What’s not to love, soft lemon tones with peachy highlights. Eucalyptus as requested by the bride to link back to her Australian heritage, whilst it’s not in season atm I did manage to track some down especially for the day. A nice little wedding to end June as beautifully as the month has been.
Harvesting for a wedding & farmers market.
The Haworth growing site is in absolute abundance atm and this morning I went to do a decent harvest for this weekends wedding and farmers market. Buckets overflowing with snapdragons, ammi, cornflowers, canterbury bells, nigella, achillea and so much more. A true farm to table experience for our couple and customers, what a treat. x
The first of the sweet pea's & dahlias.
This week i’m finding the evenings the most peaceful time to cut & do any plant related errands. It’s the time of year where after months of seed sowing and tending to annuals, planting out, that almost everything is in the ground and I can take a breath and appreciate how far in the season we’ve come.
With a calm July on the horizon with a busy start to the month easing into a 3 week break down in Oxfordshire, i’m spending the next week getting a few jobs in order before we head away.
It’s feels a little anxious to be leaving my flowers in high season, but I have some willing and capable hands to take care of developments whilst we’re away. If i’m honest i’ve hit that mid-season fatigue, with a few large weddings under my belt, a successful Spring harvest and all the progress at the new property in Laycock, Honour Farm, a summer away from Yorkshire where we are fully immersed year round, is really very appealing. A opportunity to step back, seek inspiration for the house and gardens, and most importantly downing tools and creating memories whilst Magnus is still so young, we can’t wait.
In the meantime, the flowers will continue to grow and bloom. Particularly the dahlias, which have already begun to flower this week. I look forward to the sea buds and florets appearing back at us when we come back, it’ll be fascinating to see that real shift in growth having never left my flowers for longer than 4-5 days.
In other news we’ll be at Ilkley Real Food & Drink market this Sunday 10-3pm on the grove. I’ll be there at our market cart, selling bunches and chatting away to anyone who is remotely interested in flowers, so do stop by. x
Creating a colour story for your wedding.
Whilst cutting flowers this morning, I started to think about the detail we go to when deciding what we wear and how we curate our wardrobe for an important event or wedding, and yet how often clients decide what flowers they want based on their favourite colours, which aren’t necessarily always the right colours, when used all at once…
Of course your favourite colours are always welcome, but deciding how to pair for example blue into your scheme should be considered, not an after thought. As seen in todays arrangement (medium bowl design - used for dining table scapes & focal points, email for a quote) blue within a cooler palette is easy on the eye, it has an ethereal quality, naturalistic and effortless. There’s nothing jarring about the introduction of a soft lemony shade of yellow or a hint of muted mauve. Whilst we have plenty of pink & orange growing at the moment, it’s important not to throw everything but the kitchen sink at a colour story just because we have it to use.
Stine Goya ‘Farrow Dress’ in ‘Mocha Brown’ displayed here with Medium Footed Bowl design - email for quote.
When designing a colour story for a wedding or event, it’s really helpful knowing what your idea’s are for your day. What your likes and dislikes are, what colours your bridesmaids/groomsmen etc are wearing, what the venue looks like. This information really starts to build up a visual that can then built on and contemplated with great detail. It’s not necessary to have the colours that are being worn within the flower particularly, in-fact creating that colour story with contrasting colours, textures and considering light/dark is what will make a design elevated. That play on light and dark seen here with a rich dark brown dress, contrasted with bright shades and airy, delicate details.
More often than not, the most successful colour stories are those which are paired back, sticking to one tonal aesthetic or limiting the palette to 2 or 3 colours. It allows for breath and space between the flowers within our designs and yet is still completely unique in execution.
Late June in bloom.
It’s the 20th of June, the sun has been upon us all day, a perfect 22 degree. Nothing too overbearing for plant or florist. After a busy few days, I find it particularly cathartic on a Monday to look around at what exactly is going on, what’s in flower, what needs support, a tender hand or a feed. We move through the seasons so quickly it’s important to not lose control at this stage, especially after so much time and hard work being spent in the winter to prepare for these flower filled days.
British Flowers Week 2022.
British Flower Week is here and of course we had to celebrate with what we had in flower. For us it’s foxgloves, sweet rocket, poppies, lupins, iris, achillea and snap dragons.
We are endlessly passionate about our homegrown cut flowers and as we expand up on Honour Farm we look forward to all the flowers shared for the years to come.
Late Winter Dried Arrangements For Little Beacon.
Last year I worked with Rachel, owner and founder of Little Beacon on a number of floral arrangements within her retail space in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. To kick off 2022 before the UK flower season begins I opted for dried arrangements hiring out our ‘Dining Urns’ in medium & large. These are popularly hired out for weddings and events for dining focal pieces, usually adorned with homegrown flowers but it’s great to see their versatility being used in a commercial environment.
If you’d like to enquire about retail arrangements for visual merchandising in your store or office then please email where it’d be happy to discuss concepts.
Hattie x
Valentine's Day Pre-Order Bouquet - Delivery Slots Sold Out
This January to keep my hands busy before things go from 0-100 setting up the new flower field I designed a couple of bouquets to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The flower season here in the UK is currently in hibernation so I opted for some stems from Holland I don’t grow myself to mix things up.
