Carol's Garden, Chester Videos
Videos by Carol's Garden in Chester. Home grown fresh scented garden & wild flowers with character Wedding, event, bouquet, by the bunch or bucket Workshops, talks & visits W Cheshire
A busy but sociable day today, seeing lots of florists, some regulars and now friends, some for the first time this year. And a husband who, handily, works nearby. A sleeping baby too.
A few knew each other and plans were made: others met for the first time and connections were made. One brought us cake and bread, another promised a stash of buckets. Charlie found a ball in a boot and Paul chatted about flying planes. A standard pick-up day on a flower farm?!
to enable soundOther Carol's Garden videos
A busy but sociable day today, seeing lots of florists, some regulars and now friends, some for the first time this year. And a husband who, handily, works nearby. A sleeping baby too. A few knew each other and plans were made: others met for the first time and connections were made. One brought us cake and bread, another promised a stash of buckets. Charlie found a ball in a boot and Paul chatted about flying planes. A standard pick-up day on a flower farm?!
Last call for Strictly Flowers Workshops, 11th & 18th September, 10-12.30. Take your pick from over 300 dahlia plants in full glorious flower, as well as all the usual and unusual flowers, grasses and foliages we grow to go with them. You can cut enough to arrange in a vase or make a bouquet, or just wander about and pick a bucket to take home. I’ll do a demo to get you started, and talk through some of the varieties we have available at the moment. And there will be cake, obvs. £50 per person, here in the garden in Harthill, West Cheshire, U.K. Go to https://www.carolsgarden.co.uk/book-a-workshop to book on-line. If you have outstanding gift vouchers for here, these will be the last chance to use them this year. Just choose a date and drop me an email with your voucher number. NB Good pubs nearby too, if you fancy lunch after? Or lovely walks in the woods and hills around us.
A peek into the workshop today. 35 buckets, for two lovely colourful summery weddings this weekend. Thanks to lovely team @englishpapergarden and @sue.kinsey.285 ✂️✂️Now I’ve just got to pick foliage, dahlias, sweet peas and maybe a few roses this evening or early tomorrow. I might have an appointment with a book and the hammock this weekend, to recover from all these 5 am starts!
Halfway through this week’s picking and we’re running out of space in the workshop. Fortunately most of this is being collected today, so we will have space to do the same again tomorrow. Going off to 5 weddings, ranging from 6 to 22 buckets each. I enjoy the challenge of a big week - getting organised, working out what to pick each day and how to minimise the handling and sorting. Of course I have invaluable help from Sue and Hannah, and we’ve been glad of cloudy weather (though unforecast rain was not helpful today) and an abundance of flowers just now. I shouldn’t speak too soon though, as we have plenty more to do tomorrow!
Giant delphiniums! I have a love:hate relationship with these super-tall ones. I love to see them, and it’s great when people are able to use them, but I never seem to end up selling them all, especially the deep blues. I gave up growing them for a couple of years, but the bees and I really missed them, so now they’re back. And towering way above my head.
Half a van-full of flowers picked and delivered to @jacquioflorals today, for two weddings this weekend. A wonderful mix of pastels and a few hints of yellow and deeper reds. Almost done now, for a few days of no orders and no deadlines to remember. (Except one @studiobarb_ don’t panic, I haven’t forgotten you!) It has been a full-on few weeks for pretty much everyone connected with flowers and weddings, and this long weekend has come at just the right time for me. I haven’t taken any weddings myself and so I can enjoy lots of local events and listen to Paul’s bands playing at 3 gigs over the weekend. But I know I’m fortunate - lots of my flowery friends and customers will be working right through. I hope you all get chance to put your feet up at some point! #carolsgarden #homegrownflowers #Cheshiregrown #weddingflowers #flowersforflorists #askforprovenance #grownnotflown #flowersfromthefarm #sustainablygrown #pesticidefree #lettheteapartybegin
Everyone’s favourite ranunculus have loved the warm weekend and are flowering their socks off! I’ve picked most of these today for orders early in the week, but there will be lots more for Wednesday/Thursday onwards. We don’t normally sell them on their own, but this week we will - by the stem to be collected by local florists, or through the website. I will load them as an option for collection/local delivery also from Wednesday. Or go for a mixed selection with all the other spring flowers - tulips, narcissi, hellebores, etc. it’s going to be a very flowery week!
A short, quiet tour of the workshop this morning. Bouquets made and to be made. All home grown this year (plus a few accidental British alstro) so we’re limited on numbers and have now sold out for Mother’s Day. I’ve always wanted to supply my local community with locally grown flowers and it’s so good to be doing that again. If you want to learn to do the same, we still have a couple of spaces on our Introduction to Flower Farming real life Workshop, here in Cheshire UK, next Sunday, 3rd April. Website with details in bio.
As we tend all the spring and summer crops, I realised I haven’t posted and flowery or wedding pictures for ages. So here’s one I made earlier. And a reminder to you and to me of what we’re working towards. All home grown as usual, without chemical sprays and personally delivered into the hands of the local recipient. It’s a simple business - no mystery and no secrets. Just flowers.
A story of two flower farmers and a videographer. Spending a long summer’s day talking perennials for cutting. And sharing it with members of @flowersfromthefarm.
A walk through a very full workshop this morning. Flowers going off for 7 different weddings this week, plus a couple of local orders. All grown here, but two orders are mainly white, so we needed some extra white dahlias from Philippa at @justdahlias and a few extras from Sofie @soilandfleurs. Now I need to get some of them off to their destinations so I can get started on some arranging for a lovely Friday wedding.
Cutting jasmine this morning. This is the first time these plants have flowered. I bought tiny plugs 5 years ago, potted them up and grew them on, then planted them out along the boundary of our perennial field. Perennials, shrubs and climbers take time, especially when you don’t have a big budget. I’ve been cutting stems off these since year 3, so they’ve already repaid the cost of planting them and the space they occupy. But it’s a bonus to get the beautiful, deliciously scented flowers.
Arrangement for a special and happy occasion. Ordered at short notice because, well, not everything in life can be exactly predicted - but a quick scout around the fields revealed roses, dahlias, scented geranium leaves, phlox and marjoram as well as Abelia, Eucalyptus and eleagnus. A scented garden in a vase. And a real pleasure to do. Have a lovely weekend, whatever you’re up to.