Meadowsweet Croft

23/11/2023

What's that word when, by pure accident, you sit in the perfect place for the perfect image??

21/11/2023

How clever of to find a rock face on to coordinate with the wedding bouquet😆

Flowers grown on Skye with the seasons just look perfect against the backdrop of our stunningly beautiful landscape.

And as the wild flowers and foliage turn golden brown, the same dried wild bracken, grasses and seedheads seen all over the hills right now, feature in my florals with a few pops of colourful dried Skye grown dahlias and saved summer beauties.

A little bit of Skye in flowery form.

👰‍♀🤵 Missy and Mike, thank you for inviting me to be part of your special day. Love the lace💕
📷

19/11/2023

Christmas Markets are a great time to catch up with folk you've not seen for a while.

One such person was mum of Heather, who trusted me with her wedding flowers when I was just starting out. We had a good old chat, and it reminded me that this is one of my all-time favourite photos taken by the talented and simply lovely Rosie .

Why? Rosie has captured the sense of fun and informality that a wedding on Skye seems to engender. Laughter, love and champagne. The beauty of an old, rickety shed among the wild bracken

I'd like to think that's how my floral style has developed; relaxed, a little bit wild with a few wayward stems, and never taking itself too seriously. As wild and romantic as the Skye landscape.

Thank you, Heather and Stefan 💕

📷

17/11/2023

Well...let me tell you a story.

At the Christmas Market in 2021, a couple bought a wreath. They looked after it as recommended, and at the Christmas Market in 2022 they told me the wreath is still looking lovely.

I'm hoping this year, they might be bored with the design and buy another one😁

So if you'd like your wreath to last as long as possible:

Keep out of direct sunlight which will eventually bleach the colour out.

Moisture is the nemesis of dried flowers, so avoid humid areas such as the kitchen or bathroom.

The flowers are brittle and pampas grass will shed when touched or caught in a breeze, so hang somewhere safe from knocks and out of draughts.

Alternatively, throw caution to the wind, support a local business and buy a different wreath every year😘

15/11/2023

Not all wreaths are round, green and studded with orange slices and pine cones.
Here's a sneaky peek at one of my new wreath designs; Copper and Gold.

See it IRL at

Christmas Craft Market: Dornie Hall, Friday 17 November, 10- 4pm

Armadale Christmas Market: Saturday 18 November, 10-4pm

An Crubh Christmas Fair: Saturday 25 November 10-4pm

14/11/2023

M&M eloped to the Isle of Skye yesterday.

The brief was for a small dried flower bouquet and buttonhole. But I couldn't resist leaving the stems a little longer than usual. Even the stems look beautiful when dried.

Thank you M&M. I hope you had a fantastic day with the wonderful

All flowers grown and dried naturally right here on the Isle of Skye.

If you're planning your 2024 elopement and would love Skye grown flowers as wild and romantic as the landscape itself, my diary is now open.

31/10/2023

Samhain.

I'm not very good at keeping track of the calendar any more. If it's dry, I'm outside working on the flower field, if the weather is horrible, I'm inside resting, cooking, or if I really HAVE to, doing housework or admin.

So today, a beautiful crisp, clear day, I was outside, building a bonfire to clear away the sticks, branches, bits of broken pallets etc which had been accumulating all year. A good clear out of yesterday's rubbish always feels cathartic. And as I stood tending the fire, watching the embers and the sunset and mulling over what I had achieved this year and planning for the next, I caught sight of an old rope I used to use on Mia when I'd forgotten/lost her lead, and missed her. I missed seeing her about, sniffing and then sitting and staring at me as if to say "surely it's time to go in, now"

So in I went. Stove lit, dark outside, I decided it was time to change my wee show and tell shelf. Time for candles and a new wee posy of skeletal poppy heads and rowan berries. Very 'of the season'.

Cup of tea, rocking chair, stove blazing, candles flickering and scrolling the socials, and realised I've just marked Samhain without even realising it.

Happy Samhain, to everyone who did remember.

30/10/2023

A large autumnal themed dried flower bouquet with vase.

