Catkin Flowers

18/07/2024

When the brief is colourful, undone, from the garden, then I am a happy florist! This is N’s bridal bouquet from last weekend’s wedding - a beautiful ramble of flowers.

16/07/2024

This Saturday!! Come and join Rachel (Catkin Flowers) and I for an an incredibly relaxing afternoon and experience the healing vibrations of sound and reiki.

15/07/2024

A beautiful ramble of garden flowers for the wonderful N and A who got married on Sat .
Huge thanks to for letting me massacre her nasturtiums and sweet peas and for many beautiful ingredients. This was an utter joy to flower 🥰.

09/07/2024

A lovely rambling bridal bouquet for S and B who got married a couple of weekends ago. A beautiful brief from a beautiful couple.

24/06/2024

Yesterday I dressed the venue for their open day. It was a gorgeous relaxed day and gave me a chance to create some new things and catch up with their other lovely suppliers who are:

22/06/2024

The Summer Solstice is upon us, marking the official start of astronomical summer and the longest day of the year. This powerful planetary moment when the tilt of the Earth brings us closest to the sun is due to occur at 9.51pm this evening with the promise of warmer and brighter times ahead 🤞🏻☀️

The wonderful Rachel Catkin Flowers is our resident Floral Designer and Reiki Master, based in the stunning setting of the walled Kitchen Garden. Rachel has beautifully curated a range of offerings to celebrate the seasons, inspire creativity and deepen connection to nature.

✨2 July: Floral Retreat
✨9 July: Capture Nature in Print with Su France Designs
✨1 Aug: Wheel of the Year, Lammas
✨11 Sept: How to Grow Cut Flowers

Visit www.catkinflowers.com for all the details and bookings.

02/06/2024

In the winter helped me to re-plan my cutting garden.

It is so clear that gardens have a huge role to play in helping the biodiversity crisis and any flower grower will tell you that growing cut flowers enhances biodiversity in any space.

But I have often heard Guy refer to ‘breaking down the garden fence’ and considering our gardens as in nature, not contained and separate from it and I wanted to bring my cut flower garden closer to that idea.

It’s more of a shift in mindset rather than practice . I’m growing more perennials so the soil is not disturbed and planted densely to protect the soil and provide a haven for wildlife.
Growing perennials means less inputs than growing annuals and also habitat can be maintained from season to season. Self seeded annuals and biennials can seed where they like, filling in gaps and covering and protecting bare soil.

We are building structures in the garden - insect ‘towers’ , log walls, woven structures - different materials to provide hiding places and nesting habitat. Recognising that weeds
attract a huge array of pollinators to the garden and their value needs to be considered in the space.

The aim is to have a garden that invites a range of creatures to share it, but is also productive and of course beautiful.
But what it also does is bring you closer to and more connected with nature.
I’ve always observed and been fine tuned to what is happening in my garden because of the fact I grow cut flowers but putting habitat at the heart adds an additional layer.

It’s a work in progress ( a garden is never finished!) it’s gradually changing over time and we still have structures to build and planting to tweak. I’ll share more as it develops, but this is where we are at the moment.
If you are interested in how to grow flowers with a lighter touch I’m running a course later in the year- the link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/book-courses/how-to-grow-cut-flowers

17/05/2024

How can flowers support your well-being and mental health?

We know that looking at plants and being in nature can affect our physiology in many positive ways.

But it is more than that. Connecting with nature is not just looking at it and being in it. It is fostering a deep and lasting emotional connection - by developing a sense of kinship and empathy with the natural world.

Flowers are a beautiful and accessible route to nature connectedness.
We bond emotionally with flowers that remind us of loved ones.
They are woven through art and culture so they touch our lives outside of the ‘horticultural’.
They are works of art in themselves and we can create with them to make beautiful things that bring us and other people joy, and we weave them into meaningful celebrations.
They lend their energy for deep healing and insight. Many people who I have worked with will have an affinity with or emotional connection to a particular flower that helped them understand something about themselves and helped to move them forward.
These beautiful iris are energetic heavyweights in the garden right now - helping to put people back together in mind body and spirit, but all flowers have the potential to heal.
What is growing in your garden or neighbourhood that is catching your eye?Whatever it is that’s talking to you, take time to stop and notice. Nurturing any connection takes time and attention but our mental health and wellbeing is well worth the investment.

10/05/2024

Some beautiful combinations in the therapy garden today. Geranium pheum, geums and aquilegia are in full swing and it looks beautiful. I was talking to someone in the garden today about colours and I mentioned I don’t tend to be drawn to rich purples. Errrr ……. I think this post shows I’m talking nonsense 😆 - but in my defence it’s a beautiful foil to allow other colours ( like the beautiful apricot geums) to shine . And bronze fennel isn’t purple - right? Or black elder? Help me out here …

01/05/2024

Beltane blessings! Today is Beltane or May Day and is a beautiful time to celebrate the sun, fertility and the beauty of spring.
Hawthorn blossom is strongly associated with Beltane and it’s beautiful to see the hedgerows starting to bloom. The third picture here is a magical single hawthorn tree . She is a beauty and it’s magical to be under here at any time but particularly today. She’s just starting to flower - a gradual breaking of blossom, and as the breath of spring grows softer she will soon follow .
I am spending the day leading a Beltane celebration - a beautiful day to share the joy of spring and the power of renewal and inspiration.

