Green Feather Flowers

07/03/2024

We’ve got a few spaces left for our workshop this Saturday and you lucky lovelies can book by following this link: https://www.greenfeatherflowers.co.uk/booking-calendar/workshop-double-barrelled-brewery?referral=service_list_widget

01/03/2024

What a treat have our first podcast appearance, in conversation with Damien of What's On Reading! This is such a handy monthly listen for busy local people; 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each month outlining an array of fun and exciting events that you can attend across Reading. Plus each month there’s an interview with one of the fascinating folk behind these activities…just look who it is in March! Go on, have a listen… 💚💐🐓

Our March is here! We chat with Kathryn from Green Feather Flowers about the fun foraged floristry workshops they've got coming up this month, combining creativity with the natural heritage on your doorstep!

Plus, we pick our other highlights for the month - music festivals, choral concerts and lots of fun for kids!
Listen now via https://whatsonreading.com/podcast

05/01/2024

Collaborating with nature in aesthetic choices runs through all Green Feather work, whether it’s the unpretentious wedding posey, the fondest farewell or the most abundant workshop ingredients list. This is rooted in a commitment to working sustainably, but I find it almost always enriches designs, often in unexpected ways. On New Year’s Eve I wanted to cut something from my garden to mark the change from 2023 to 2024. In other local gardens and our nearest park I had seen ivy sporting its beautiful black berries, heavy and generous, and had been eagerly awaiting our garden ivy to fruit, envisaging a simple little jar of stems bursting with black berries sitting on my kitchen table. Our ivy was not accommodating. Disappointed at first glance that there were only a few ripened berries scattered through the wall of greenery…but when something isn’t as I’m expecting it encourages a closer look. Instead of the simple vision of green and black in my head, I was rewarded in reality with ivy berries at multiple stages of their life cycle; from barely formed yellow smudges, to small plump green spheres masquerading as tiny acorns before darkening to dusky blue and finally black. A jar of glossy leaves and ripe berries is elegant beauty, but my garden gifted me a portrait of transformation to transition into 2024. Wishing you all a thoughtful, happy, healthy New Year… Curiosity blooms.

24/12/2023

‘Tis the season for a festive swag to hang on your door or in your home. Cypress, eucalyptus, mistletoe, euonymus, pittosporum all saved from garden waste and turned to botanical treasure, plus grasses, pennycress and bluebell pods cut and dried in the summer. This style of bouquet is also well-suited for lying flat in memory someone departed from us. Loss doesn’t pause during holidays, so it is a soothing thought for me that this design combines Christmas magic with peaceful farewell. Wishing you all a calm and joyful Christmas.

07/12/2023

My one and only Christmas Market of the year is this Saturday. Come and talk compostable Christmas decorations with me in the warm and wonderful atmosphere of .

✨Unique, beautiful, hand-made decorations available on the day and to pre-order for Christmas, as well as mini tutorials on DIY decorations.✨

20/11/2023

Season Hopping, Part 2: T & P, February 2023

It’s hard to put into words how superbly special it was to design and put together these flowers in the depths of last Winter. I have known since we were 5 year olds with dodgy teeth, an idiosyncratic sense of humour, fierce & feisty feelings and an insistence that the only place to make-believe at being mermaids was the staircase of my parents’ house. (“No Mum, we can’t go in my room. That’s where the sharks are.”) Taz was looking for an elegant, unfussy fairy woodland theme of clean green and white, which was a relief to the ears of a British-only florist decorating a February wedding when the main ingredients offered by nature are evergreens & twigs. A responsibly foraged local bounty of olive, silver thorn, ivy, rosemary, senecio and bay was combined with dainty stars of Dorset-grown limonium hand-tied into over 40m of delicate garlands, 3 unique bouquets shaped by the personalities of their carriers, along with dainty headpieces, elegant buttonholes, and decorative sprinkles of vases and sprigs throughout the rustic and beautiful Cheesy Outburst Alert: The end result sparkled with beauty and magic almost as much as the bride. Any flowers were never going to outshine you Taz. You are the shiniest rock in my life, a constant source of support, love and inspiration. Thank you for your over-flowing love, selflessness, hilarity and honesty. Not to mention for making a bloody good choice of husband in , and creating such a warm-hearted, fun-filled spirit of a son. I love you 3 🤍🤍🤍

Photography by the talented & patient

Dried flowers by the exquisite

Massive thanks to .uk (and mum!) for the elusive snowdrops

06/11/2023

Looking for festive fun in Reading?

03/11/2023

We Need to Talk About C*****mas

Come and join us for winter floristry workshops that are filled with jollity for you and the planet 💚💚

🤍Friday 10th November: Winter bouquet at (book via link in bio)
🤍 Friday 17th November: Foraged wreath-making at .caf.community
🤍 Sunday 19th November: Foraged wreath-making at (FULLY BOOK
🤍Friday 15th December: Foraged dinky wreath-making (perfect for place settings at your festive table) at .caf.community
🤍Sunday 17th December: Foraged dinky wreath-making (perfect for place settings at your festive table) at
🤍Bespoke & corporate wreath-making workshops by arrangement, DM us

For Dee Caf & Double-Barrelled bookings visit https://www.greenfeatherflowers.co.uk/workshops

09/10/2023

Season Hopping, Part 1: C & L, June 2023

This was one special summer wedding. I’ve known the groom 14 years (my partner has been his best friend for double that) and we grew to know and love the bride just shy of that time ago. That is the only context in which the word ‘shy’ will be used in relation to Lou. Bold, beautiful, honest, funny, opinionated and passionate, yes. Shy? No. Chris is also no wallflower, being an awesome musician who will happily take the stage (invited or not). He is almost 100% built of optimism, hilarious and energetic. I love you both.