And then I popped it on my desk while I prepared the packaging to deliver it it. And wow, back-lit by the morning sun, it just glowed. Perhaps I should have cleared the desk before taking a picture, but this is real life and a delivery was beckoning.

Normally, we say, keep out of bright sunlight because the sun will bleach out the colour. Just as it does in nature to leave beautiful, ghostly silhouettes of seed heads and grasses. But that's for another post.

Now it's all about the start of the dried florals, it's their time to shine, literally.🍁🍂🌻


flowers

29/10/2023

Good morning.

This is the last fresh autumn wreath left. The hydrangeas have all finished and the blackbirds have demolished the berries, so once this is gone, it's gone. That's what seasonal, locally grown is all about🍁🍂🍂

£30

Drop me a message if you'd like it. Collection from the croft only.

Nicola 💐

28/10/2023

Getting the timing right for cutting beech for drying is tricky. I want it when there is still a bit of green, but mainly yellow, and the leaves are still flat and soft.
3 days ago, they hadn't changed colour enough, 2 days ago, I didn't get a chance to check on them. Yesterday, they had nearly all turned a uniform brown. So in fading daylight I rushed out to cut as much as I could.
Tomorrow, they will probably all be brown, curling and ready to drop.

Timing is everything in this job.





cut flowers.

20/10/2023

And here's another example where a bouquet photographed by an amateur, without the bride is just, well... a bit meh.

Lin and Sebastian were the sweetest of couples who eloped back in May. This was my first cascade bouquet, and of course, designed without a crumb of floral foam.

Flowers grown right here on the Isle of Skye and British grown Alstromeria from my safety net when things don't go quite to plan

Captured so beautifully by

19/10/2023

When Becy shared these photos, I genuinely didn't think they were 'my' flowers, she'd made them look sooo good.
This was the first bouquet I made for one of Becy's eloping couples, and I so wanted to get it right. Not just for the couple, but for all the photographers and wedding planners who have trusted me with their reputation and recommended me to their couples.

Thank you guys. Please know, your support is truly appreciated and never taken for granted.

18/10/2023

I absolutely love it when I get to see my flowers the way they're meant to be - in the hands of a couple of love birds with the beauty of the Skye landscape as the backdrop.

I do take (very poor) photos of the completed bouquets, but they never look as good as when they are captured by a talented photographer in the arms of the couple they were created for.

Dried flower bouquet and buttonhole for Luise and Sasha. Thank you for trusting me.

Photography

17/10/2023

A winter wedding bouquet doesn't always have to be dried or imported flowers.

British grown tulips. Everything else grown on my flower field on the Isle of Skye.

14/10/2023

Brr, it's chilly this morning. Woolly bunnet is back, and fingers blue with cold.

Temperatures may be low enough for a touch of frost tonight and that'll finish off all the tender plants.
So I've been picking what will be the last of the dahlias and strawflowers - probably.

It's been a fabulous year for flowers this year. The hot and dry early summer really encouraged them to put on so much growth early on. And even now there are still buds galore. But as the days get shorter and nights colder and the wind and rain thrashes about, the blooms get smaller and of poorer quality.

The dahlias will be popped in a vase to cheer me up. The strawflowers will go in the greenhouse today to warm and open up and then dried for winter florals.

Thank you flowers. You have been fabulous.

05/10/2023

We're on the cusp of the last of fresh flowers and the start of the dried.

K&T's wedding was many years in the making but this was the year they came to Skye to have a wedding their way, in the beautifully romantic, grand Victorian lodge of a hotel

Skye is clothed in all its burnished autumn colours now, and this is what I wanted to bring to this small wedding. Dried bracken and golden wild grasses bring a touch of wildness. Sumptuous Scottish grown chrysanthemums from supplemented my own field grown flowers and foliage.

Table centre arrangements, buttonholes, hair pins and a wedding bouquet and grooms buttonhole.

It's always a privilege to be asked to to contribute to a couple's very personal event. Thank you K&T.

