I’ve been pretty quiet on the blogging front for some time now… there’s a lot to fill you all in on… so grab yourself a biscuit, settle down and read on…

For those of you keeping tabs on me through Facebook and Twitter, you’ll know that I’ve been a busy little bee of late and I have to admit, I’ve been having an absolute blast, and this is what I’ve been up to…

Wedding shows:

We kicked off wedding fever with The Dorset Wedding Festival at Holton Lee. This was our wedding festival debut, and oh my goodness was it fun, OR WHAT!

Dolled up in our new Bo Boutique aprons, we rocked up in the BoMobile van which was bulging full of exhibition pieces and, some might say more importantly, copious sandwiches for the troops! (Thank you Father Bo for the home made bread!)

I can honestly say that I didn’t expect to have quite so much fun…but then again we spent the day meeting tonnes of lovely brides-to-be while talking about flowers… so you know, its pretty hard not to enjoy that kind of shizzle!

Some of you there will have seen me hunkered down behind my stall, making a huuuuge floral head garland, and then scurrying off never to be seen again, while leaving my capable Bo Dolls to man the fort… I was working on a photo shoot that afternoon, so apologise for not getting to meet all of you in person…

I’ve now happily guzzled tea and discussed wedding flowers with some of the lovely ladies who came to see us on the day, so all in all you could say that The Dorset Wedding Festival was a resounding success… roll on next year!

Editorial:

I’ve been working on some STUNNING editorial work too, kicking off with a photo shoot for blogging sensation, Wedding Sparrow.

Now, I’m not a massive wedding dress obsessive, (as a single gal, I think this is pretty healthy!) But, this shoot was showcasing the New Claire Pettibone wedding gown collection and, ahem, I now fear I may be on the slippery slope to becoming one of those crazy women, who buy their wedding dress before they even buy  find the groom! VELVET, is all that I am going to say on the matter. #clairepettibonerehabrequiredurgently

We styled the shoot in The New Forest, the sun was shining (although perhaps not as feverantly as our beautiful model would have liked… £6k wedding dress clad model, swaddled in bright orange fleece rug and faux fur purple robe– an interesting look, but not to be scoffed at by any means… who knew pink hair would make such a resurgence, so let’s not diss the lace / fleece look, quite yet… En vogue, non?!)

The shoot revolved around a lone tree, atop a hill looking over the forest below. It was stunning, especially as the sun began to lower, casting a dusky sun kissed haze throughout the entire forest. It was so still, and so beautiful.

Sara of Wedding Sparrow got her hands on some gorgeous antique dining furniture, and I created a table runner of fresh moss, topped with a gargantuan of flowers spilling out of a stone urn. I hate to blow my own trumpet but, “TOOOT TOOOOT”…. I LOVED making the pieces for this shoot, they looked so damn pretty and I’ve had some really wonderful feedback from all over the globe. Exciting times! The colours were rich, the style was voluptuous organic avant-garde glamour, the dresses were divine, the model; sickeningly beautiful, the fine art photographer; shooting on film, the Floral Designer and Stylists; Awesome! Keep your eyes peeled for the full set of images which will be launching the new Wedding Sparrow blog, in the coming weeks. In fact, just get your ass following Wedding Sparrow. This girl has style and taste to rival pretty much everyone!

Press:

A few weeks ago I was interviewed for a feature in More! Magazine. The article was ‘Spotlight On Floristry’ and I, along with a super talented peer of mine; Rebecca Louise Law, spilt the beans on our careers and the industry. It was great to be approached for a project such as this, I think we each managed to give a real insight into our profession, as well as share just how hard we creatives actually do work!

I do often chuckle to myself at the reaction I often receive when I tell people that I work with flowers; I’m sure the common misconception involves some kind of conjured imagery of me, dressed in tie die, brandishing a handful of gladioli in a Morrissey-esq manner, while dancing to This Charming Man… When in reality my working day often starts at 3am in a huge fridge, clad in thermals and bobble-hat with thorns imbedded deep in my weary hands, and sleep being a seemingly unattainable luxury! But this, is my absolute element…

(The Smiths are never too far from my stereo, so I guess the conjured imagery has slight relevance, at least…!)

