Everything's coming up roses... - Kitchen Garden Magazine

With St Valentine’s Day on the horizon, why not check out the best of British blooms with New Covent Garden Market?

British Flowers Week 2018 dates have just been announced, so it’s time to get out your diary to celebrate the very best of British blooms.

New Covent Garden Market, the UK’s premier floral wholesaler, has announced that this year’s British Flowers Week will take place from June 18 to 24. Now in its sixth year, the week-long event is set raise awareness of the enviable array of flowers and foliage the UK is home to, as well as the phenomenal talent of the country’s floral industry, bringing together independent florists, wholesalers, flower growers and floristry lovers alike.

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Last year’s campaign was a huge success, with more than 35 British Flowers Week workshops, talks, pop-up shops and floral demonstrations taking place around the country. This year will see more on offer for those with green fingers or simply a love of all things floral. Celebrations will be held across the UK from city centres to stately homes, with social media users able to get involved using the hashtag #BritishFlowersWeek, see stunning displays and get information on the range of floristry workshops and flower farm open days on offer throughout the week.

Helen Evans, a spokesperson for New Covent Garden Market, said: “British Flowers Week is a great opportunity to raise awareness of some of the people and businesses that continue to make the creativity and excellence in the British floristry industry second to none, with the industry worth £2.2 billion.”

British Flowers Week is all about celebrating British flowers and the people who grow them, sell them and create stunning designs using them, keeping the floristry industry fresh and inspiring. As the UK’s biggest specialist flower and plant hall supplying 75% of London’s florists, British Flowers Week organisers New Covent Garden Market are well placed to lead the celebrations.

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Started by New Covent Garden Market in 2013, British Flowers Week is a week-long celebration of the wealth and variety of the best of British cut flowers and foliage. It aims to showcase great British flowers through great British floristry, raise awareness of which British flowers are in season and encourage the public to buy more British flowers.

British flowers and foliage are enjoying a long-awaited resurgence in popularity. Buyers are increasingly demanding more locally grown produce to celebrate the seasons and support British growers. Often scented, British flowers have a natural charm, beauty and just-picked freshness that make them the florist’s favourite.

The Flower Market at New Covent Garden Market:

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Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 4am to 10am each day. Members of the public are able to visit from 8.30am to 10am, Monday to Saturday, to look around and see where London’s florists buy their flowers.

The Flower Market at New Covent Garden Market is the UK’s premier flower market, housing two Royal Warrant holders who supply blooms to the country’s most prestigious households. The Flower Market is at the heart of the floristry industry in London and beyond, supplying 75% of London’s florists, from high street retailers to high-end event companies and with the market’s flowers ending up in royal palaces, shops, market stalls, hotels, offices, parties, homes, and at weddings and funerals.

Many of the traders at the market are third or even fourth generation and these ladies and gentlemen are the thoroughbreds of the floristry world, holding an exceptional level of knowledge and expertise on flowers, plants, foliage and sundries through the decades and from around the world.

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Images (top of article): Garden roses by Julian Winslow. The rest of the images are by Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona and are, in descending order: cornflowers, large white daisies, larkspur, sweet Williams and sweet peas at New Covent Garden Market’s Flower Market.

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.