This Friday sees a Gardeners’ World Special 4/6 Cut Flowers on BBC2 at 8.00pm.
Sale of cut flowers in the UK is at an all time high, yet it’s a market dominated by cheap foreign imports.
Sarah Raven embarks on a mission to promote our seasonal flowers.
Needless to say I shall be watching this programme with interest both as an aspiring flower grower and for the environmental implications.
Happy gardening, and have a good Bank Holiday weekend !
11 responses so far ↓
uphilldowndale // August 22, 2007 at 8:54 pm |
Now you have me on one of many pet subjects!
I started working in flower shops in 1974 (V young ‘Saturday girl!’) we had far less exotic flowers than you see now, but they were much more seasonal, they were British grown and hadn’t been airfreighted half way round the globe.
But we were our own worst enemies, in many ways; the quality was inconsistent, a bunch of five tulips would have four stems of a reasonable length and one ‘runt’ (a third less stem than the rest of the bunch) the Dutch growers exploited our weakness, and produced well graded flowers( even if that meant they were somewhat homogenized) with an excellent supply chain, I could order flowers on a Monday, they were cut, packed and shipped and on my shop floor by 6am on the Wednesday. In contrast our UK flower markets were chaotic, open antisocial hours and take your eye off the ball for a moment and the stall holders would slip you poor stock. our a forklift truck would crease the side of your van.
Why would I want to haul myself out of bed at 03:50am to drive 20m to a load of hassle, when I could rely on my Dutch supplier to deliver good stock reliably to my door?
We can never return to the flower supply we had, all the small independent nurseries have gone; the value of the land for development, far out weighing the labour intensive product they supplied.
Grow your own it’s the only answer.
Flighty, plant some phlox, its sweet scent is adorable, and transport me straight back to ‘74
flightbuff // August 23, 2007 at 5:24 pm |
Uphilldowndale many thanks for your very interesting, and informative, comment.
I’m going to watch the programme then comment again in more detail.
Phlox has been added to the list…thanks.
menhir // August 23, 2007 at 8:17 pm |
There is a lot of discussion about imported blooms and bulbs. I do wish it were more honest though. We don’t have an established industry, cheap imports or no, and unless or until we do, there is a flaw in the in the whining process that needs addressing.
From what I saw recently in Holland, where there is a very well established flower and vegetable industry, they sell at better rates to their local customers than we would. For example, bags or packs of bulbs come in larger quantities than sold here. Some things may look cheaper when sold in the British market, but only by virtue of quantity and in some cases, quality.
flightbuff // August 23, 2007 at 8:52 pm |
Menhir it’ll be interesting to see what the programme has to say about it all.
I agree with what you say but will comment again in more detail once I’ve seen it.
nikkipolani // August 25, 2007 at 9:22 pm |
That whole “buy local” thing is not as simple as it sounds – no matter what market. But on a lighter note, I hope you have grand success with planning and planting your own supply of cut flowers. There is nothing quite like bringing flowers you tended into your home – even if they only last a day or two.
flightbuff // August 26, 2007 at 7:18 am |
I found to be be a thoroughly interesting and informative programme. If anything it came across as an almost understated documentary which for me was a pleasant surprise. It stated facts and figures for the past, present and future in a very matter of fact way and never laboured the point.
The future for UK cut flowers will not be a return to the past but niche markets and changing atitudes should ensure that it not only survives but gets better.
I certainly hope so and am glad to see that my usual supermarket, Waitrose, is leading the way in selling UK flowers.
When I buy any from now on I will check where they originated and try to only buy UK ones, although I do realise that may not always be possible.
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Nikki what you say is so true but I think that each time we do buy local it helps the so called ripple effect.
The programme showed plenty of wonderful flowers and gave lots of ideas and thoughts!
Flower Fairies and Financial Trolls « Uphilldowndale // August 26, 2007 at 11:41 am |
[...] 26, 2007 · Filed under Uncategorized I was tipped off by Flighty that there was a Gardner’s World special about the flower industry, I watched with [...]
uphilldowndale // August 26, 2007 at 12:37 pm |
Duhh, spot the spelling mistake!
I had far to much to say on this to for it to fit in to your comments box, so I have written at as post.
flightbuff // August 26, 2007 at 3:51 pm |
Uphilldowndale I’ve just read your interesting entry on this subject and in turn commented on it.
beth // July 3, 2009 at 5:11 am |
Nice to know all about this. Your blog seems to be interesting, keep up the good work.
Flighty // July 3, 2009 at 6:41 am |
Beth I’m glad that you found it of interest! Thanks, I’ll certainly try.