Catwalks and Gold:

On the morning that the More! article went to press, I was approached by an events company who wanted to commission me to create a jaw dropping installation for a London catwalk runway show! Excitement buzzed around my workroom as sketches and plans were hatched! With only three weeks notice, all hands were on deck. True to form I wanted to make something OTT, and I wasn’t going to settle until I made it happen… and so to the dismay of my helpful Bo Dolls, I unveiled my intricate sketches of what I intended to make… two 9 foot tall metallic gold trees, which will meet in the middle with the tips ever so slightly touching, to form a canopy over the catwalk runway. I wanted to make the trees life like, using fresh foliage and flowers, but at the same time garishly theatrical, whimsical and exceedingly over the top!

…Hard graft ensued!

Yes, my hands were gold plated for the entire three week period and thereafter, BUT who doesn’t love gold thumbs?! I mean, who ever turned their nose up at being given a thumbs-up, let alone a metallic gold one…?!

The trees looked better than I ever could have imagined, and seeing them come to life after weeks of dedicated and sometimes back breaking work, was immensely satisfying!

The trees became the talking and focal point of the event, which was The Big London Wedding Show at The Devonshire Terrace. I felt very chuffed indeed, and we got rave reviews … Flower Porn

So if you know anyone who wants to inject some OTT gilded gold glamour into their wedding or event, then you know where to come!

A night at the Museum:

After being invited to the Floriculture private view at The Garden Museum in London back in February, I’ve been lucky to have spent subsequent time at the museum and, last week worked with them on their Floralia Competition. The competition was open to all floral creatives, and the brief was; to push the boundaries of avant-garde floristry by creating a floral arrangement that explores the link between floristry and fine art (right up my street, obviously!)

I was asked to select from the array of applicants, the shortlist of finalists who got to go through to the competition stage and create their installation pieces. These were then judged by TV presenter and self proclaimed stylist, George Lamb (or GGL – (Gorgeous George Lamb) as I like to refer to this part silver fox / part Savile Row clad, Adonis) as well as Nikki Tibbles, founder of Wild at Heart and Christopher Wood, Waitrose Floral Designer.

On the Horizon:

And so this brings us to today; a sunny hay fever rich Monday, The 1975 on my stereo, cup of earl in one hand, sketch pad in another, planning my upcoming spring wedding pieces while having a mini disco in my seat, (interrupted by the odd intermittent sneezing fit…)

No doubt I’ll go a little quiet again for a spell, while I work on my cornucopia of weddings coming up over the next few weeks but, rest assured, I’ll be back to let you all know how our harbour side, Cornish dairy farm, and country manor weddings went. In the meantime, here are some fab people who I’ve met over the past couple of months, and whom I implore you to follow, watch out for and work with, wherever possible…

Wedding Sparrow – Sara Russell

Divine Day Photography – Sandra Von Riekhoff

Aneta Mak – Fine Art Photographer

Over and out for now. See you on the other side of The Spring Wedding Bo Fest…

As many of you know, I don’t like to do things by half, so for our wedding show debut I figured we may as well go for the UK’s biggest, and best! Eeeeek! What an experience it was too.

As I was commissioned by the talented musicians, The Dorchester Duo, to create this floral art instillation, my initial inspiration for the set design was musical instruments. So, I set to work by trawling old music dens for used and abused instruments. I found some old music stands, a huge trombone and a guitar, which I spray-painted white… The perfect vessels for stuffing full of flowers, of course!