25/04/2024

A spring tangle - representing my and garden . This is my demo urn from yesterday’s flower gathering .
I was determined it wasn’t going to be orange or coral but I am drawn to these colours like moth to a flame so there’s no point fighting!

17/04/2024

I have teamed up with from and for a beautiful new workshop in my floral haven .

We will be using sound bowls, the energy of flowers and oracle cards in a beautiful session to help you discover more about yourself and where you are in life.
You will connect with a deeper understanding of self with our guidance - we are three Reiki Masters skilled in our own fields and we would love to welcome you to share this experience with us.

Find out more here https://ylkmentors.com/event/finding-your-resonance-soul-note-flower-symbolism-oracle-2/

15/04/2024

Join me for for Beltane on 1st May at the beautiful .
We will do a mindful walk to connect with nature, weave flower crowns from seasonal flowers and watch a cooking demo from to celebrate seasonal produce. We will eat Holly’s food together with the fire alight to celebrate this ancient nature festival. It will be a beautiful, joyous day, an oasis of time and place to bring us back to nature.
The link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/beltane

📷 by Annabel Smith

10/04/2024

These are photos from a beautiful April wedding I did a couple of years ago - a joyful explosion of colour and spring. I didn’t post these at the time.

Why? It was one of the most beautiful weddings and it brought me such joy to do it. Why didn’t I share these pictures? Many of you will know why - the worry of putting something out there that isn’t good enough, the worry of saying to strangers I think this is utterly lovely when they may scoff and think otherwise.

With weddings the issue is also the fact that of course people will say no to you - potential clients, venues, will all say, no thank you, you are not for me. So unless you are standing very strongly in yourself and what you do and know you are absolutely doing your unique thing authentically then the risk is that you read it as ‘you are not good enough’. Which of course isn’t true at all but that’s the vulnerable spot that it hits sometimes.

And so you whisper about your craft and service, put in a tentative toe, rather than confidently sharing what you believe to be beautiful. I understand this utterly and I am done whispering although I’ve a way to go before I’m a full throated roar - although to be fair I’m not a full throated roar sort of person - but I can help you if you are at the silent or whispering stage.

I have a number of offerings to help you to be grounded in yourself and to know confidently what you are about, so if this resonates then get in touch with me and we can see what fits.

Oh yes and I’m a bloody good wedding florist too 😉

20/03/2024

Today is Ostara, the spring equinox, where there is balance between light and dark. It is a time of new beginnings and growth, fertility and transformation.
There are many symbols of Ostara including hares, eggs, spring flowers and most importantly for me, seeds. They represent the cycle of life and the potential for growth and abundance and I have always loved that feeling of promise when I am sowing flower seeds in my polytunnel. This is what I will be doing today - sowing with intention and hope.
This magnificent magnolia tree is in my mum and dads garden and always makes me feel that spring has arrived - it watches over their greenhouse and I know they will be in there today doing the same. 🌱🌸

18/03/2024

The beautiful Yoshino cherry at Doddington Hall is in full swing. My business has been here since Jan 2009 so this is the 16th time I have seen her flower and she floors me every single time. She is, without doubt, the queen of the garden. 📷Annabel Smith

18/03/2024

Very excited for this collaboration!

14/03/2024

Beltane is on the 1st May and is the half way point between the equinox and the summer solstice. It is a joyful festival and is celebrated with feasting and fire. It is a celebration of life, love, joy, abundance, vitality, adornment and creative flow.
I have teamed up with Holly for a beautiful Beltane celebration . Any of you who have done a workshop with me and have eaten Holly’s gorgeous food will know how luscious it is and the wonderful surroundings of Purusha provides the perfect backdrop. We will weave flower crowns, learn cooking skills and feast together to honour and celebrate this point in the seasonal cycle.
To find out more the link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/beltane

12/03/2024

Join me and my glorious friend and fellow Reiki Master for a blissful afternoon of sound and reiki. Deep vibrations from Tibetan singing bowls, Chinese wind gongs, Koshi bells and more. The sound will take you on a journey of relaxation enhanced by hands on Reiki healing.

The venue is St Bartholomews Church in Kneesall, and this incredible building has the most amazing acoustics!

For more information follow the link in my profile!