Suppliers
Accommodation:
Cake:
Photography:









https://www.instagram.com/p/CyBWLHBtlXS/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

17/09/2023

Flat lay: cut flower growers kitchen table.

At this time of the year, I'm juggling
🌱sowing seeds for next year's flowers, collecting
🌱saving seed from this year's flowers
🌱planning next year's flowers field, what to plant where, how many, when,
🌱planning winter work projects, new beds, new shrubs, bulb planting, fencing, compost turning, seaweed mulching
🌱as well as keeping up with the admin, invoicing, quoting

Which is why finding space on the kitchen table for lunch is getting tricky😆

13/09/2023

Farewell to summer.

Probably the last Friday Flowers for this year.

I've been looking at my records from last year, and we had a storm at the end of September which pretty much put an end to fresh flowers for the year. Strong winds and heavy rain is forecast for this evening/tomorrow, and it was nearly cold enough for frost last night, soif these beauties survive they be in bunches on Friday as a farewell to summer.

What are Friday Flowers?

The closest thing I do to the supermarket bunch....but without the plastic, pesticides or airmiles🌍.

Every Friday during the summer (weather depending) I have bunches of seasonal flowers for sale. Flowers straight from the flower field, bunched together, simply wrapped in paper and string, ready for you to arrange at home.

£10 per bunch or 2 for £15
Collect from the croft. If you buy 2, I can deliver free in my local area (Sleat and Broadford).

This weeks top tip: if the flowers are too long for your vase (or recycled coffee jar😉), cut the stems are short as they need to be to suit the vase. They'll look all the better for it. 💐💐💐

To order, send me a message by Thursday evening and I'll send you a payment link.

Did you know that a bunch of locally grown flowers has apparently 5% of the carbon footprint of a typical imported bunch?

07/09/2023

Florist order bathing in the evening sunshine.

These are heading to for a wedding with a late summer colour palette.

Look out for Emma's post to see how she uses these few buckets of locally grown, pesticide free flowers to create absolutely fabulous foam free wedding florals.

05/09/2023

Friday Flowers are on this week.

I've been looking at my records from last year, and we had a storm at the end of September which pretty much put an end to fresh flowers for the year.

So, if you haven't tried locally grown flowers, there may only be a few weeks left until the daffodils appear next year....what a thought!

What are Friday Flowers?

The closest thing I do to the supermarket bunch....but without the plastic, pesticides or airmiles🌍.

Every Friday during the summer (weather depending) I have bunches of seasonal flowers for sale. Flowers straight from the flower field, bunched together, simply wrapped in paper and string, ready for you to arrange at home.

£10 per bunch or 2 for £15
Collect from the croft. If you buy 2, I can deliver free in my local area (Sleat and Broadford).

This weeks top tip: if the flowers are too long for your vase (or recycled coffee jar😉), cut the stems are short as they need to be to suit the vase. They'll look all the better for it. 💐💐💐

To order, send me a message by Thursday evening and I'll send you a payment link.

Did you know that a bunch of locally grown flowers has apparently 5% of the carbon footprint of a typical imported bunch?

04/09/2023

And sow it begins...(see what I did there😜)

Even though the flower field is still full of flowers, some of next year's flowers need to be started now...the rest next spring.

Of the 31 different varieties sown today, I'm pleased that seeds I'd collected from my own flowers or swapped with other growers made up 17 of them.

I've been told that plants grown from seed gathered from plants grown locally are better adapted to your growing conditions. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these will develop into strong, healthy and floriforous plants 🤞

04/09/2023

'Just by Chance' means...

🌼Plonking some vases on the table while cleaning the kitchen.
🌼Sitting down in the right place
🌼A sudden burst of sunshine through dark, rain sodden clouds
🌼A glance up from scrolling
🌼A quick snap with my phone

And a new 'recipe' for a bouquet is born.

03/09/2023

Folks.

My laptop just died last night, having minor panic that everything (including the accounts for my tax return) has been backed up. This means I'll not be able to send out any quotes or invoices until my new one arrives.