I wanted to incorporate these instruments into a fresh flower instillation that was so full of various individual arrangements it was almost a visual overload which, when you looked closer, you noticed all of the little touches and detail that work together to created something with a powerful impact, and musical relevance…

I decided to use scented narcissi, 500 of them no less! Not only because I love to use flowers when at their very best and in season, but the scent and the delicate colour perfectly complimented the blush almost bubble-gum toned ranunculus that, quite simply stole my heart the second that I saw them at New Covent Garden Flower Market the previous morning. These ranunculus turned out to be the basis for the entire instillation colour pallet… In fact I’m almost salivating at the mere thought of them! (Yes, I do salivate over flowers. Please don’t judge me!)

I then rummaged my way through antique markets with my (patient) friend Anna, on the hunt for an old chest of drawers to act as the centrepiece of my instillation. (I’m pretty sure people think I’m slightly potty when I start prattling on about needing second hand instruments and battered old chests of drawers, in order to arrange flowers. Bear with me folks …it makes sense in this head of mine!) I got my hands on an old set of art deco style mirrored drawers, a little cracked in places, but I think that added to the charm.

So the day before the show arrived… My bloomin marvellous assistant Maude; wearing her homemade sunflower crown (!), hot crossed buns, flasks of (disgusting) coffee, our flowers, instruments and drawers we’re loaded in the van, and we set sail for the hive of activity that was Kensington Olympia. I can honestly say that an event of this size is a juggernaut of precision planning, and frenzied madness! We worked on our creation for a solid 8 hours, and we were so pleased with the finished piece.

We pulled out the drawers from the chest in a staggered manner, and filled each one full of flowers, until they were bulging to the point of near explosion. The flowers poured out of the drawers, onto the floor and over the instruments which, themselves had been stuffed full of gypsophila which then burst out and trailed out over the floor in an almost fluid form. Atop the chest were varying vase and urn arrangements, teapots with flowers pouring out of the spout, stone busts, old photographs, antique ornaments, sheets of music, jars of yet more narcissi and scented roses galore. Oooh it was delicious.

Hard work it was, but well well worth it, and I’ve been utterly overjoyed with the reaction from visitors of the show.

I’ve also done my bit for the hand cream economy…my workroom gets very cold, and these hands get very gnarled…. Crabtree & Evelyn, you’re welcome!!

This was my first of many wedding shows to come this year; the next being The Dorset Wedding Festival on the 7^th April, and we’ll also be at the Miss Vintage Wedding Affair event in spirit, (or goodie bags at least), which takes place in Battersea on the 17^th March.

I hope to see some of you at the next show, and if you are thinking of getting tickets then please make sure you come along and say hello. I’ll be in the Vintage Marquee at The Dorset Wedding Festival… If you’re lucks in I might even greet you with a shake from my, inevitably over moisturised hand… Now who can resist THAT!

Having spent last Christmas in Australia, I am well aware of the stark differences between how we Northern Hemisphere vitamin D deprived Poms celebrate Christmas, and how the buff tanned Southern Hemisphere Possums celebrate theirs. He pointed out that last Christmas was theeee most festive Christmas he had ever had…due to my insistence on a week long run up to Christmas entitled ‘Christmas Crafts Week’, where we made our own cards, wrapping paper, decorations, minced pies, truffles and hampers. We covered the walls with hand made crepe paper holly and bunting, watched re runs of Christmas with the Kranks, religiously snaffled our daily advent calendar treat, and put our stockings at the foot of our bed on Christmas eve…. (Gosh he is a agreeable man!) … All were very standard happenings for me, but for this dear Aussie blighter, something quite out of the ordinary!

This got me thinking just why and how has it come to be that we celebrate in such different ways, and how can Christmas and all its quirky traditions mean quite so much to me…

I found myself getting rather protective and defensive of Christmas last year. My upset that buying a Christmas tree was a chore and not at all a festive necessity, and when they were bought, they were measly little shrubs which cost more than a weeks rent. I felt defensive that the joy and glee I felt never quite seemed to be reciprocated. Tinsel upon a backdrop of bright blue skies and 40 degree heat was an unnerving combination to me! But nevertheless an Aussie Christmas it was and that in itself, was something really rather special, barbied shrimp n’all!

