Girl Flower Blog

Shop Closure

A new start for Girl Flower after a tough decision to close the retail premises and relocate to a new workshop. We have now closed our retail outlet in Maidstone and will be enjoying a well earned break over Christmas. We have relocated to the outskirts of Maidstone to concentrate on our ever growing wedding & event side of the business and our new venture of a flower school. Full details will be on our website in the new year. In the meantime all enquiries will be dealt with via email and telephone. Please call 01622 683978 or email enquiries@girlflower.co.uk.

We would like to thank our loyal customers for their continued support over the last 6 years and would like to bid a fond farewell to all the other local traders we have got to know during our time in Union Street- it's been a pleasure and we are going to miss you all.

I personally would like to thank my friends come team past & present I wouldn't have changed my experience for the world, I have shared so many laughs and tears over the years and have loved every minute working with you all, I mean it from the bottom of my heart it's been a complete joy.

I love you all - You know who you are.

Mwah xxx

Warm October Wedding Fair 02/10/11

Another beautiful day in October at the Hop Farm Wedding Fair. Thought we would share with you some of our latest designs along with some old favourites.

We created a few different displays for brides to see and draw inspiration from, I must say they all well received. We displayed some of our bespoke designs along with designs from our ever popular wedding flower packages.

Enjoy browsing the pics.

Girl Flower Trademark, The Shower Bouquet of Hot Pink Gerberas & Germinis with Matching Table Centre of Black Lily Vase, Decorated with Test Tubes & Wire.

Wired Bridal Posy of Lime Cymbidium Orchids, Handle Dressed with Lime Wool & Matching Table Centre Fish Bowl with Floating Orchid Heads.

Contemporary Bridal Bouquet & Table Centre of Purple Anemones, Gloriosa, Hot Pink Roses, Kermit Xanths, Physalis Heads & Calla Lilies Looped Over.

Hand Tied Bouquet of Grand Prix Rose, Black Bacarra Rose & Sedum Surrounded with Black Tie Leaves with Matching Table Centre in a Mirrored Cube.

Can you tell what or who it it is yet??? :0)

Flowers for the Stars!

We recently got a call from one of our loyal customers, to do some flowers for the launch of a new perfume called Reb'l Fleur, little did we know but the launch was for Rhianna's new perfume! All the girls were so excited, we were given a display box and had to incorporate pink roses, we decided to use a pearlescent ivory coupe dish with an abundance of dusky and baby pink roses with lilac roses with tea roses in a cerise pink nestled between. It worked perfectly with the branding as you can see. We were so pleased to be asked to do this - what an honour. We have previously supplied flowers to and for Madonna, Bryan Adams and Kelly Brook, it's so exciting when us little shops are noticed.

Kent Wedding Awards 2011 - Wedding Florist of the Year!

Kent Wedding Award Blog

Some Exciting News as Finalists are announced...

We had a call from Karin from Brilliant Marketing asking if we’d like to enter for the Kent Wedding Awards – naturally we thought yes we will enter. Karin was a bride of ours from 2008, she and Chris had their wedding breakfast in the August at Kits Coty, they had silver martini vases filled with red blooms including Grand Prix Roses and Karin was a vision in a beautiful red dress.

For the competition we had to enter a minimum off 1000 words, describing the business, the consultation process, the skills and experience of the team, marketing and a bit about previous weddings along with supporting testimonials and images of our work.

We had a call from Karin on Monday along with an email advising us that we had made it as a finalist for the Wedding Florist of the Year; we were thrilled as you can imagination. We can’t wait to find out if we have won in November at an Awards ceremony in Ashford. We will keep you posted on the events and we would like to wish the other finalists the best of luck.

