thousands of seeds to be planted....

 this does not include all the plants hugging the garden walls at the moment!!!....

..a visit to a church we are designing the wedding flowers for in the summer....

 while walking to the lynch gate..I was stopped in my tracks by this line of headstones...where all others had names weather-beaten and indistinct..a whole line a 'Ashley's' still sharp and proud...and totally fascinating .

We all hope that you all have a wonderful Easter break, we are open Saturday 30th and then closed until Wednesday 9am.
see you in April!!!
x

playing

.....we are on the quest ( again) for an image for our seasonal change of business cards......this is the first arrangement we have photographed......we think it should be a few days older...almost want the petals to be about to cascade down... 

Easter is nearly here so we have feathers and quails eggs...surely the prettiest egg ever........