Christmas to us frosty nosed Northern Hemispherearians (have I just made up a new word?!) is, I know, something that gets us through these bleak winter months. Imagine if we didn’t have Christmas, what would our focus be? What would be our reasoning for wearing anything other than thermals and bed socks 24/7, or for leaving the house to seek out the mistletoe? Thank the ruddy lord, (quite literally!!) for Christmas. It would certainly be the bleak mid winter without it.

Christmas to the Southern Hemisphere Hunks however, falls smack bang in the middle of their summer. WHY ON EARTH would they drag it out for longer than need be? Why oh why would they waste vital sunbathing, surfing, shark spotting time, to deck the halls and make minced pies, while looking fondly at pictures of snow capped cottages and a rotund Father Christmas rugged up in ill fitting coca cola red, fur trimmed swaddling?!

So the contrast between tradition and evocative feelings towards the festive season makes absolute sense to me. But even so, there was something about last Christmas that just didn’t feel right… I was far too warm!

I love Australia, I always will… BUT, would I swap their summer yuletide for freezing my chebbs off while literally deliberating whether dipping my toes into the naked flame of my parents open fire would, really be as painful as the current sufferings of what feels like the onset of frostbite?…. The answer is, and will forever be, No!

It must be said that this year, after staving off the festive vibe for as long as possible (primarily due to my denial that this would mean I have spent more of 2012 in the UK, than in Australia), I have now thankfully embraced Christmas with as much fervent vigour, if not more, as all of those years before.

Between sips of amaretto spiked mulled wine, my spare time at the moment is spent donning my snow boots and foraging for Christmas craft materials with which to make fresh Christmas wreaths, each wreath crafted with as much joy and pleasure as the last. Whether I’m simply making up for lost time and quashing my Post Traumatic Aussie Christmas Stress, or whether I’m just appreciating a time of year which, I already knew held so much gravitas in the enjoyment stakes for me… who knows…who cares! I am charmed by Christmas, I always have been and I always will be, and this year Bo Boutique and I are embracing it for all of its ice cold merry goodness. So watch out!

Get in on the action and check out our Festive Treats and Gifts range…

Will somebody please, develop the following inventions…

1)      The Nose-Muff.

I like to imagine this as being of a similar vein as the well established Ear-Muff, only the Nose-Muff would somehow sit unaided, over the end of ones schnozz and be made of the finest, warmest, softest fabric known to man.

You see, I suffer from the mildly debilitating and self coined term of, ‘Constant Cold Nose’!…

2)      Second and third on my wish list are, a pair of gloves AND socks which have a small heated contraption nestled into the tips of the fingers and toes, allowing your hands and feet to function at a nice snug temperature, while your fingers tips and toes are HOT HOT HOT!

So if somebody would kindly fashion me a collection of fully functioning prototypes of the aforementioned, I would be MOST GRATEFUL!

Better still, if anyone is aware of these items already being out there in existence then please god, tell me as a matter of utmost URGENCY…

AJB; she is cold, she is in her flower workshop, and she is considering tracking down a foam Comic Relief Red Nose while dipping her finger tips into hot wax…!

Much obliged,

Yours,

AJB – Cold Nose, Warm Heart

I’ve been out of the game for a couple of weeks, and having a bloomin’ marvellous time…

Hunkering down in a wooden shack on a Cornish beach with beautiful friends and copious loaves of brioche, and hitting up London Town to extract all manner of festive delights that the juggernaut has to offer!

So with fresh air in my lungs, and a post mulled wine and amaretto buzz in my veins, I sit at my beloved computer once again to witter on to you about a plethora of flora. Today’s star beauty takes the form of autumn foliage, and the wonderful sensory pleasures that these fiery crisp leaves impart on us all, at this time of year.

I am well aware that this blog is entitled ‘Flower of the Week’, but I make the rules here people…and this week, leaves it is. Capeesh…!