More information on http://www.kentweddingawards.co.uk/finalists.htm

A Jam Inspired Wedding - Favourite Wedding of Year 2010

Favourite Wedding of the Year 2010

Vintage & English Country Garden is back in fashion and boy am I glad. I have a passion for foliage and wild looking flowers. Different foliage’s can make such a difference and have such an impact on arrangements just by simply using rolled Aspidistras in a hand tie can give a hand tied a contemporary edge, use fountain grass for a softer finish can make the design look wild and rustic. This is what we did with Cheryl & Jack’s Wedding at the beginning of September to compliment their relaxed and country theme and style.
Cheryl & I met up in the shop about a year before the wedding and Cheryl ran through with me her ideas and thoughts for her special day. Her theme was inspired by her Dad’s love of jam making and especially of Damson jam. Cheryl’s colour scheme was Damson, having chosen some beautiful rich colour dresses for her bridesmaids we decided to go for tones and complimenting colours of Damson, Purples & Greens and chose wild looking flowers
The bridesmaids bouquets were loosely arranged hand ties of Chives, Lavender, Scabios Seed Heads, Poppy Seed Heads, Roma Astrantia, Lavender & Wheat.
Cheryl’s bouquet included the same flowers as the Bridesmaids with the addition of Red Astilbe & Purple Phlox and all bouquets finished off with a natural raffia bow. We also made a little something special for Cheryl, a detachment corsage with was secluded within her bouquet of Purple Phlox & Lambs Ear to give to her Mum just after she walked down the aisle.
Jack’s Button Hole tied in with Cheryl’s Flowers made of Lavender & Astilbe framed by Lambs Ear & dressed with Natural Raffia. The Groom’s Party had Chive Flowers & Variegated Ivy Button Holes.
Cheryl & Jack enjoyed a lovely service at St Peter’s Church, Bredhurst before moving on to their marquee reception in Boxley, surrounded with country views it was only fitting to carry the theme through to the table centres. Wild looking flowers, foliage & grass filled jam jars finished with a raffia bow made relaxed designs and looked the part next to homemade jams as favours. The top table was dressed with a garland of variegated ivy trials and the bridal party flowers were placed in jam jars on the top table.
Two reasons why this wedding has to be my favourite of the year, firstly Cheryl was an old school friend and was so lovely to be a part of their special day, Cheryl trusted me to create designs to compliment and emphasise her theme and feeling for the day. Secondly I was able to use unusual materials which we don’t get to use that often that will hopefully inspire others to try something different for their weddings. The overall affect and look of the flowers and the day was just so rewarding to see. I just love it when a plan comes together.
I would like to wish Cheryl & Jack every happiness in their marriage and life together, much love Sybil :0)

Cheryl's Bouquet

Jack's Button Hole

Jam Jar Table Centre

Beautiful Bride

Bridesmaid Bouquet

Summer Shop

The shop is looking fantastic this summer, we have a wide selection of plants, planters, funky containers and modern designs along with our usual fresh flower & foliage stock. A selection of plants & planters are available to purchase online too, in our online shop.

At Girl Flower we are forever sourcing new ranges of products to give our customers something that little bit different to chose from & are buying different plants & containers on a weekly basis. This week we have a range of exotic plants including Guzmania, Vriesea & Anthuriums. We also have some more classic planters of mixed plants, Jasmine & Campanula which make perfect gifts or a little treat for you.

I love Jasmine; it is such a pretty dainty star shaped flower with a beautiful scent which always reminds me of past summers in my parent’s garden. It makes a brilliant plant to grow around entrances either around a front door or over a bower in the garden, so when you walk through you get a lovely waft of the floral scent.

Selaginella is a type of Moss; it makes a great visual impact especially with its rounded ball like form, it looks lush and bouncy. It makes you want to touch it. Arranged in a group of three it looks modern & eye catching – we love it. It works well for cost effective table centres for weddings & events which can be given away as gifts at the end of the event or you could plant them in your garden to give your borders a contemporary edge.

Our Wellie Boot & Watering Can Planters have been a popular choice with our customers; novelty planters always put a smile on our face and would make the receiver of these gifts smile too. They can be placed on a kitchen window sill or kept out in the garden.

Whatever the occasion I am sure we can offer you a plant or arrangement to meet your requirements.

If you have any plants you love & have difficulty sourcing then give us a call and we can see what we can do for you. If you have any plant queries regarding care, planting & re-flowering please feel free to contact us for our advice.

