About

My story

Hi, I’m Carole. After reaching the finals of BBC Gardeners’ World, Gardener of the Year and doing flowers for friends’ weddings, I finally decided to quit my job as a teacher to grow, arrange and sell the natural, scented flowers which I’m obsessed with, but couldn’t find in any high street.

My home, a former sweet shop, inspired the name, produces many of my flowers along with my allotment and these nectar-rich cutting patches are a haven for Birmingham’s bees and butterflies. I grow without using additional heat or chemicals and let nature take care of pest control.

I use British grown flowers wherever possible in my work but also have access to commercial British and imported wholesale supplies year round and will also use these to provide floral interest, especially during the winter months when seasonal British flowers are in short supply.

As far as possible, I’m aiming to reduce my use of single-use plastics in both my growing and my floristry. Where plastic is used, I’ll always try to repurpose used materials as a first choice before buying new.

I love

I love working with wedding couples to create natural, memorable flowers whose perfumes, caught on a breeze years from now, will take you right back to that day when you got married.

I’m also passionate about creating funeral flowers as individual as the people they’re made for,  inspired by conversations, not a catalogue. This has also led me to create an online course for florists to help others to increase the funeral flower choices available to people throughout the UK and beyond.

As an ex-teacher, I find that the love of sharing skills and information with others never leaves you, so I very much enjoy keeping my teaching skills alive with one-to-one tuition and group workshops for floristry. You can find full details on my workshops page.

I’m an active member of Flowers from the Farm, a great network of flower growers and florists keen to promote seasonal, British flowers across the UK. I’m really proud to campaign for them, and to have been part of their gold-medal winning RHS Chelsea team. (See other achievements along the way here.)

Meet me – by appointment

As I work from my home studio, rather than being shop-based, if you’d like to discuss an order, visits are by appointment only. Please get in touch before visiting so you can be sure I’ll be there and not out delivering, setting up an event or working at the allotment!