Pottering About at The Old Place
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At Pottering About at The Old Place, I see my job as one of pushing the notion that British flowers are far superior to imported flowers.
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Our Story all about growing flowers
British home grown flowers. That's what it's all about. The attraction of British flowers has faded over the last fifty years with the onslaught of imported flowers mainly from Holland but also from Africa, South America and Europe. As a country we used to be one of the largest growers of flowers for market, but without subsidies and help getting up and running again after the war, many businesses closed or began to lose money.
The Dutch government, however, was not going to miss a trick and realised the great opportunity in growing flowers, and subsidised horticulture to encourage more interest. It worked and now over 90% of flowers bought in the UK have come via Holland. UK Supermarkets account for a large proportion of imported flower sales and the appeal of country garden flowers was forgotten.
So I see my job as one of pushing the notion that British flowers are far superior to imported flowers. This is not easy. “They don’t last” we are told...and “the stems are too short”,”they’re too expensive”. To which I say, well imported flowers do not have a scent! Most of them smell of nothing! So many of our home grown flowers have delicious scents from roses to sweetpeas, from marigolds to herbs. They are delicate and elegant, they are multi coloured and varied. We have British flowers for 12 months of the year. Narcissus, tulips, alstroemeria and chrysanthemums as well as many kinds of foliage, see us through the darker months. More and more growers are resorting to polytunnels too, which extends our British flower season, so British flowers really will be readily available before too long all year round.
