The Flower Studio... your one stop shop for HUGE flowers!!

This Dahlia is so beautiful I don't think I will be able to sell it!  It is almost the size of my head!!!

Hot and Patriotic

Thought I would share a couple of new items in The Flower Studio this week...

Firstly, our local growers have been doing us proud this summer with an amazing supply of seasonal flowers, including Gladioli, Aster, Sunflowers, Dahlia and Inula.  We mixed them up in to simple posies, wrapped in a bit of our brown paper and they have been selling like crazy!!

I also saw these little miniature pepper plants at my wholesalers and knew they would be a hot hit with my customers.  Potted up in some funky baskets and ceramic containers and mixed with some Garlic & Chilli Oil from The Room & Garden Shop, they make a perfect gift for anyone who likes a bit of fire in their food!

Last but not least, this next photo is not from the shop, but from our allotment... last night, as usual, time ran away with us and before we knew it, the sun was starting to set rather dramatically!

Time flies when you're having fun...

...and fun is exactly what we have in our job!  Most of the week has been spent preparing for Aimee & Andy's and  Louisa & Alex's weddings todays and even when it gets to the stage where I am still in the shop at 1am making buttonholes I still wouldn't change it for the world!

Speaking of the early hours, I must say thank you to the local police who after driving past the shop at midnight and spotting the lights on, popped in to check everything was ok!

The two wedding today were both very different styles....

Aimee & Andy - bold cerise germini & gerbera with diamante & crystal and statement foliage

And Louisa & Alex had a contemporary Art Nouveau style with wirework structures & exotic orchids

We also had a bit of a spring clean in the shop today... disturbing a rather large black spider whilst moving the tables... but we now have a dedicated consultation area where clients can sit and browse through our portfolio with a cuppa! 

Fresh in this week...

Just a few photos of some of the beautiful flowers that arrived in the shop this week....

Phalaenopsis 'Red Lips'

Rose 'Tribal Beauty'

Gladioli 'Prins Claus'

Our shop, full of lovely flowers!  At least one person every day comes in and thinks they aren't real!

We do love a good wedding!

Wedding season is in full swing now and for a change I actually got to go our friends Brian & Ericas' wedding on Saturday as well as being asked to do their flowers!

The day started off with monsoon like weather as we dropped the table centres off at the Mount Murray Hotel but by the time we had got home and changed , the rain had almost stopped and the sun was peeking out.

St Pauls Church was the venue for the ceremony and as it was the last weekend of the Manx Heritage Flower Festival it was packed to the roof with amazing floral designs.

Erica looked stunning in her white satin gown with full skirt and jewel encrusted bodice and her bridesmaids wore elegant cerise dresses with a navy blue sash.

Their bouquets were posies of 'Memory Lane', 'Milano' & 'Cool Water' roses, Eryngium, Lisianthus, mint, rosemary, Campanula and other pretty cottage garden flowers & foliage, set off with diamante pins and crystals.  This theme ran through all the flowers with the men wearing Eryngiums in their buttonholes also.

The tablecentres were in tall flute glasses with lots of purple & blue flowers & trails of Ivy... The best man even thanked me in the speeches which I wasn't expecting (I get embarrassed easily!) but it was lovely to know I had fulfilled my role on the day!

The day carried on with great food, fantastic company and drinking & dancing in to the wee small hours with music by the fantastic Sloth Loves Chunk  (minus a couple of members, and were accompanied on a couple of tracks by the beautiful and very talented Lesley) who rocked the night!

Anyway, thanks to the new Mr & Mrs Howland who by now should be enjoying their honeymoon in Las Vegas... make sure you send us some more photos of the flowers when you get back!

The Flower Studio... Coming soon to a big screen near you!

Excited, excited, EXCITED!!  That is one word that could of explained the mood in The Flower Studio this week after being asked to create a bridal bouquet & buttonholes for a movie being filmed on the Island this week.

The film is a romcom starring none other than the rather gorgeous David Tennant (still my favourite Doctor, although Matt Smith is catching up!), Kelly McDonald & Alice Eve.

We were asked to create a romantic bouquet with vintage colours and with only 3 days notice we were relieved that we had some beautiful Memory Lane & Sweet Avalanche Roses in stock!  Mixed with some Mint, Rosemary, Astrantia, Ceropegia, Allium, Creamy Twister & Snowflake spray roses and ivy trails, the finished bouquet was a beautifully scented creation that got the thumbs up from the Director Sheree Folkson (of Ugly Betty fame!)...

You saw it here first, so keep an eye out for the film, due for release in Summer 2011!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

We get asked so many questions about flowers and plants here in the shop and if I don't know the answer I will try my hardest to find it out!

A gentleman came in to the shop this week, on holiday on the Island from the UK and as he approached the counter he pulled a wilted bit of plant material out of his pocket...

"Can you tell me what this plant is please?  It grows all over the Island and it is so beautiful I would like to buy some to take home and plant in my garden!"

It is at times like this that the knowledge I accrued during 4 years at college studying horticulture and training with the National Trust for Scotland leaves my head completely and my mind goes blank.

You know the plant I mean...  it is sometimes red, sometimes pink, sometimes white, grows everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE on the Isle of Man, in walls, rooftops, lanes, driveways, gardens and hedges, anywhere with a minute bit of soil to grab hold of and if it is concentratd in a small area such as a lane, it smells of something akin to cat wee!  But I could not think of the name, so I asked this gentleman to leave it with me and I would find out.

Enter 'Google'!  I typed in "red flower grows in walls on Isle of Man" and crossed my fingers...

Result! http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/mwf1908/text.htm

I knew as soon as I saw the name I would recognise it and there it was... Valerian (aka Centranthus ruber)

So when the gentleman came back to the shop a while later I was able to tell him what I had found, to which he then asked whether I sold this plant in the Garden Centre.  Unfortunately not... along with many plants that grow in abundance on the Isle of Man (Crocosmia being another popular request), if I tried to sell them in the Garden Centre people would accuse me of selling weeds!

It reminded me of an occasion when I worked at National Trust for Scotland Kellie Castle and an English tourist came up and asked if he could buy some of the wild garlic plants that were growing in the woodland... Buy some?? We sent him away with a bin bag full of the Stinking Rogers for free!

But I guess to a visitor to our pretty Island, some of the plants in our hedgerows, such as Fuchsia, Valerian & Crocosmia are more novelty to them and it is a nice thought that they would like to take a bit of our Island home with them.