And to top it off, tomorrow there's a planned power outage all day. Skye is beautiful and remote but I've no 4,3 or 2g reception here, so sorry, I will not be able to receive any emails, texts, WhatsApps, dms, pms, or anything else.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused. It's certainly caused me huge inconvenience 😆

01/09/2023

01/09/2023

The best delivery a postie can possibly make to a cut flower grower and bumbling floral designer.

Beautiful silk velvet ribbons for all those autumn and winter weddings. Thank you .

And oodles of seed packet maracas. Thank you and (and thank you to for the recommendations)

Happy, happy flower grower🥰🥰🥰🥰

Right, better get this year's flowers delivered.

28/08/2023

Friday Flowers are on this week.

Warm, cheery shades of marmalade and custard to banish thoughts of rain and midgies and grayness.

What are Friday Flowers?

The closest thing I do to the supermarket bunch....but without the plastic, pesticides or airmiles🌍.

Every Friday during the summer (weather depending) I have bunches of seasonal flowers for sale. Flowers straight from the flower field, bunched together, simply wrapped in paper and string, ready for you to arrange at home.

£10 per bunch or 2 for £15
Collect from the croft. If you buy 2, I can deliver free in my local area (Sleat and Broadford).

Top tip: keep checking the water level in your vase. Locally grown flowers will drink more than you think. Every couple of days, trim the stems and give your flowers a change of fresh water💐💐💐

To order, send me a message by Thursday evening and I'll send you a payment link.

Did you know that a bunch of locally grown flowers has apparently 5% of the carbon footprint of a typical imported bunch?

28/08/2023

How many people does it take to make beautiful wedding florals?

Well, yesterday it took four.
One to grow and make the flowers, two love birds to bring life and love to them, and one brilliant photographer to capture it all against the best backdrop in the world - the Isle of Skye.



It's such a privilege to be a small part of someone's special ceremony. Thank you.

27/08/2023

I think this colour is what they call 'burnt orange' but the first word I thought of was 'marmalade'.

Warm glowing colours on a miserable, damp week.

20/08/2023

A bucket of dahlias before the wind and rain arrived.

20/08/2023

A bucket of dahlias before the rain arrived.

14/08/2023

Sorry no Friday Flowers this week as I'm off on a wee jaunt to visit friends and family.

I am, however selling these wee wreaths of fresh wild heather and rowan berries.

If hung indoors in the dry and warm, they will dry in situ and last for months.

Available for a very short time as the heather is blooming fast in our warm. A small number will be available on my website from the end of the week, but you can pre order here if you drop me a message.

The wreath is about 35cm / 14inch wide and built on a reusable metal wreath ring. £27.50

Yes, I can post, but I've not yet worked out the costings for packaging and postage😆

14/08/2023

What a sunny sight

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Lovely to see British grown sunflowers in my local
Packed in recyclable cardboard boxes.
Now, would you be put off buying them if they were wrapped in paper rather than single use plastic?

It just takes a little change to make a difference.

08/08/2023

Flowers in the Broadford Community Fridge.

They won't last very long, so please, take a bunch and make someone's day.

💐🌸💐💮💐🪷💐🏵💐🌹💐🥀💐🌺💐🌻💐🌼💐🌷💐🪻💐⚘️💐

08/08/2023

Grasses naturally bleaching in the sunshine. I much prefer the golden, beach-bleached look over the stark, white chemical bleached dried florals.

And yes, I did tidy my desk before taking these snaps🤣.

I love the shadows the grasses cast across the desk. does a range of stunning window films that'll throw beautiful shadows. I have windows and doors earmarked for those in my 'sometime-in-the-future-dream-renovated-home'.

One day.

07/08/2023

Dead heading.

I'm going to say this very quietly (just in case I jinx it), but the flowers are coming fast and furious now, so fast that many don't have homes to go to.
If I leave them uncut, the bees will pollinate them, and the plant will set seed and say to itself, "Job done, no more flowers required."
So regardless of whether there are customers, the flowers need to be 'deadheaded' to encourage more.
These will be heading to the community food fridge tomorrow. "Flowers can't solve all problems...but they're a good start."

