Florrie and Fig

24/04/2025

My flower growing workshop is now live on Eventbrite! Come along for chats about all things flowery.

Eventbrite is now L*I*V*E for our next workshop which is with Clare from Florrie and Fig So exciting 😍 Learn all the ins and outs of growing beautiful blooms in Lochaber!

Book here https://growflowithkcfg.eventbrite.co.uk

18/04/2025

They might be small, but boy, do they pack a punch. Muscari (or grape hyacinths) are such a joy to behold amongst the green shoots of the other plants that are sprouting nearby.

They're blue, early blooming, the bees adore them - what's not to love? Oh yes - they're pretty short. I've used them in bud vases before, but I usually leave them in the garden for my eyeballs to admire and for the bees to enjoy. I love the little white ruffle around each grape. They do come in many variations of blue, even two- toned varieties. I must remember add more of these beauties to my next bulb order.

17/04/2025

The outside tulips are starting to pop pop poppity pop!

For the growers amongst you, you might be interested to know I didn't kneel for hours placing all the bulbs upright and in their rows. I dumped them, levelled them out and covered them. I did check for any that were completely upside down and righted them, but most were on their sides. It took me about 5 minutes for 500 ish bulbs. The thing that took the longest was opening the packets. 😊

14/04/2025

The tulips are hogging all the attention, but there is also lots of seed sowing and tending to baby plants happening behind the scenes.

There's a lot of planning that should go into this but my brain is taken up with the mental load of motherhood a lot of the time, so seed sowing happens as and when I can manage/remember. The thing about starting early in this Highland climate is there is always a risk the babies can be taken out by a late frost. So far I've only started things that are a bit hardier. The tunnel is still getting down to about 2 degrees at night so things that like the warmer temps would struggle with that.

If there's one thing you want to do for your plants it's to give them a good start and not stress them out. And to not stress out the flower farmer either. It's school holidays. Iykyk.

13/04/2025

"I've never seen a tulip like that before!"

Double tulips are pretty special. And this stunner is an absolute winner. I think I'll just grow hundreds of Columbus next year and nothing else.

11/04/2025

I've been away camping with the family for a couple of days and this amazing sunshine has made all of the tulips start to pop in the tunnel. They are just so breathtaking in all their concentrated glory I had to share with you before I pulled them all out.

My absolute favourite tulips - Columbus - are just starting to flower, so this weekend's subscriber bunches will have a few in them.

(Our campsite was up near Gairloch and we explored some absolutely stonking beaches.)

06/04/2025

I don't usually keep track of my Insta numbers but I happened to look at them today and I've hit 500 followers! I just wanted to pop on and say a huge thank you to all of you for following along on my floral growing endeavours. Have a great Sunday.

📷 I can't remember what this tulip is called, but she's a bit more pink in real life. She could be one of the Van Eijks. Dreamy, don't you think?

05/04/2025

So utterly wonderful to be handing over the first bunches of Fort William-grown flowers to subscribers this weekend.

All of the waiting and worrying and wondering has melted away and now that I have real flowers grown by my happy hands, I'm in tulip heaven.

Lots of seeds have been started this week now the temps are a bit higher - I'm on twice daily germination watch. For no reason other than I'm desperate to meet them. And no, I don't get out a lot. 😆

03/04/2025

Yes, I love flowers. But I also adore all of the wildlife I get to hang out with.

I didn't get the memo that scrounge wanted a sleep in in the tunnel. A beautiful snoozing bumblebee on a very cosy looking petal bed and a dozy amphibian underneath the tulips I was pulling. They know the best places to hang out on a hot day - right next to the drip hose. I'll have to try and remember where it was so I don't dig it up again!

02/04/2025

The sun is out, and so are the thumbs and guns. In Oz it's fairly acceptable to put on a jumper when the temperature plummets to 17 degrees C. I must be acclimatising to the Highlands after 20 years, because now it's hitting 17, I definitely consider it t-shirt weather.

