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.

Bridezillas and snowdrops

The US show Bridezillas is a guilty pleasure of mine, although I'd advise any would-be florist against watching it, as it will give you nightmares. I saw an episode today where one bride was told that her favourite flower, the gardenia, would not be in bloom for her wedding. Apart from bemusement at the diva-style tantrum that she threw, my reaction to her insistence on getting out-of-season flowers for her wedding was a) if the gardenias are so important to you, why didn't you (as many people do) get married during the flowering season of the wedding blooms that you want? And b) this is nature. You can't expect nature to fit around your wedding!

My own patience (well, mostly patience) has been rewarded - today I went to the greenhouse and saw that the first of the bulbs I planted last year has flowered. The snowdrops are beautiful - tiny and delicate and white - and although I had hoped, perhaps unrealistically, to have flowers on Christmas Day, having flowers two weeks into January is a lovely start to the new year.

I didn't want to 'force' them, but now they're flowering, I've brought them indoors so they can be seen and enjoyed all day.

On the eighth day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me: eight maids-a-milking.

I mentioned early in December that I was given a milk bottle set for Christmas from a lovely fellow-student who works at Vive La Rose, which means I now have two sets and eight mini milk bottles. So I took great pleasure in going to Jane Packer, on a quiet, rainy morning, to buy a few flowers to fill the bottles for New Year's Day, the eighth day of Christmas. I saw the lady who ran the hand-tied course I did at the flower school there back in the spring, and she seemed pleased that I was pursuing a course in floristry and trying to create my own designs! As ever, I enjoyed stepping into the shop and looking through the carefully selected flowers, which are beautifully arranged by colour. I picked a stem of silver brunia, two lilac Boyfriend (aka Ocean Song) roses, one creamy-white Majolica spray rose, and two white parrot tulips. And here they are: eight milk bottles. Happy new year!

Fast away the old year passes

I did my last Christmas arrangement on Christmas Eve. It was quite sad to pack away the remaining baubles and cinnamon sticks, but never mind - Christmas will come around again quickly enough. Here are photos of some of the arrangements I did as presents or to brighten up my home.

Here's the Christmas topiary tree that I made in college, once I'd found an angel for the top.

And on Christmas Day, I did run over to the greenhouse, like the boy ran outside in The Snowman, only to be met with mild disappointment that my snowdrops hadn't flowered yet.

Back indoors, there was baking to be done. Lavender cupcakes, unintentionally decorated with Manchester City blue icing, mince pies and cheese straws. I'll just have to be patient and wait for the snowdrops.

Photos from David Austin

I took plenty of photos during my recent trip to the gardens at David Austin. The first roses I saw in the gardens were Lady of Shalott. I'm fond of the poem by Tennyson, the painting by Waterhouse, and have been curious to see what this rose would look and smell like. It didn't disappoint me - it is beautiful and sweetly scented.

Queen of Sweden is a pale pink rose which is supposed to be good for cutting. Usually, florists advise against leaving flowers near radiators. In this case, these incredible, frozen roses might appreciate the warmth!

Winchester Cathedral is a pretty, white rose.

There were lots of yellow roses. I'm not sure whether they can tolerate the cold better, or if they are especially late flowering. One of the most gorgeous is Charlotte.

And another is Golden Celebration.

Another Lady of Shalott rose bush on the left, and tall, Alice in Wonderland-style Molineux rose bushes on the right.

Tea Clipper is a pretty apricot colour. And, like many roses, it has a great name!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is quite a striking rose, as lilac roses are not a common sight in gardens.

Maid Marion is a pretty pink - the sort of colour that you might call 'rose pink'.

Noble Antony is magnificent; a really vibrant, neatly-formed rose. And I'm a sucker for a Shakespearean hero!

One surprise in the gardens was the peacocks. As my boyfriend and I were the only people visiting the gardens, we hoped they might display their feathers if we were quiet and patient enough. Sadly, they didn't. Maybe next time!

David Austin in December

I have been dreaming about going to visit David Austin's gardens ever since I first read about him in the spring. He has bred and grown English roses for decades, and now has hundreds to his name. You can usually find some of his rose plants in garden centres, and some florists use his specially-bred cut garden roses for arrangements, particularly for weddings. Claire Cowling used his roses for a stunning wedding display - if you can get hold of Fusion Flowers Weddings magazine 2011/2012 or the book Florever Wherever, then take a look for yourself.

I have a Jude the Obscure and a William Shakespeare 2000 rose plant at home, although roses don't seem to thrive that well in my town. I'm not sure if it's the air, water, soil, or if we're just not good at growing roses!

Anyway, I got the chance to visit the David Austin centre in Albrighton, near Wolverhampton, this week. Even though it's December, I still thought it would be worth a visit. I wasn't disappointed. Despite the time of year and the cold, a walk around the vast gardens, followed by lunch in the pretty cafe, was a lovely way to spend a weekday afternoon.

I'm definitely planning another trip there in the summer!

Come and dream with me

I've just seen the Martin Scorsese film, Hugo. It's a delightful film to see at Christmas - tender and touching, exciting and magical, a real children's film for adults. It reminded me a little of Cinema Paradiso and The Fall, and the beautiful cinematography, set in a wintry post-WWI Paris, makes the most of the 3D filming.

Asa Butterfield is a wonderfully earnest and lonely Hugo, an orphan hiding in the clock of a train station. Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley and Sasha Baron Cohen provide fine support, while there are some lovely cameos from Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths (I can't have been the only person who was pleased to see them united after The History Boys), Jude Law and Kevin Eldon.

The floristry-related highlight though, was when Sasha Baron Cohen's station officer nervously flirts with Emily Mortimer's character, who runs a dreamy-looking florist stall. 'Are they smelly flowers?' he asks, pointing to irises. I'll leave you to watch the film yourselves to see whether romance blossoms between them.