Locally Grown Hanging Baskets Now in Stock

The Garden Centre was once again transformed this weekend with the arrival of our range of Locally Grown Hanging Baskets. 

These beauties are absolutely packed with plants, including Petunia, Lobelia and Verbena which are all grown right here on our lovely Island.

The range includes huge 16" wire baskets for making a real statement, or there are luxury banana leaf and rattan cones and wall baskets.  Each basket has slow release plant food in the compost, so all you have to do is water it regularly to get the most of your display. 

We can also deliver your baskets to your house for you, or maybe it would make an ideal gift for someone?  Well, we can tie it with a ribbon and deliver it to them too!

We also offer a planting service for you to use if you have any baskets from last year that you would like re-filling.  Let us know what colours you like, and we will do the messy bit for you, using only the best quality, locally grown plants that we can find.

Call in to the shop or give us a ring if you would like more information.

A Weekend of Wonderful Weddings!

Yes, I was glued, along with about 3 billion other people around the world, to the beautiful Royal wedding of Will & Kate, not just to get a heads up on what could be a big floral trend for 2011, but because I am a big soppy romantic, and yes I shed a tear when Prince William told his future wife how beautiful she looked when she arrived by his side.

However, I couldn't dwell on the Royal Wedding for long, as I had flowers to prepare for Joanne & James's wedding which took place on Saturday.  Everyone that I met who knew this couple, all said how lovely they were, and that they were so great together, and I can confirm that this is also what I thought after only meeting them a couple of times.

The colour theme for their wedding was Manx Tartan (yes the men wore kilts!), which has blue, purple, yellow, green and white, representing the colours in our beautiful Island landscape.  The flowers I used included Delphiniums, Ranunculus, Narcissi, Tulips, and Tanecetum, with lots of natural foliage to give the designs a natural and rustic feel.

The mood of this wedding was very personal and relaxed and Joanne had collected and created lots of items to make the day really feel special.  She bought in a box full of metal and enamel jugs for me to use as tablecentres and had also handpainted little babyfood jars to fill with flowers too.

 

The Ceremony was in the Chapel of St. Johns and as well as the two pedestal arrangements from The Flower Studio, the church was filled with floral arrangements.  Each pew had a twig heart, hanging from a length of Manx Tartan Ribbon and adorned with a single silk daffodil flower.  I could see that the DIY aspect of this wedding was not stopping with the painted babyfood jars!

And I wasn't wrong, because when I arrived at The Hop Garden to deliver the table centres, you could see that Joanne and James had put so much thought into the reception.   Each place setting had a cute metal bucket filled with chocolates for the favour and attached to the bucket was a label with a different message on each one.

As well as painting all the babyfood jars (they were all individual!) on each table were 2 recycled wine or liquor bottles and they had been painted beautifully with the Bride and Groom's names, the date and lots of pretty flowers.  Inside the bottle were some battery operated fairy lights which I imagine looked stunning after the sun went down.

We speak to a lot of engaged couples every week at The Flower Studio and they all want their big day to stand out, but that does not necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money.  I bet the guests at Joanne and James's wedding on Saturday were thrilled to see all the personal touches the couple had put in to their day and these touches will have made it a day to remember.

We would love to see any of the unique and DIY ideas you have seen at weddings, whether your own, or someone elses, and any really original ideas will be featured on this Blog.