The warmth is telling the tulips they can come out of hiding now too. They've started colouring up and out won't be long before they're in subscribers' hot little hands.

If I have any spare I'll be sure to do a little pop up tulip shop. Prepare for tulip spam everyone!

30/03/2025

Happy Sunday (and Happy Mother's Day if you're celebrating)!

The tunnel is on the brink of overflowing with flowery goodness. I've had a lengthy chat with the voles, and we've decided they need a bit of aromatherapy. I started with a mix of eucalyptus and citronella with a few other magic smelly ingredients but they didn't seem to like it. Hooray!

They've left the juicy anemone buds alone since I've been using the magic oils but maybe they're sick of anemones and are just waiting for the ranunculus buds to pop up. They didn't go near the tulips though. (I love tulip buds before they pop. They look like they're puckering up for a smooch.)

It's been such a lovely busy few days making up bouquets to celebrate your mums. Thanks for getting my season off to a colourful start. Hooray for flowers!

24/03/2025

I love the sqeaky leaves of tulips almost as much as the flowers. They're looking pretty lush don't you think? I think the greens need a moment before they're overshadowed by the colours.

FYI
If the mothers and matriachs in your life don't live near you but you want to send them locally grown flowers for Mother's Day, did you know you can go to the Flowers From the Farm website, pop their postcode in to search for their nearest flower farmer. A lot of them are closing their order books soon so grab some while you can.

23/03/2025

Save the dates for this year's markets!

Market Dates 💚

Who is excited for our markets this year?

Here are all our dates, make sure to add them to your diary 📔

22/03/2025

*Workshop Alert!*

Would you like to learn a bit more about how to grow flowers in the Highlands?

I'm doing a workshop on the 11th May and I would like to know what it is everyone wants to learn about. (Keep an eye on the page for tickets.)

Are you a complete beginner starting from scratch? Have you dabbled but need a bit more confidence? Do you need some tips for growing in our darling climate?

Tell me your ideas - comments below or message me.

📷 this pic is from August a couple of years ago.

14/03/2025

Such a stonking pop of colour in an otherwise sleeping garden. Note to self - plant more muscari in Autumn.

These cuties don't make it into bouquets but the bees will love them once they wake up.

Speaking of bouquets, you've still got a couple of days to harass/ educate your children (or the people who buy Mother's Day flowers in your family) about the joys of locally grown flowers and why you'd love some on the 30th March.

Pop to my shop page (Link in bio) and send the link to the chief flower buyer. Or tag them below so they get the not so subtle hint...

10/03/2025

Preorders open!

Mother's Day usually happens too early in the growing season for me to have flowers, but this year it’s on the cusp of the tulips starting. I’ll also be ordering in some amazing British-grown beauties to supplement my own tulips. The colours will be off the scale!

Mother's Day bouquets are now available to order. I’ll be closing orders on Sunday 16th March or before then if they sell out.

Please read the blurb before ordering. Thanks for your support!

http://florrie-and-fig.square.site/

06/03/2025

I'm going to be opening up pre-orders for Mother's Day in the next couple of days for one week only, so watch this space! 💐

Plus I'm cooking up a collab with a super baker to look after the mums with a sweet tooth... details to follow soon.

The flowers are only a few weeks away! Woohoo!

19/02/2025

I don't know everything about growing flowers. I do know that I'm still learning new things every season.

Maybe you'd like to know something about the flowers I grow? How to ask for a one off gift bouquet? Do I do bridal flowers? What makes locally grown flowers so special? What's my favourite invertebrate?

I'd love to know what you'd love to know about Florrie and Fig and the flowers I grow. It's a bit like Gardeners Question Time...

If you're specifically interested in growing flowers in the Highlands, I am teaming up with the Kilmallie Community Garden this Spring to run a workshop all about it. Watch this space for details!

Questions on the back of a postcard - comments and DMs also accepted.