We look forward to seeing you soon, Clare :0)

Wet & Windy Wedding Fair

Despite to terrible weather, plenty of Brides & Grooms braved the elements of last Sunday to visit the Wedding Fair at the Hop Farm! Thank you to those of you who made it through the flooding surrounding Paddock Wood and for taking the time to visit our stand. We created a few new and exciting designs as well as recreating our most popular designs and show cased our updated portfolio with photos of our past weddings and testimonials along with debuing our New Wedding Flower Packages all were received well. We had some fantastic feed back which has since been backed up judging by the bookings we've had for our Packages and Consultations that took place on Saturday at our premises in Maidstone.

In the 5 quiet minutes we had, we managed to take a few photos to share with you including one of Carly resting her little hoofs :0) Please see below:

Wedding Fair @ The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood 28/02/10

Congratulations to those of you who got engaged over Christmas, New Year & Valentine's - Sunday 28th February 2010 at the Hop Farm there will be a Wedding Fair Extravaganza to get your big day plans started. Of course the Team at Girl Flower will be on hand to help you with advice on wedding flowers with the opportuity to see our fresh and funky new designs along with the launch of our new Wedding Flower Package Range. As well as offering our renowned bespoke service we have created an easy way to select your flowers. Please visit our stand to pick up a brochure & see our updated and extensive portfolio as well as experience our new and previous designs first hand. We look forward to seeing you there!

http://www.girlflower.co.uk/shop/wedding-flower-packages/

http://www.girlflower.co.uk/gallery/wedding-flowers/

Flowers available on our Wedding Flower Packages!

Some of our Bespoke Creations!

Work your magic at one of our Workshops!

Following the success of our past workshops, we have put together our Spring Workshop Timetable, including workshops for Mum, Easter & Spring Weddings. Please see http://www.girlflower.co.uk/flower-workshops/

Our last set of workshops were at Christmas and were well received by all who attended. We even had a guy attend the Table Centre workshop and both his Mum & Girlfriend were impressed with his efforts! The first evening consisted of learning how to make Christmas Door Wreaths from scratch and our visitors were able to design theirs to match their own theme. The second was a Table Centre workshop, which involved making two designs one traditional and one contemporary. We all enjoyed some mulled wine, mince pies & nibbles accompanied by some Christmas tunes which soon got switched to Michael Buble. All in all it was fun festive filled time!

Festive Fun!

Just some of the creations of the people who attended!

Christmas Fair Saturday 21st November 2009

We have been kindly invited to have a stand at the Christmas Fair taking place on Saturday 21st November 2009 @ Reynold's Fitness Centre in Sittingbourne. Along with other independant traders there we will be exhibiting our Christmas products and gifts. We will have this years must have Christmas Decorations & Gifts of Fresh Flowers & Foliage in Funky & Festive Containers. We will have a selection of Christmas Door Wreaths & Festive Table Centres and information on our Girl Flower Christmas Workshops. Tomorrow you will have the opportunity to see our work first hand and be able to get your orders in and secure a Christmas Day Delivery slot! We hope to see you there! See http://www.reynoldsgroup.co.uk/health-fitness/news/sittingbournes-christmas-shopping-extravaganza for more details.

BFA Christmas Event @ New Covent Garden October 2009

At the crack of dawn yesterday Christmas officially started at the New Covent Garden Flower Market, the traders had their Christmas previews on new products for the festive season, the BFA held their RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year Competition for the Over 25’s and Under 25’s and had demonstrations from various floral designers for inspirations for Christmas Designs.

Mary-Jane and I like real troopers set off to attend the event at 5.30am yesterday morning, to enter some pieces for the competition, to mingle with some of the UK’s most famous Floral Designers including one of my flower school teachers Judith Blacklock (You may have seen her on Channel 4’s Kirsty’s Homemade Homes) and to see the demonstrations. Judith has asked me to come up with two designs for her Step by Step feature in her Flower Arranger Magazine so keep your eyes peeled.

The competition brief was to create a funeral piece for a keen gardener using mainly fresh flowers & foliage. Girl Flower Entered 5 pieces two in the Junior Section & Three in the Over 25’s. The competition was at a very high standard unfortunately we didn’t win but there's always next year! We achieved high scores in both categories. The designs we entered can be viewed below & in our gallery.