Now if I’d have known that 24 years on, whilst body slamming into a carefully constructed pile of crisp, golden oak leaves, that I would be re counting this favourite pastime of mine to readers of a blog, then perhaps I would have stopped to absorb the sounds, smells and colours with a little more sincerity, but unfortunately there was generally the pressing matter of a game of kiss-chase to contend with…

So here I am, older, less panicked by the prospect of being captured by fellow five year old puckered lipped bandits, and sadly also a little less reluctant to sweep up a pile of crisp fallen leaves to take a running jump at….

I am however, far from reluctant when it comes to admiring and marveling at the ever changing autumnal colours, textures and moreover, the potential that autumn foliage holds as being a beautiful material to work with. Incorporating these stunning leaves into designs and better still, using them as the main focus and structure of a design is something that excites me. A lot! Once a year we are presented with a vivid assortment of sumptuous colours, rich and deep and sometimes even acidic in their tone. They are crying out to be juxtaposed with vibrant and clashing hues and used to their advantage to make a statement, rather than act as a mellow filler to the classic reds and greens and browns that have traditionally suited them so well, if the game we wish to play is a safe one, of course…

Play it safe, me?…I think not!

I have never been struck with such admiration, as I was when watching an old colleague of mine in Australia mix deep red autumn foliage with hot pink bouvardia and huge, blousy Coral Charm Peonies…colours which instinctively you’d tend not to mix. But, my gosh did this collaboration…ahem, I beg your pardon… EXPLOSION, of colour titillate and excite ones senses far beyond expectation.

From that day forward, I looked at autumn foliage in a very different way altogether…Only recently did I mix deep red foliage with hot pink dahlias, acidic green Japanese lanterns, vivid orange and pink spindle tree berries, pale peach garden roses and rusty coloured hydrangeas. On paper this sounds confusing…in reality, it was good enough to eat…

My nostalgic fondness for autumn foliage will never fade, nor will my annual awe at watching the trees quietly change colour like a litter of fiery chameleons, and then charmingly and gently wilt to lay a fragile fallen carpet beneath our feet. But what has overridden all of these fundamental emotions is the overwhelming sense of excitement, at the possibilities, the ways that I can unlock and ignite the colours; deep rich and iridescent, of these beautiful elegant leaves. Leaves that so often stand untouched like a dormant Mount Pleasant amid a landscape of deep dark mahogany which, is not to be scoffed at and most certainly has its place in the design and floral world. However in my view, autumn foliage has so much more to give, like a ferocious Mt Etna, it should be enjoyed, revered, celebrated and embraced for the plentiful cornucopia of lava coloured leaves that spring to life once a year, right before our very eyes.

Why have green when you can have bright red…

I’ve been somewhat of a snowberry fiend over the past few months, I must admit. Sneaking them into as many arrangements as possible and foraging in the dead of night in a number of hedges, for clusters of the stuff for my own delightful pleasure. I just love them!

Their soft delicate colour pallet ranging from white to cream, through to pink, red and even blackish purple make them such a versatile material to work with, and my favourite thing to do with snowberry is to mix them with delicate, vintage country style flowers in subtle pinks and creams, drawing on the soft colour hue’s, and free-form textures, to create shapes with a loose organic structure. My gorgeous friend Allie who recently got married asked me to make her bridal bouquet look as if she’d just scooped it up from a meadow, and with the help of my good friends snowberry and cow parsley, I did just that, with the berries creating height and a natural structure to her bouquet.

I’m very partial to using snowberry on mass, and I eagerly await the day when I make a bridal bouquet made entirely out of them…beauty in the simplest form, in my opinion. My favourite buttonhole creation to date was made of snowberry and acorns. These buttonholes certainly got some attention, and my bride was thrilled, even more so because I had hand-picked the acorns from her parents garden!

Berries are one of my many weaknesses, none more so than snowberry, also known as waxberry and ghostberry, which actually form part of the honeysuckle family. They just look so juicy and delicious, BUT do not to be fooled dear readers, these are no tasty snackette for ye olde human…unless of course you’re partial to dizzily vomiting in a slightly sedated manner…if you’re a pheasant however, snaffle away at will!