07/08/2023

Friday Flowers?

The closest thing I do to the supermarket bunch....but without the plastic, pesticides or airmiles🌍.

Every Friday during the summer (weather depending) I have bunches of seasonal flowers for sale. Flowers straight from the flower field, bunched together, simply wrapped in paper and string, ready for you to arrange at home.

£10 per bunch or 2 for £15
Collect from the croft. If you buy 2, I can deliver free in my local area (Sleat and Broadford).

Handy hint: Remember, these bunches have not been arranged, so take a couple of minutes to arrange in a vase. And if your vase is smaller, just cut the stems and arrange. It'll make all the difference.💐💐💐

To order, send me a message by Thursday evening and I'll send you a payment link.

Did you know that a bunch of locally grown flowers has apparently 5% of the carbon footprint of a typical imported bunch?

05/08/2023

Just a bunch of buddleia

One of the comments I frequently get when I handover a bouquet, goes along these lines:

"Is that..." (pause).." bracken/meadowsweet/buddleia/larch/heather? I didn't know you could put that in an arrangement"

We've become so conditioned by the marketing skills of the big commercial flower importers, that the only flowers good enough to adorn our lives are the limited range of poker straight, usually scentless mass produced, easy to pack, easy to ship, easy to stick in a supermarket bucket and ignore for a couple of weeks.

Locally grown flowers will be different. Beautiful flowers grown with love. Full of movement and scent and with about 5% of the carbon footprint of a typical imported supermarket bunch.

To find locally grown flowers for sale near you, enter your location in the search field and support a local, usually female run business. Believe me, it'll make their day if you let them know your after sustainable, locally grown flowers.

Oh and remember, many of your local florist shops are now choosing to stock more British grown flowers.

28/07/2023

This is how it all began.....*

A daughter due to be married in September 2020

A gardening mad mother asked to 'organise the wedding flowers'

A mother and daughter uninspired by the stiff, imported 'avalache roses, lisianthus and gyp' mushroom shaped bouquets for a country style wedding in a Surrey barn.

A chance find of flower farmer Claire Brown .

A passing mention of an organisation called

Then Lockdown!

Looks like mum will now be 'doing' the flowers. I'd never done any floristry, ever...had been put off by the, frankly, unnatural looking flower arrangements I occasionally saw at gardening shows. I had an old copy of Constance Spry's 'How to do the Flowers', more as a interesting historical read, than an instruction manual and that was all.

Then a post popped up on my feed about book (I didn't even know the term 'floral mechanics'- it sounded complicated😄). But I had nothing else to do that summer and had a lot to learn.

I'm not a trained florist, I've never learnt how to use plastic polluting floral foam, guppies, bouquet holders, cellophane aquapack, polyester bows, plastic card holders etc... nor do I know how to use chemicals such as Quick Dip or Chrysal water additive or liquid floral spray.

Nothing to unlearn to make my work as sustainable and planet friendly as I can.

Thank you and for setting me off in the right direction. Later, I joined the brilliant https://www.thebusinessofsellingflowers.com with Claire, Paula and Carol. And spent a wonderful day with honing my bouquet skills.

Ditch the plastic.

* A terrible photo taken around this time 2020 of my first ever buttonhole.

not.flown

26/07/2023

25/07/2023

An Autumn Elopement

As I go through the flower field, full of summer blooms, I'm selecting and picking flowers for drying and thinking ahead to the rich, velvety shades of Autumn.

It can be a risky time. On the edge of winter storms or soft, golden, fruitful days, I offer the last of my fresh flowers, foraged berries and russet coloured leaves. But there are some flowers I cannot grow here without a polytunnel, such as sumptuous chrysanthemums, so for those, I'll be heading straight to who like me, grow sustainable cut flowers, but on the sunnier East Coast of Scotland just outside Dundee.

Autumn is also the time when I start to dip into my store of summer dried goodies. Unwrapping the carefully stored treasures will bring back memories of picking them, elbow deep in fresh swaying flowers, while the bees and insects buzz around me.

And so the wheel of the year turns.