Girl Flower Podcast

This week we are in conversation with Caroline Redpath, founder of Fleur Provocateur and her daughter Antonia who mostly manages the business and logistical moving parts of the business "Fleur Provocateur is a wedding and event florist based on the Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire border. Specialising in sustainable designs and taking pride with high-quality and fun service. Caroline leads a small team of floral fairies, we love large-scale design with colour and impact. Teamwork is key, we love working with all suppliers and collaborating with couples." To find out more about Fleur Provocateur and their incredibly beautiful work please head over to https://fleurprovocateur.co.uk and go and show them some love on insta at https://www.instagram.com/fleur_provocateur/ Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Lucy Vail of Lucy Vail Floristry 'Lucy is an award-winning luxury floral design studio specialising in weddings, events and installations. Renowned for ‘bringing the outside in’ and their bold use of colour, they can transform any environment into an immersive botanical wonderland. All of their projects are seasonable, sustainable and most are made from solely British grown flowers' To find out more about Lucy and her beautiful work please head over to https://lucyvailfloristry.com and go and show her some love on SM https://www.instagram.com/lucyvailfloristry/ Support the show

Featherstone’s English Flower Co. is a flower farm and florist, growing a wonderful range of British flowers and foliage in a three-acre field in the rolling Hampshire hills, and offering a fullfloristry service, events and workshops from a breath-taking fifteenth century tithe barn. Co-founders Jess Roberts and Katie Stone have brought together a wealth of professional knowledge and years of experience in floriculture to create their dream business, growing handpicked flowers for retail and wholesale from March-December. They are united in their passion for seasonal British flowers, ethical floristry and caring for the environment. Sustainability is at the heart of Featherstone’s English Flower Co. In the field, promoting biodiversity is key, by using no-dig methods and adding composts and mulches to the soil surface. No pesticides or herbicides, and no heat or peat, are used in production. In the barn, this means only natural, compostable and reusable methods are used for all floristry (not a trace of floral foam!), harnessing methods from the past with a modern twist to create beautiful arrangementswith an organic style. Featherstone’s English Flower Co. is a member of ‘Flowers from the Farm’ and ‘The Sustainable Wedding Alliance’. To find out more about Featherstone's English Flower Co please head over to https://www.featherstoneflowers.co.uk and show them some love on insta https://www.instagram.com/featherstoneflowers/ https://www.instagram.com/featherstonewholesale/ Support the show

In standard fashion, Jess and Vic have a bit of a chat about how crazy last year was and a few exciting changes happening on the podcast moving forward Welcome to season 7 flower gang xxx Support the show

