Thinking of treating your beloved to a bouquet of roses this Valentine’s Day? Florist Cissy Bullock (pictured above, right), who founded the School of Sustainable Floristry along with flower farmer Lucy Copeman, urges you to think again. British roses won’t bloom until spring, and you could do much better, she says, than a bunch of imported flowers grown on an industrial scale and flown thousands of miles around the globe.
If you’re intent on gifting blooms, could you instead find a local flower farmer, or a florist who sources their produce locally? Depending on where you live, they might be able to offer you some early flowering scented narcissi – rich with symbolism about rebirth and reflection. Or perhaps a cluster of branches with early prunus blossom or fragrant winter flowering honeysuckle. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have a garden – or know someone who does – containing delicate snowdrops. A handful of them would make a romantic gift, Bullock says: “They smell beautiful.”
This celebration of local and seasonal flowers is at the core of what she and Copeman are teaching the next generation of professional florists. Members of the public are also invited along to their workshops at the school in Howbury Hall, a majestic Grade-II listed building with its own flower farm on the outskirts of Bedford.