In the summer months, the deciduous shrub is scattered with pretty little pink bell shaped flowers, which then transform into the berries in autumn, and us lucky Brits can get hold of snowberry as cut flowers (or if you’re a masterful forager like myself), between August and November… So get your snowberries while you can!

Until next time folks, enjoy your Guy Fawkes weekend!…

But for now, I am head over heels in love with them, especially now as the Antique Hydrangea time of year is in full swing. Last week’s trip to The New Covent Garden Flower Market sealed the deal with this overbearing obsession, as buckets upon buckets of them were strewn everywhere… I was beaming…(read ‘beaming’ as, ‘dribbling uncontrollably with rabid excitement’!) …I may or may not have thrown caution to the wind, torn up my shopping list displaying the words ‘hot pink roses, whites and lime greens’, and instead bought a vans worth of autumn antique hydrangeas! Who sticks to a shopping list anyway?!…

I’ve been very lucky this year to have used hydrangeas in abundance, which means I have had the privilege of showcasing their entire colour pallet spectrum as the seasons have developed, matured and changed. From an early summer wedding where I used antique blue and green hydrangeas mixed with royal blue delphiniums and white gladioli, to using crisp white hydrangeas, interspersed with silver eryngiums and echinops for an icy themed wedding, to jewel pink antique hydrangeas lining the floor of a church aisle, to most recently, as mentioned before, swapping a modern hot pink and lime green look for a cocktail party, to something devilishly mature and robustly sumptuous to the point of mouth watering deliciousness, where I mixed this seasons autumn antique hydrangeas with shocking pink dahlias, delicate peachy pink garden roses, spindle tree branches with their beautiful pink and orange buds, and topped off with lime green Japanese lanterns (for want of a more polite description…see photos of  flowers at Kettners, Soho if you need clarification of what I may OR MAY NOT be, alluding to here…!)

All in all, hydrangeas get my vote. Not only are they a beautiful and robust garden flower, but their colours are so intensely and majestically captivating, they never cease to titillate and amaze me. From the purest cleanest and freshest of the spectrum to my favourite, the antique and almost wilted pallet. Similarly to the opinion of vintage roses, many perceive antique hydrangeas as being dirty looking flowers on deaths door, I on the other hand revel at anything so naturally and delicately beautiful that it can single-handedly evoke feelings of vintage nostalgia and femininity, without having to masquerade as a pretty sugary pink cup cake! But that’s just me!

The colour of a hydrangea is something of a science. They really are the most fascinating of chameleons! Not only does the depth of colour depend on soil conditions and cultivars, but the actual colour of the flower can be physically controlled and altered by a couple of simple factors.

So, now I’m going to get all scientific on you, and eagerly encourage all of us to hark back to those spotty, greasy haired GCSE science days… lab coats donned, safety goggles swaddling our chubby cheeks, litmus paper between adolescent sweaty thumb and forefinger…we dip the paper in acid, it turns red, dip the paper in alkaline, suddenly its blue, get the liquid back to a PH balance of 7 and we have neutral.

Aaaaaand now transport back to the present day… hopefully considerably less spotty and greasy haired…

Quite simply hydrangeas petals can be read like litmus paper. Two factors affect the colour of a hydrangea,

1) Soil acidity (this can be naturally occurring acidity, or artificially added to produce the required flowering colour), and

2) The presence of alkaline and aluminium in the soil. I say alkaline AND aluminium because in order for a plant to absorb alkaline there must also be the presence of aluminium.

So you guessed it, if the soil is acidic the flowering hydrangea will have pink / red petals. The ideal acidity for a pink flowering plant is between PH 7.0 – 7.5. To achieve a blue flowering hydrangea the ideal alkaline PH balance is between 5.5 – 6.5. The topic of white hydrangeas on the other hand is simply that there are varieties that will always remain white or of a white hew, regardless of soil makeup. So it is true to say that not all hydrangeas act as litmus paper, but generally, they do.