This week we chat to Marianne & Camila, founders of Wolves Lane Flower Company who grow & create with their beautiful sustainable blooms in a 40 metre glasshouse in North London We hear all about their beginnings and what drove them to begin their business successful partnership and how they have grown their wonderful business into what it is today Such an insightful and inspiring conversation The VERY exciting news this week is that these lovely ladies have written a book and its available to pre-order RIGHT NOW so we have this lovely chat to coincide with their book launch and find out all about "How to grow the flowers-a sustainable approach to enjoying flowers through the seasons" We know this is going to be a must have for every book shelf! Huge thanks to Marianne & Camila, we wish you every success with your new book ladies! To pre-order your copy please head over to https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911682016/?tag=pavibook-21 To find out more about Wolves Lane Flower Company please head to https://www.wolveslaneflowercompany.com Show them some insta love right here https://www.instagram.com/wolveslaneflowercompany Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Hazel Gardiner of Hazel Gardiner Design Hazel is a floral designer, gardener, broadcaster and content creator based in London We find out about Hazel's beginnings and what drove her into a career in flowers after a rare cancer diagnosis Hazel had a very definitive idea of how she wanted her business to look when she first set out, giving an immersive experience to her clients drawing inspiration from fashion, architecture & nature amongst other things We chat about how you need a business model to evolve and adapt to suit your needs and desires as you move through time We hear about how it all started for Hazel and how she began to focus in on her signature style when she started to take part in styled shoots, collaborating with other creatives enabling Hazel to find her creative voice We talk about the importance of building a great team and how by surrounding yourselves with talented freelance talent can elevate your brand Hazel speaks about the structure of her business and how employing a business coach has helped her streamline her processes & life balance. Helping her to understand the part of the business which are most important to her Hazel tells us about her team and how by delegating out every day tasks has allowed her more time to work on moving her business forward We hear about the broadcasting side of Hazels business, her YouTube series speaking with gardeners of English Heritage sites and all about her content creation We work through absolutely loads in this episode so we know you're going to absolutely love it Huge thanks to Hazel for being so wonderful xx To find out more about Hazel and her business please head over to https://www.hazelgardinerdesign.com/home Go show her grid some love here https://www.instagram.com/hazelgardinerdesign/ https://www.louiseambercoaching.com/ https://www.floristrytradeclub.co.uk/post/tackling-race-barriers-in-floristry https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/careers-horticulture/floral-designer Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Lauren and Rachel, founders of Sweet Root Village, based in Alexandria, Virginia, USA Sweet Root Village services include custom floral design for weddings and events, as well as an A La Carte Menu-pre designed collections for clients to buy directly through their website, Brand activation and floral education-Courses, guides, subscriptions and mentorships We hear about how Sweet Root Village began and how it grew organically into what it is today and how their friendship and partnership in business has been the catalyst in the success of Sweet Root Village We also hear all about Lauren and Rachel's independent roles and strengths within their business roles and all about the team that make up the village We speak about the importance of building a business that sits within your lifestyle and family commitments, making room for a good work life balance We heat about the various facets of what makes up Sweet Root Village as a business This is such a great episode with lots of value. Thank you so much to Lauren and Rachel for chatting with us! x To find out more about Sweet Root Village please head over to https://sweetrootvillage.com To find out more about the education side of Sweet Root village please head to https://sweetrootvillage.com/education And please go and show them some love at https://www.instagram.com/sweetrootvillage/ Support the show

This week Jess is in conversation with the wonderful Sarah Statham, founder of Simply By Arrangment Sarah is a floral designer, teacher & grower based in Yorkshire We have been long anticipating this conversation with Sarah and it certainly didn't disappoint! Huge thanks to Sarah for such a wonderful chat xxx To find out more about Sarah and her work, workshops, classes and retreats please head over to https://simplybyarrangement.co.uk and if you haven't checked our Sarahs beautiful grid, please go and show her some love https://www.instagram.com/simplybyarrangement/ Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Hannah walker, founder of Bride and Bloom Hannah is a wedding and event florist based in Worcester We chat about Hannah's journey into flowers after a successful career in fashion, retraining as a florist at The Covent Garden Academy of Flowers and then re-locating to Worcester This move then saw her discover her local community of growers & Flowers From The Farm Hannah uses only British grown flowers in her work now and we discuss the importance of sustainability to her business and what spurred her into the direction of environmentally conscious floristry We chat about how Hannah built her business, we hear about how Hannah approaches social media and how important it is to have a sound work life balance that ensures she is present for her young children Thank you so much for chatting with us Hannah! x To find out more about Hannah and her business please head on over to https://brideandbloom.co Go and show her some love on insta https://www.instagram.com/bride_and_bloom/ Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Fiona Haser Bizony, founder of Electric Daisy Flower Farm Fiona is a farmer florist, with a sustainable flower farm located in Somerset and an ethical flower shop near Hampstead selling fresh-from-the-farm plants and flowers We hear about Fiona's passion for adventure and all about her life and travels before she began her journey into flowers We then speak all about how Fiona's passion for growing began with always sustainability in mind From just a small patch initially growing cornflowers in the corner of a walled garden to the current growing space that houses all of Electric Daisy Flower Farms's beautiful blooms We hear about the importance of finding your own voice, delivering 'something that no-one else is doing or that no-one else has thought of' and here in turn we can highlight Electric Daisy Flower Farm, the one and only flower shop in the Uk, selling British blooms, grown exclusively from their very own flower farm Fiona's shop opened in 2020 and we hear about the development of her new venture as a shop owner during a pandemic and the lows that this situation brought on Fiona speaks with us so candidly about the other struggles personally in her life, as well as the struggles within her business when the world turned itself upside down and all about her plans to thrive this year, going from strength to strength and pushing Electric Daisy Flower Farm to new heights This episode is so choc full of information and invoice and we can't thank Fiona enough! "You need to be the most 'me' that you can be" Fiona Haser Bizony Thank you so much for your time, you were absolutely wonderful!!! xx To find out more about Electric Daisy Flower Farm please head over to https://electricdaisyflowerfarm.co.uk Please go and show Fiona some love https://www.instagram.com/electricdaisyflowerfarm/ Support the show