04/03/2024

It is now officially spring and you can really sense the seasonal change. The birds are really busy, the bulbs are roaring through, daffodils, hellebores and blackthorn are out and the buds on the trees are fat. In a couple of weeks we will be celebrating the spring equinox and I’d love you to join me to set our intentions for the garden, to sow seeds together, to start something beautiful that will come to fruition at another point on the wheel. The workshop is held on 20th March - the link is here x https://www.catkinflowers.com/ostara

27/02/2024

I am a Reiki Master as well as a florist and it’s utterly fundamental to what I do. The more I’ve worked with my garden, nature and reiki the more I realise that what we can’t see or explain is part of an understanding and connection that brings us insight, balance and fulfilment.
Our intuition, our knowledge of and connection with the earth, the awareness of our shared energy and life force with all living things is so fundamental but has been lost to many of us. We are nature, we are not just in it, we are it.
I believe strongly that a deep connection with nature can help to really strengthen our intuition and understanding but sometimes we need something to help us open up and become more aware of that connection, which is where reiki can help. It can also help us to rebalance and facilitate the process of self- healing. It allows calm, release and relaxation and for some people it can be utterly transforming, for others a gentle way to find some calm for a while. My practice is earthy and grounded (quite literally!) - it’s in my studio so very much of the garden and earth. I offer one to one sessions using reiki and nature together - have a look at my offerings and see if they resonate - the link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/11nature-therapy-reiki

18/02/2024

Many congratulations to A and J who got married yesterday . My first wedding of the year - wonderful to bring spring inside to be part of this beautiful celebration.

04/02/2024

I still have opportunities to join me for ‘The Flower Gathering’ . 6 sessions over the year to learn how to connect with your garden and grow beautiful things with a softer footprint and wilder touch. To learn how to harvest and curate natural materials from your garden to give free rein to your creativity and to spend a day every 2 months immersed in flowers and gardens with other people who share that joy. The link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/the-flower-gathering it would be lovely to see you.

01/02/2024

Today is Imbolc - the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. We have one foot in winter and one foot in spring and as nature gradually starts to emerge so we are invited to let go of the darkness following winter’s deep reflection. The Rowan, a beautiful and sacred tree is associated with the Goddess Brigid who is celebrated at Imbolc. She is associated with creativity, inspiration and craftsmanship, among many other things. She is the spark that awakens the seeds, the sap that rises in the trees, the power in the healers hands. So it is fitting that today we are in my studio with weaving and making symbols of Imbolc as well as connecting with the energy of the garden to allow our own creativity to spark and make space for new beginnings.
Marking these nature based festivals connects us strongly with the seasons and nature, reminds us of our relationship with the earth and encourages us to use nature’s energy as a guide. If you would like to join in with a celebration then have a look at my ‘Wheel of the Year’ courses - 8 celebrations across the year designed to deepen our connection with nature - link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/wheel-of-the-year-courses

29/01/2024

29/01/2024

As the signs of spring are starting to become slowly and gradually evident - bulbs pushing through, buds beginning to swell, the light noticeably increasing, I can feel a slow but sure reciprocal change in my energy and desire to be outside. It has been a *very* slow start for sure but I can feel the garden starting to respond and feel the need to be there for her when she wakes up. It’s a sort of in-between state , a response in the soul but still with a sleepy and lethargic body, but a gentle and quiet start feels imminent. I’m using photos of the therapy garden in full throttle to remind me of the roaring energy to come.

26/01/2024

I love working with other soulful nature based artists and am delighted to be working with Jessica from . We have a beautiful workshop coming up on 10th Feb where we will use the gardens as inspiration for you to create a beautiful silver ring, a capture of time, place and season that is totally unique to you. We only have a couple of places left, we would love you to join us - the link is here https://www.catkinflowers.com/creative-collaborations

25/01/2024

Yesterday I ran the first session of ‘The Coven’. How to share something so intimate, powerful and personal? A group of amazing women, an incredible tree, a sassy and helpful cat, and a burning need and desire to strengthen our intuition, align with the essence of who we are, to deeper forge our connection to the earth. To embody the sacred feminine, to be agents of change, to be authentic and fearless.
I chose this picture from a workshop 8 years ago. This was a portal for me and is a beautiful representation of a magical space, female connection, creativity and the power of nature 🧡

22/01/2024

What do you need in order to blossom? We often put our needs below others and feel like any dream that is in bud waiting for the right time to bloom is too far fetched to spend time and resources on. But so often our intuition is correct, the thing we feel is right often IS right and we should not be afraid to say it out loud and allow it to become reality. There are still opportunities to join and myself on the floral pathway. We provide a space for you to be seen and heard, an anchor in the midst of turmoil and change, an opportunity for you to explore your authentic creativity, many years of wisdom and experience and practical steps and strategies to help you move forward in your business or potential business. The link is here for further details

https://www.catkinflowers.com/-professional-development

19/01/2024

I love cold and frosty weather. I was very sad not to get proper snow but the frost on the therapy garden is beautiful. Part of the decision making process for our planting choice was considering forms that would be beautiful when frost gilded so I love it when we get the opportunity to see it in practice.