I’ve often been very confused by this rule however, in that my parents have a hydrangea in their garden that has both rich pink flowers as well as inarguably blue flowers on the same plant, flowering at the same time. A mystery I thought, alas I can now reveal the root cause… and I mean, the ROOT cause…Each hydrangea stem has its own individual semi-independent root system, and therefore if the acidity and aluminium content is not evenly distributed throughout the soil, then each individual flower of one plant can potentially be a very different colour to the other flowers of that same plant.

PHEW! Science over! And I haven’t even addressed the fact that hydrangeas absorb a vast amount of their nutrients through their petals and therefore appreciate a good flower head dunking in cold water, or the fact that if you smash the ends of their cut stems with a hammer they will draw up water more effectively….

So in conclusion, the hydrangea is not only stunning in colour, intricate in chemical makeup and extremely sensitive to its surroundings, it also loves a good iced bath and some good old-fashioned tough love! … If a hydrangea was a woman, she would quite possibly be the most neurotic and high maintenance of individuals, but thankfully she is a flower who sits there looking divinely exquisite, smashed-in bottom ‘n’ all…!

A single rose notoriously conjuring up far more meaning than any other digit… with the exception of twelve, of course. The reasoning behind this, I’m not so bothered about, but the rose itself… well, now you’re talking!

A boyfriend of mine used to steal a rose for me every week when he worked a night shift. And the next morning when I’d creep out of bed before him, I’d see in a little glass on our kitchen table, there it was, the previous nights steal…Oh, how my heart would skip. I mean really skip. They were beautiful. And the feeling that made me feel was even more so. I should have felt vicariously guilty for the poor person who’s garden was the subject of his midnight ‘pruning’, but terribly, I didnt! The whole idea of it made it all the more romantic. It must be said that it is sometimes the simplest (and potentially illegal!) things that count the most in the romance stakes…know what I’m saying ladies!

The roses he would steal were always the most perfectly formed beautiful garden roses, with a scent that effortlessly filled a room. My favorite was the peachy coloured one that smelt of the rose scented bath cubes that my grandma always used to have on her dressing table…Suddenly, I’d be transported back to being five years old, dressing up in my grandmas bedroom, with her lipstick smeared all over my face and strings upon strings of pearls strewn around my spindly little neck…. only now, I was head over heels in love and high from the fresh heady tea rose aroma. Bliss!

And so my love…well, obsession with garden roses was sealed! What made this more poignantly special was that this all took place in Australia…the furthest geographical point from the English garden rose, yet there they were, on my kitchen table, filling my senses with a scrumptious overdose of home.

It soon became apparent that it wasn’t just me being spun into a giddy rose fuelled frenzy whilst Down Under… when the first bucket full of David Austin tea roses appeared on the shop floor of the florist I was working in at the time, it was like someone had delivered a pot of gold who’s wealth could only be obtained by breathing in the gold dust through your nose as deeply and as often as physically possible. It is true to say, we were all exceedingly rich!

The romanticism of the affair was something we relished in, and the roses were cleared off the shelves within minutes. This coupled with my English accent was sometimes far too much for my work colleagues to bare, and I’d often be trotted out to the front of the shop like a dressage horse, to meet and greet the VIP customers and personally showcase the David Austin English Garden Roses to them… it was like a flippin comedy show… And so of course, I saw fit to go hell for absolute leather on pronouncing my ‘t’s’ and dropping in the occasional and nonchalant, ”daaaarrrrhhhhhling”, wherever possible!

…Thinking about it, I really should send them a bill… I’m sure rose sales rocketed in that period of time!… *Note to self – pop that on my ‘To Do List’ (another obsession of mine…the list…but that’s for another day!)*

David Austin roses, for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of plummeting nose first into one, are quite possibly theeee most spectacular of all roses, and quintessentially English. David Austin has spent the past fifty years cultivating over 800 varieties of garden roses, and fifteen of those spent concentrating on perfecting a cut rose that embodies all of the complex intricacies of the shrub rose. Each year the hybridisers hand cross thousands of roses, and individually assess each rose on characteristics such as fragrance, purity of colour and perfection of form, from the bud stage right through to full bloom, before they choose which ones they will proudly release as David Austin cut roses…the success rate of those lucky enough to be chosen being 100,000:1! It’s a tough life being a super model rose, that’s for sure!