Today we are in conversation with Caroline Oleron of Cherfold flowers. Caroline is a wedding and event florist and a purveyor and seller of beautiful things Carolines beautiful studio is situated in an old coal yard in Hambledon, filled to brim with other creative businesses We find out about Carolines beginnings and her journey into flowers Caroline started growing flowers in her garden, selling them at her garden gate and then to local shops until someone asked her to create their wedding flowers and the rest is history! Caroline mentions that her business has grown really organically, soon moving to full time after taking on a larger volume of weddings Caroline soon realised that the floristry side of her business was what made her soul shine and she began to make connections with local growers through Flowers From The Farm We chat about Caroline's obsession for beautiful things and how she began selling vintage finds from a shed in her garden and then this developed into a swoon worthy webshop Caroline soon moved from her home studio and into her current unit...two weeks before the pandemic hit. Thankfully, her workshop was suitable for light retail and she began to add a more retail side to her business whilst weddings and events were postponed Caroline now offers pop up shop days, workshops and concentrates on her weddings and events and loves creating strong relationships with her clients so that their connections continue throughout the years We cover so much more in this ep, so enjoy and huge thanks to Caroline for chatting with us xx To find out more about Caroline and her business please head over to https://www.cherfoldflowers.com Go and show her some love on insta https://www.instagram.com/cherfoldflowers/ To find out about local growers in your area please head over to https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Emma Cox, founder of Emma Cox Floristry Emma is a wedding and event florist based in Sheffield We chat about Emma's journey into flowers and how important Instagram is to her business not only as a portfolio but as a way of marketing Emma chats about how essential it is that she feels connected to the wedding and event projects that she undertakes; Ensuring that she is engaged in all of the work she creates There is so much to take out of this episode and huge thanks to Emma for chatting with us! X To find out more about Emma and her business please head to https://emmacoxfloristry.com/ And go and show her some love on insta www.Instagram.com/emmacoxbrocante Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Paula Rooney, founder of Paula Rooney Floral design Paula is a wedding and events florist based in Hampshire We find out all about Paulas beginnings and her journey into flowers, her breakthrough moment, her team and her business ethos We hear about the effect of the pandemic, chat about the wonderful work she does with Four Seasons, Ten Trinity and we learn about the highs and lows of destination weddings Paula tells us all about her business mentoring service and how important it is to invest in yourself and take time to work on the business as well as in the business Recently Paula was featured on Channel 4 in a documentary called Billionaire Blooms and previous on A very British Country Home, focussing on an exquisite wedding at Clivedon House Paula tells us all about the importance of having systems in place to finesse all of her processes. Please find a list below of the software that she mentions in the episode Dubsado https://www.dubsado.com Monday https://monday.com Trello https://trello.com Canva https://trello.com Details Flowers https://info.detailsflowers.com Thank you so much for such a brilliant chat Paula! Helpful Links https://paularooney.co.uk https://www.instagram.com/paularooneyfloraldesigner/ Support the show

