gloriosa

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The BFA Young Florist of the Year qualifying heat was held at Tatton Flower Show last week.  Four talented finalists will now go through to the final at Fleurex which takes place in October.  Competitors had to create four innovative designs live in front of visitors, within set timescales.

charlotte-baker-tatton-flower-showThey made a body accessory, hand-tied design, free expression piece and a surprise item all inspired by their theme.

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Charlotte Baker was the overall winner of the competition.  Her vibrant designs used flowers in cerise, purple and oranges.  Her free expression piece was an impressive structure made with perspex circles holding the flowers. She used light bulbs and martini glasses as containers.

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Sophie Watton created a screen for her free expressive piece using used vivid gloriosa, callas, craspedia and gerberas in her designs.

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Many competitors made a necklace design for their body adornment piece.  Victoria Richards created a modern take on an Elizabethan collar, in vibrant colours with striped fabric, coloured wires and flowers glued on.

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Kirsty Berridge made a beautiful necklace design for her body adornment piece.  She used phalaenopsis orchids, de-constructed gloriosa, craspedia and hypericum in her design.  Kirsty also included some lovely hand braided textiles in her piece.

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Congratulations to all the finalists, I think you produced some gorgeous designs.

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black-rose-floral-design-studio-tatton

All these displays were housed in the Floral Design Studio at Tatton Flower Show.  The hub for all things floristry related, exhibits, competitions, demonstrations and workshops. Several colleges took part in the first specific College Competition at Tatton which I blogged about on Saturday.  Young florists took part in the WorldSkills competitions, which I’ll feature soon.

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The displays above are from local florist The Black Rose, based in Knutsford and Hale.  The Black Rose has exhibited at Tatton for many years and always does a fantastic display.  This year’s designs featured their trademark contemporary style using a white theme.  These fabulous 5ft tall vases hold arrangements of hydrangeas, delphiniums and Singapore orchids.

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The stunning floral table runner features roses, hydrangeas, stocks, orchids, and chrysanthemum blooms.  The garlands that trail down the sides of the table are made from Singapore orchids.

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Reaseheath College from Nantwich used very vibrant colours in their display. They used cerise, lime, purple and orange set against black display stands.  They cleverly filled storage units from a well-known Swedish furniture shop with flowers too.

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This circular design features gloriosa, roses, orchids, chrysanths, carnations and anthuriums, with loops of flexi grass.

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Manchester based florist Verdure produced an impressive display based on Plato’s Atlantis.  The huge wave was constructed out of willow branches and adorned with fresh flowers.  They used hydrangeas, delphiniums, vanda orchids, and amaranthus in shades of blues and purples, with white phalaenopsis orchids at the crest of the wave.

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The royal wedding is only a few weeks away now and the whole country is eagerly awaiting the big day. We brits don’t need much of an excuse for a party, but a royal wedding is as good a reason as any. Admittedly, for some the excitement is due to an extended break from work, tagging the Easter holidays onto the royal wedding weekend.  But I can’t wait to see what Kate will choose for her flowers and dress.

It has been banded about that Prince William and Kate might decide to go for British flowers, which would highlight the gorgeous cut flowers we can produce in Britain.  It’s a little early in the year for some British grown flowers, so they would be limited to spring pretties if they did choose to stick with just home grown flowers.  I would love to see William and Kate go for British flowers, and a selection of spring flowers would be beautiful.  Tulips, anemones, hyacinths, narcissi and lily of the valley are all available in April.

Lily of the valley wedding bouquet

When Camilla married Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005, she carried a pretty wired posy of lily of the valley and primroses for her bouquet.  The wedding was quite low key and her petite bouquet reflected this.  It included some Myrtle from Queen Victoria’s Garden on the Isle of Wight. Queen Victoria included a sprig of Myrtle in her wedding bouquet and then planted the Myrtle in her garden afterwards.  Since then all royal brides have included Myrtle in their bouquets including Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales.  Myrtle is said to be the herb of love and is thought to bring good luck.  It is expected Kate will include Myrtle in her bouquet too.

Kate’s flower choices will obviously depend a lot of the type of dress she wears.  If she picks a fairy tale style dress with a large full skirt she may choose a trailing shower bouquet to balance the dress.  This type of bouquet is usually thought of as more traditional.  Shower bouquets have seemed to be out of fashion for many years as handtied bouquets were so popular.  But teardrop shape bouquets have been making a comeback recently, either as a smaller more compact version with a lot less fussy foliage or as a very modern waterfall design constructed on a decorative wire base with minimal flowers wired on.

Teardrop wedding bouquet

My bet for Kate’s flower style is understated elegance.  I think she will go for a teardrop shaped bouquet in neutral colours, not a large bouquet with long foliage like Princess Diana had, but a simpler contemporary version.  Most spring flowers are not very well suited to trailing bouquets as they are wired, so I’m not sure Kate will pick British flowers, since she would have to use spring flowers at this time of year.

Whatever flowers Prince William and Kate decide on for their big day, I’m sure they will be fabulous.  Kate always looks very elegant and stylish.  I just hope the sun shines for them on the 29th.

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