Sadly the season of the garden shrub rose is coming to a close… in fact any roses left now are hanging on by a little thread, eagerly awaiting one last burst of summer sun (I say one last burst, as if we’ve even had an initial one this year!) But to me, roses are at their most beautiful just before they die. Their flower head tells a story that’s coming to a beautiful end, and to catch it before it’s gone, is an absolute privilege.

However, with cut roses now being pretty much available all year round, us florists happily don’t have to mourn the seasons end quite as fervently as the English gardener, and for this I am smuggly contented!

So ladies and gents, if you are ever lucky enough to have roses left for you in the dead of night by someone very special, or encounter scented roses growing in a garden, please close your eyes, shove your nose in there as deep as you can, and breath in that gold dust. You will never regret it… Unless of course a bee is bumbling around in there having a good old snaffle, and for that, I will forever be apologetic…

This weeks chosen beauty is the Dahlia.

From the arrival at the beautiful venue, Boveridge House in Dorset, to the wedding ceremony itself with tears and raucous laughter in abundance, poetry sung to an acoustic guitar and the almost musical ricochet of applause when the pronunciation of “Husband and Wife” was at last declared! It was, from the creative start to the champagne fuelled bleary-eyed 2am finish, a resounding and unforgettable triumph….

Which brings me to the flowers…

As you’ll know from my pre wedding blog, I was positively exhilarated with the prospect of designing and creating the setting for this wedding. A) Because of the bleedin’ obvious – I am, I confess, fanatical to the point of obsession when it comes to my design work and, B) because it is so rare and refreshing to be presented with a brief quite like this one, it made my soul tremor with intoxicating, giddy excitement…

So here goes… The Brief:

• ‘Nothing anyone has seen before! Extravagant but natural. Each dining table to be individually themed to one of Charlotte and Justin’s favorite books. These being; Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, Peter Pan, Wind in the Willows, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Brothers Grimm.’ 

Need I say more… the second I received this brief my pencil was worn down to a stub, and my sketchbook was bulging at the seems!

My style, as some of you may already know is, bona fide voluptuous and extravagant. Where I can be overindulgent I will be, and where I can make an eye-popping statement, I’m on it! This brief to me, ticked every stylists’ dream box.

Although the brief incorporated children’s books, my design ideas for the style of this setting were far from juvenile, no kitsch props or ‘nods’ to fairy tale characters were coming within an inch of these design pieces, every art work was going to be created from nature and horticulture, upwards. Any props were going to enhance the flowers and foliage, not the other way around. Each themed arrangement was going to be my floral interpretation of the books and the feelings evoked by each one of those stories individually… These being; twisted fearful terror and intrigue - (The Brothers Grimm), fresh whimsical dandy – (Wind in the Willows), overindulgence to a gargantuan degree – (Alice in Wonderland), lost confusion – (Peter Pan), cold harsh tempting beauty – (Narnia), and absolute fairy-tale freedom and delight – (The Hobbit).

My aim was to turn the entire room into a hedonistic whimsical wonderland of sensory indulgence. I think it worked!… take a look at some of the pictures for yourselves…

I wont ramble on any more as I am, I sense, teetering on the cusp of blowing my own proverbial trumpet a tad too vigorously!

But hold up, there is just one more little thing…WHICH I CAN’T HELP YELPING WITH EXCITEMENT OVER… The wedding photographer, whom has now become a firm friend of Bo Boutique, was so blown away with my work, she submitted the photographs of the flowers to ‘Wedding Flowers Magazine’, and blog giant ‘Whimsical Wonderland Weddings’, both of whom as a result, have asked to feature Bo Boutique! Publishing dates are in the process of being arranged…and dear readers, you’ll certainly know about it when it’s time!