This week we are in conversation with Claire Brown of Plant Passion. Claire is a Farmer florist, author and teacher based in East Claydon We speak about Claire's journey into flowers, what spurred her into creating the wonderful 'British Flowers Book'..the must have flower bible as far as we are concerned. Also, the exciting news that there is a new edition in the pipeline! One of the biggest subjects covered in this episode is the importance of finding the right clients for your business and understanding, researching and trialling ideas to meet your clients wants and desires We talk about the impact of Covid and the evolution of the Plant Passion brand through this with the new addition of a 'pick your own' cutting patch and how important it is to market your business strategically to your customer base We also hear about some of the wonderful courses that Claire offers including 'The business of growing flowers' and 'The business of selling flowers' There is so much to take from this episode and huge thanks to Claire for giving up your time to chat with us, we could have spoken with you all day! To find out more about Claire and the courses that she offers please head to the link below https://www.plantpassion.co.uk The business of selling flowers course https://www.thebusinessofsellingflowers.com The business of growing flowers course https://www.thebusinessofsellingflowers.com/the-business-of-growing-flowers And Fan Girl her Insta here https://www.instagram.com/plantpassion/ The British Flowers Book-Whilst stocks last! https://www.plantpassion.co.uk/bfb Support the show

Today we are in conversation with Sarah Harper of Sarah Harper Floral Design. Sarah's studio is in North Oxfordshire and she creates wedding & event flowers, holds both 1:1 workshops for florists and also for those who love flowers and provides local flower deliveries for clients in her area We find out all about Sarahs's beginnings, from her first Chelsea Gold medal to starting her own business and how she has navigated the pandemic Sarah is very clear on the direction of her business, ensuring that she works with only her ideal clients, hand picking the clients that she most would like to work with. We speak about her vetting process and all about 'The Hive' the bespoke online portal Sarah uses to finesse the client experience Although Sarah has a minimum spend in place for her full-service weddings, she also offers an intimate wedding package to cover clients who love her work but who are looking for a lower ideal spending requirement We talk in depth about the development of her brand across her website and social media and how vital it has been to outsource certain aspects of this to those who have the knowledge and experience to push her vision forward. It has been fundamental to the success of her business We speak about photographing your flowers & some hints and tips to take great shots and how having a brand aesthetic throughout all of your channels will elevate your brand We have taken some really important points from this conversation about how Sarah approaches her business and if you would like to find out more then please head over to https://sarahharperfloraldesign.co.uk Fan girl here on insta https://www.instagram.com/sarahharperflowers/ Sarah's Website was designed by https://beckylord.co.uk Website copywriting by https://jackdaweditorial.com Huge thanks Sarah, we absolutely loved chatting with you x Support the show

Today we are in conversation with Cel Robertson of Forever Green Flower Company for our sustainability special This is a MUST LISTEN for not just Florists and Growers; but to everyone who lives on our glorious planet. We can't thank you enough for chatting with us Cel, your knowledge and passion for a greener planet always blows us away and we know that our listeners will take away so much from this discussion We have been given some incredible links below by Cel, if you would like to delve further into any of the issues discussed today To find out more about the courses that Cel offers please head over to her website https://www.forevergreenflowerco.co.uk “Do the best you can until you know better and then when you know better, do better” Maya Angelou The Sustainable Floristry Network https://www.sustainablefloristry.org The Sustainable Floristry Network on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sustainablefloristry/ Floral Foam – from the Sustainable Floristry Network https://www.sustainablefloristry.org/blog-index/aboutfloralfoam The Sustainable Cut Flower Project at Coventry University https://sustainableflowers.coventry.domains Sustainable Cut Flowers – a guide for florists https://sustainableflowers.coventry.domains/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Booklet-Sustainable-Cut-flowers-2020.pdf Ellen Macarthur Foundation https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org Fairtrade – Flowers and Plants https://www.fairtrade.net/product/flowers-and-plants Rainforest Alliance Certified Ferns and Cut Flowers https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/insights/rainforest-alliance-certified-ferns-flowers/ Offshoring emissions is passing the buck: a zero-carbon future requires leadership and transparency https://blogs.coventry.ac.uk/researchblog/offshoring-emissions-is-passing-the-buck-a-zero-carbon-future-requires-leadership-and-transparency/ What is Greenwashing? https://earth.org/what-is-greenwashing/ Ethical Consumer Magazine https://www.ethicalconsumer.org The problem with Carbon Offsetting https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/the-biggest-problem-with-carbon-offsetting-is-that-it-doesnt-really-work/ The European Association for Flower Growers Conference – 11-13 February 2022 - online http://eafg.org How Bad are Bananas? The carbon footprint of everything Author – Mike Berners-Lee https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-bad-are-bananas/mike-berners-lee/9781788163811 Support the show