MJ's Entry

Lorraine's Entry

Carly's Entry

Phoebe's Entry

Clare's Entry

It is a good idea to attend the market at least every few months; it gives us florists a way of seeing new flower & foliage varieties. Yesterday I found a new variety of Leucadendron, it is silver in colour and has a furry feel to the bracks, a little like lambs ear. I couldn’t resist the temptation of buying a few stems and bringing them back to the shop to share them with the team. They would be great to use in Christmas Designs either as they are or by manipulating them by removing the leaves and pinning them onto a design. They would add a new dimension to designs as well as a texture you would want to stroke.

The market was a real hive of activity yesterday morning, with the Christmas lights glowing and festive tunes playing it did create a fantastic atmosphere. There were many displays for table settings and shop window ideas, just as the Birmingham trip is truly inspired some great designs to hit the Girl Flower shop in the coming weeks.

BFA Fleur Expo October 2009

Over the weekend Lorraine and I attended a Fleur Expo in Birmingham, hosted by the British Floral Association. It was the first of its kind that the BFA had organised. They had a range of trade stands, demonstrations from various floral designers and competitions for Young Budding Floral Designers.

The Briefs for the competition had five sections: Handbag, Free Expression, Table Arrangement, Hand Tied Bouquet, Overall Display.
Competition Results as follows: Handbag – Joe Massie
Free Expression – Erica Tippett
Table Arrangement – Lauren Curry
Hand Tied bouquet – Joe Massie
Overall Display – Erica Tippett
The Final Results: Winner and holder of the Maurice Evans Cup – Joe Massie
2nd – Erica Tippett
3rd - Amy Curtis-Whitfield
All entries were very inspiring and elements from each of the designs can be easily used in a commercial way. Well done to all who took part!

Please see some of the competitors entrys.

I always like to open my mind to new ideas and inspirations to influence my own creations and there was plenty to gain from this weekend. We also attended a master class workshop by Carles Fontanillias, a talented and experienced Spanish floral designer. He showed us new ways to use minimal flowers and clever design for wedding work and general designs to keep in line with today’s financial climate, using Sundries, Wire and Minimalist Flowers to create modern Shower & Over Arm Bouquets

Please find below some of our Carles inspired designs:

Clare's Design

Carly's Design

Lorraine's Design

Carly's Design

On the Sunday we visited a Wholesaler of Sundries and bought our new Christmas Range, Designs for our online shop are being created as we speak and will be launched next week. Be sure to be one of the first to snap up and order our festive designs for your family and for your Christmas Feast! Back by Popular Demand – Christmas Day Deliveries are on offer again but as before there are limited slots available.

Just to Summarise, the weekend was an eventful one to say the least and as the saying goes it can’t all be work and no play. Even though it was a working weekend away, Lorraine and I laughed so much our faces were hurting by the end of it! From checking into and checking straight out again of the hotel on the back end of an industrial estate that was a cross between Faulty Towers & The Shining to being asked if we were with the band? Spandau Ballet was playing at the NEC on Saturday night and some guy thought we were with the boys as their backing singers! Very flattered! On Saturday night we asked the Taxi driver to take us to La Tasca, we ended up outside Tesco Express, so we are now calling Tesco’s, Le Tesco! It must have been my southern accent?!

Needless to say the weekend will definitely go down in Girl Flower History as one of the best!

Orchid Care

Over the years I have sold many Phalaenopsis Orchids in the shop, the most common after sale question is what to do with Orchid once flowering has finished. I thought I would share some tips and experience with you.

Orchids should flower for at least 3 months sometimes even longer, you’ll notice along the stem there are small bracts known as nodes. Once the Orchid has finished flowering cut the stem just above one of the nodes and continue to water and feed your Orchid as normal at least once to twice a week. Apparently Orchids re-flower every 9-12 months however from experience I have noticed every Orchid is different. I have a white moth Orchid at home, which I cut back when the flowers had died and after about 3-4 months later I noticed new growth, but not in the form of fresh buds. I noticed new aerial roots and new foliage, after researching on the net I discovered my Orchid had produced a new plant, a Keiki. I waited for new plant to establish and I removed the new plant and re-potted in Orchid compost, available at most garden outlets, and some shingle in the base of the pot for drainage. Within about 2 months after replanting both the new and original plant have new flowers and buds!

Happy Propagating!