These designs are limited edition and with limited availability to reduce our carbon footprint. I try to keep my usage of wholesale to a minimum even when out of season, but it’s fun to try out new ideas to get my creativity going for the year ahead.
Hattie x
*All the delivery slots are now sold out on these products. Please email me if you have any questions.
A Little Family History.
This is a photo of my Grandpa & Nana Wells on their wedding day in 1933. The bouquet was designed by his father, James Wells (seen in the background to the left). He was a landscape gardener whose passion was to graft one variety of rose on to another to create new hybrid standard roses.
He was a lifelong member of the RHS and when he died they provided the flowers and a glass hearse drawn by horses wearing black plumes. He spent a lot of time creating floristry, his designs are timeless, wild and naturally informed in style.
He was known to always wear a rose buttonhole. I wish he was around today to teach me all of his findings. 🥀
Happy New Year!
It’s the 4th of January 2022 today and after a really lovely festive break we’re back to the usual routine. Jonny is back in the office and Magnus is off to childcare tomorrow, so it has been just the two of us once again for some one on one. As the year is set to be a pretty hectic one I’m cherishing every day I’m blessed to spend with him.
The day will soon be here where he can help pull the flower cart down the field, sow seeds and play in the dirt with his ma, I so cannot wait for that! x
A break between wreath making...
A quick bowl using the debris of all these festive wreaths leaving the door, a 10 minute breather to break up the repetition. x
Tulips, trenches and the reward of Spring.
Tulips grown in 2020.
Sowing rows of tulips in trenches.
Over the past 3 weeks I’ve planted around 2000 bulbs in total, from Tulips to Daffs, Muscari, Fritillaria, Alliums and more. I’ve had to scale back plans this year due to us relocating to a new property in the next couple of months. This is where i’ll be focusing our energy in preparing the land ready for a busy summer. But, to ensure we have enough flora to play with for our spring weddings I made sure to get some varieties in the ground at our current site in Haworth.
It is back breaking work digging trenches, but the result is always outstanding, bulbs are so self sufficient compared to raising flowers from seed. So it’s a season i’m grateful for and welcome every year.
Tulip bulb trench.
Tulip bulbs.
An example of the unique tulip varieties we grow.
Rows of spring bulbs seen here planted next to our early summer Digitalis.
Daffodil bulbs.
Allium trench for early summer.
An example of the unique varieties we grow.
A trug of tulips.
Below are some of the results of growing from previous years. I spend hours researching and locating breeders who only supply the highest quality bulbs and the most interesting and ‘of the moment’ varieties. It’s a long and thought out process, from sourcing, to planting, to protecting, harvesting then conditioning and designing with. But the fruits of labour far outweigh any gripes we find along the way and we produce far bigger and healthier stems than i’ve ever seen imported in supermarket wraps. Hopefully there’ll be a few bunches left over again from our spring wedding rush in 2022 for you to appreciate at home too.
Hattie x
A bucket of some of the tallest varieties of tulips we grew in 2020.
A variety of daffodils/narcissus we grow.
We grow plenty of salmon varities.
An example of the unique varieties we grow.
Spring bunches available April-May.
Magnus Fox is 1.
As you may be aware of if you follow our little existences over on Instagram, Magnus had his first birthday earlier in the month. I’ve spent the last 12+ months working very sporadically, I guess you could call it maternity leave. It now feels like a real turning point with his landmark birthday. We’re able to plan big for next year on the new field and I can finally work more routinely and look forward to all the weddings we have to design in 2022. I’ve definitely found taking a ‘back seat’ difficult, so I can’t wait to throw myself back into the dirt full time.
Although, becoming a mum has been my greatest accomplishment yet, if ever? I’m not sure we can top Magnus. He’s the greatest.
Hattie x
Whites, greens and frothy etherealism.
At the start of the month we had a wedding which had been postponed a few times due to the ongoing pandemic. Back when this couple booked with Common Daisy I was still offering designs with import options, like the Kahala roses and Colombian whites. Whilst this is not something I actively promote as an option anymore, as I am very much about producing all my own stock and bulking up harvests with flowers from other local farms and foraging, it made for a nice change to the week.
It goes without saying i’ll always go out of my way to source a specific flower for our clients if this is at the core of their brief, (preferably only a handful of times a year to minimise our carbon footprint importing stock). The seasons of course make it difficult to be 100% virtuous all of the time but there is an abundance of incredible flora grown here in the UK aching to be admired for a good portion of the year. It’s definitely worth keeping an open mind when it comes to a brief and not getting too hung up on Pinterest boards, choose a florist you already like the style of and the magic will just happen organically. And of course for those on a budget, ask what is in season, what are your best options, as it could save your hundreds of pounds by opting for British blooms and native filler foliage.
But fear not, if you ever want some of those crisp delicious roses, i’ll hunt you some down (as sustainably as possible).
Hattie x
A small bowl whilst the kettle boils...
It’s been a long time since i’ve been in the swing of posting any images of my weekly floral faffery on here. So here’s a small bowl of lovelies from last week, thrown together whilst the kettle boiled in a very seldom 5 minutes to myself whilst Magnus played with his toys.
Hattie x
