Floral Angels

One of the saddest things about working for some ‘big’ florists was seeing the amount of waste. There were beautiful, huge wedding flower samples costing thousands to set up, which, once seen by the couple, would be dismantled, the flowers filling up to fifty buckets. There were Michelin-starred restaurants and 5-star hotels that requested fresh flowers every other day, even though the ‘old’ flowers were perfectly healthy and beautiful. It was heartbreaking to throw the old flowers away, and a few times I asked if I could take the old flowers home. Even parrot tulips, cut ever so short to fit in dainty glass vases in a restaurant, were still good enough for me to turn into a table arrangement.

Like any other business with perishable goods, it’s impossible to accurately forecast what and how much people will want to buy from day to day. When I’ve worked in florist shops, there have been days when I’ve been rushed off my feet all day, sold out of several types of flower, and I’ve had to get cover and run/bus across London to get more red and white roses. But there have also been days when there has just been one customer all day, and despite the cold in the shop, some of the flowers are beginning to look tired of waiting for a new home. The majority of flowers sold in the UK are sold through supermarkets, which I’ve bleated on about before. An independent florist simply can’t afford to lose money through buckets of wasted, unsold flowers, and consequently, many are forced to close.

This is where Floral Angels come in. Floral Angels is a new, not-for-profit charity, started by four friends who met on a floristry course - Frances Hunter, Amanda Romain, Gracia La Fuente and Julie Ritter. They were inspired by an American charity called Random Acts of Flowers, which recycles flowers from weddings, events, and wastage in the industry. The members of Floral Angels loved the idea of doing something sustainable and kind with all that wasted beauty. They now have support from floral benefactors Shane Connolly, Rebecca Louise Law, Simon Lycett, Rona Wheeldon, Larsen Jay, as well as a host of volunteers who help to make and deliver the arrangements. Judith Blacklock has kindly lent the angels her London flower school as they urgently needed a base to work from. Hopefully, other premises are on the cards so the charity has a stable future.

There are lots of photos and tales of wonderful flower donations from florists and happy deliveries of flowers to hospitals, refuges, care homes, and other recipients, which you can see here.

Meanwhile, here are just a few. I hope these bring a smile to your face!

Donated flowers are turned into nine beautiful bouquets and given to a woman's shelter in London.

Floral Angels received a huge donation from Shane Connolly (yes, that would be royal wedding florist, Shane Connolly) of burgundy dahlias, white roses and white hydrangeas, which were turned into arrangements that were given to Maggie's Cancer Centre and Hestia Women's refuges.

These colourful bouquets went to Jersey Hospice, and were created and donated by florists Okishima & Simmonds following their beach photo shoot in the Channel islands.

Finally, here is a happy recipient with her flowers. 

A testimonial from her daughter, Anne Pritchard, gives an idea of the joy the Floral Angels bring to people:

"Thank you so much for the very pretty bouquet of flowers that you gave my mother last week. She is a little too frail now to go out very much and spends many hours in her room. The flowers look beautiful and have added some sunshine to her surroundings. Mummy was so touched by the kindness shown to her by Frances and Floral Angels, she asked me to write and thank you all."

If you are a florist in London who sometimes has a bucket or two of old or event flowers that look too pretty to throw away - consider donating them to Floral Angels. Likewise, if you are having huge flower arrangements for a London wedding, that guests can't exactly take home with them, then consider donating the flowers to Floral Angels. It's such a shame to throw them away after they've only been enjoyed for a day.

Class of 2012

We finished our Level 2 floristry diploma yesterday and celebrated in the glorious sunshine. I will certainly miss the other students and our tutors. I’m sure many of the students will go on to great things, judging by the talent they displayed in class.

It’s been a busy nine months, but as I updated my portfolio, it was wonderful to see how much I’ve achieved and learnt. I can see that I am instinctively getting better when I work – I don’t overthink as much, but the result is just as good, if not better.