Today we are in conversation with Milli Proust of Milli Proust Flowers Milli is a Florist/Grower based in West Sussex. Milli grows her beautiful flowers for a selection of weddings, events & commissions. She also sells her own seeds throughout the year and holds a series of seasonal workshops. Keep your eyes peeled for some new products available to buy through her webshop in 2022 We hear about Milli's journey into flowers, how covid pushed her to drive her business forward and pivot her offerings We chat about photography and about the art of story telling and all about Milli's approach to designing and growing Milli has a book launching today!!! We feel so grateful to be the first to chat with Milli all about her labour of love 'From Seed to Bloom' with amazing photography from Eva Nemeth. It is available to pre-order today via Milli's website, all good bookshops and Amazon. We have been lucky enough to see some sneak peeks and it is incredible, we can't wait to bag our copies asap Listen to our episode today to hear all about it! Huge thank to Milli for such a wonderful conversation, we absolutely loved chatting with you TWICE! To find out more about Milli and place your pre-order for "From Seed To Bloom' please head over to https://www.milliproust.com/about and go and show her some insta love here https://www.instagram.com/milliproust/ Support the show

It's our season finale and instead of just us two rambling along we thought it would be fun to get our friend Liz from Blue Sky Flowers on board to chat about 2021, it's obstacles and the fun things that happened despite of the ongoing pandemic (and a complete list of our favourite boards game purchases for Christmas apparently....spolier alert...Liz loves a puzzle) What a year it has been for us all as an industry, there have been tears, joy...tears of joy and many more emotions in-between and we are so grateful that you have all been here along with us on this journey Huge thanks to our listeners for your support over the last two years, we couldn't feel more proud!! We will be back bigger and better in 2022 so watch this space Love to you all and we wish you a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to come Much Love Vic & Jess xx Support the show

Today we are chatting with Karen Barnes, founder of Karen Barnes floral industry consultancy. Karen is a wedding and events florist and teacher, works in product development & trend prediction for various global companies in the industry and is an international competition judge She also is a two-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner We find out about Karens beginnings and how the many facets of her business work We chat about her product development/trend prediction roles and how these have seen her travel the world. We also touch on how she came into this type of work from her time as Head of product development for Interflora We talk about the rise of career change students coming into the industry and why we may have seen a large drop in entry level British school leavers hoping to have a career in flowers opting for traditional college floristry courses such as City & Guilds and National Diplomas We speak about floristry competitions, what it's like to be a judge, how competition wins can benefit your profile, what the judges are looking for and her advice to those who would like to get into competition work (and lots more!) To find out more about Karen and her work please head over to https://www.karenbarnesconsultancy.com Find her on insta https://www.instagram.com/karenbarnes_kbc/ To find out more about floristry competitions please head to https://www.floristryjudgesguild.co.uk/competitions.htm https://www.britishfloristassociation.org/?s=competitions Thank you to Karen for such a wonderful conversation Support the show

Today we chat with Stephanie Gillespie, marketing and sustainability specialist at Smithers-Oasis This chat is all about floral foam. We also find out about their new product developments with the design media they produce and also the company's plan to move to more sustainable practices within their sites We understand that not all of your questions may have been answered so as Stephanie mentioned, please feel free to get in touch with her directly and she will be happy to answer any burning questions you may have Thank you for chatting with us Stephanie Aside from producing floral foam, Smithers-Oasis have many other product lines available for the floral industry, if you would like to find out more please pop over here https://www.oasisfloral.co.uk To find out more about The Big Green Plan click here https://www.oasisfloral.co.uk/oasis-and-sustainability If you have any further questions for Smithers Oasis then please direct your enquiries here and mark for the attention of Stephanie Gillespie contactuk@oasisfloral.co.uk or use the contact form here https://www.oasisfloral.co.uk/contact/ Support the show