Here is some of my work from the last year.

Wedding work: An Alice band decorated with viburnum and brassica petals, a hand-tied bridesmaid posy, a circlet, a comb decorated with lilac, phlox and Queen Anne's lace, and a wired bouquet (a fiddly and time-consuming design to make, but much easier to handle than a hand-tied and more delicate-looking).

Arrangements: Grouped basket, front-facing arrangement, basket, vegetative arrangement (a lovely concept - a design that is supposed to represent a garden), and an 'impulse buy' for Valentine's Day.

Event work: My cake decoration assessment (distinction) and practice, and my pew end/chair back assessment (merit).

The last few weeks were spent catching up on any gaps in our portfolio. I didn’t have photos of some of our early designs, so I had to redo them. This was the second to last piece of work I did: a loose, open cross. I brought some gorgeous-smelling roses, jasmine and escallonia 'Apple Blossom' from the garden, and also used eucalyptus and thistles from college. This was inspired by Claire and Liz Cowling’s stunning funeral work in Straight From the Heart – no white chrysanthemum basing and ribbon pleating; just lots of beautiful roses and cottage garden flowers and grasses. I think many of the designs could even translate to wedding or event work.

And my last piece of work. I think I frowned the whole time while I made this textured cushion – ribbon pleating is not my favourite thing, and I find it hard to get my head around compact, textured designs such as this. But I got some nice comments from other students and our tutors when I took photos of it…and after a day, with a bit of distance, I can see that it’s not as bad as I thought! Joy and sorrow in one.

Eating Disorders International Conference

I had the privilege of doing event flowers for the Eating Disorders International Conference (EDIC), which was hosted by the UK charity Beat.

I know that Beat does amazing work supporting people with eating disorders, their families and carers, as well as research into the causes and treatment. They also run media campaigns to raise awareness and improve understanding of eating disorders. I was very impressed by the work they did with the British soap opera Hollyoaks a few years ago – it was the first time an eating disorder had been portrayed on television so carefully and in so much depth, from the effects on the person’s mental wellbeing to the harsh reality that eating disorders kill people.

It was wonderful to contribute something beautiful and natural to a charity that does so much good work.

I used the colours of the EDIC and Beat logos – pink and purple were quite easy to find, but naturally blue flowers that would work well was more of a challenge. The flowers also needed to last well in floral foam for the duration of the three-day conference.

In the end, I used Pacific Blue, Cool Water and Heidi roses, blue-purple and pink lisianthus, pink Asiatic lilies (which are not scented, unlike longiflorum lilies), purple bloom chrysanthemums and different kinds of eucalyptus for the two pedestals, and roses, eucalyptus, blue lisianthus and green skimmia for the long spray. I also added some ivy from the garden and decorated the pedestals with pink and blue organza, representing the pink and blue of the Beat logo.

Apparently some delegates commented on the scent of the (Pacific Blue) roses, which was noticeable when people walked into the conference room. And the organisers of the conference were happy with the arrangements.

As my first time doing event flowers for an organisation, it went pretty well. I’m happy with the arrangements I did and I really enjoyed the experience.

A big thank you to Beat, and to the people who helped me do the arrangements, including my friend Manish – a non-florist who has a natural talent for floristry!

Cover girls

There was a lot of excitement this week when our floristry class made some arrangements for the Radio Times covers party, which was held in Claridge’s Hotel.

The day before the event, we made huge fans out of coloured sticks, beads, skeleton leaves, santini chrysanthemums and hypericum berries. We also made lots of decorative strings of beads and berries.

On the day, two groups made two arrangements that went either side of a mirror in the reception room.

Another two groups made two arrangements that went in the ballroom. This was my group’s arrangement.

And finally, there was a smaller version for the bar.

A lot of team work and some marvellous team leaders (well done Auriol and Uma!) led to a lot of satisfaction at the end of the afternoon.