The design process was an absolute treat: an extra reason to meet up for a pint and talk about all the ways I could paint such close friends’ special day with natural British colour. 5 bridesmaids delivered with personalised bouquets, using floral symbolism to articulate the Lou’s portrait of their characters (while staying within our couple’s chosen aesthetic, of course. Unlucky, “sausage fingers”!), a neat and gorgeous bridal bouquet (a challenge for me not to follow every wiggly stem to see what wild shapes the bouquet wants to pull), rustic beam decorations built out of sustainably sourced moss, British rose petals tossed down the aisle in the funniest entrance I’ve ever seen to name just a few of the floral antics.

All way out of my locality in the beautiful Kentish countryside, designs made in my mother-in-law’s garage while she provided exemplary childcare for our 1 year-old Elsie as well as delicious home-cooking and accommodation for us all week (thank you Sue!).

Special shout outs to:
, my kindred spirit in more ways than we realised, for working her absolute buttocks off for little more than gratitude and some fancy snips
j.taka, always.

, for enabling me to stick to my stubborn roots of only using British flowers & for empathetic, soothing customer care

for outrageously delicious photos & being full of good humour

Lizzie and the team, you were utterly welcoming, courteous and helpful

for your patience, and the high-quality BLOOMING gorgeous flowers

07/10/2023

An illness in the family took the Green Feather contingent (minus chickens) to New Zealand in September. As well as the emotional rollercoaster of the personal side of that trip, I found transporting to a completely different season utterly bewildering. When we left the UK, summer was coming to an end, seed heads and grasses were starting to find their way into my work and I was tentatively peeping ahead to leaves on the turn and the fresh air of Autumn. 2 days later, we’re in a Kiwi Spring, cutting freesias and breathing in blossom with everything bursting into life. Beautiful but bewildering!

In the spirit of this season jumping, I’ll soon be sharing photos from 2 very special weddings that took place in Winter & Summer.

18/08/2023

Farewell Flowers, 5ft Spray for S, Aug ‘23:

Encircling the spray are seed pods from the mock-orange poached from Kew by K, the ringleader of S’s early years. S’s colourful upbringing is shown by the purple, pink, yellow and green edge. Pink achillea is nestled in here and at intervals throughout the spray, representing her love of animals, as it is a flower adored by wildlife.

Her family life appears at one end of the design: Honeysuckle represents ‘devoted love and a contented home’, hydrangea (a favourite of S) symbolises gratitude, a feeling expressed by J for all the exciting, unpredictable opportunities that being her husband gifted him. These encounters are shown by the inclusion of asters, which carry the meaning ‘variety’. Sprigs of mint and bay give a nod to her time spent cooking. When at restaurants with J, S was particular and notorious for sending food back, so the dahlias in this section symbolise her ‘good taste’. A small piece of holly cut from the family home conjures the stern look that may have been received from her, followed by a pause to find out if it was a telling off that was coming… or she was having a joke with you.

S brought her keen focus to her work both as a secretary and in pathology, as well as to her knitting and of course tennis. These areas are represented by 3 clear segments of colour within the design: 1 purple, 1 yellow and 1 pink. Grasses appear in each of these sections as they stand for the perseverance she demonstrated in all these pursuits (as well as in her family life, where they also feature). Weaving between sections are another of her favoured flowers, clematis, which carry the meaning of ‘mental prowess’, as well as some of the blooms being appropriate to the purple of Wimbledon.

Tennis features throughout the spray, as it was so significant to S, known to her grandchildren as ‘Nana Tennis’. Wimbledon purple is also shown through clary sage, phlox and mint flowers, while the deep green is provided by ivy. The yellow pom-poms of zinnias are included as bouncing joyful tennis balls, as well as holding the symbolism of ‘daily remembrance’, which is and will be experienced by S’s family following their loss.

17/08/2023

Dreamy afternoon getting M & G skilled up for bouquets & buttonholes ahead of G’s wedding this November.

It’s so special to have a mother/daughter duo taking on DIY wedding flowers, and seeing their confidence and creativity bloom (sorry couldn’t resist) throughout the session was a joy!

Thank you to the wonderful Deborah for providing gorgeous homegrown materials.

Cracked out the floral bible that is ‘s The British Flowers book and informative & inspirational read Everlastings by to help these 2 plan their winter wedding ingredients. So excited to see they’re creations on the big day, it’s going to be beautiful!

30/07/2023

💚✂️NEW WORKSHOP COLLABORATION ✂️💚
Extremely excited to announce that our sustainable bouquet making is part of Autumn workshop programme! For details take a look at the midrib workshops page: https://midribplants.com/foraged-floristry-arrangement---new where you can also sign up for other botanical creative fun delivered by

themselves!

If you can’t wait until Autumn, get yourself along to our Foraged Floristry workshops at & .caf.community in August. This month we’re making fabulous flower crowns! Book via link in bio 💚💐🐓

20/07/2023

Farewell Flowers are such special designs to work on. Each one is a unique reflection of the character and aesthetic preferences of a significant individual, translated into the best British flowers for the job at that moment. Thank you S for giving permission for the story of your mum’s flowers to be shared from her send off in May 2023.

Mary’s sociable nature and passion for a good time are represented through bright pink and plum ranunculus, whose symbolic meaning is ‘I am dazzled by your charms’. Horticulturally they have a short season, where they spring up, burst into layers of blowsy beauty for a few weeks and then disappear; representative of the short but social time she was with you. Wild grass, vibrant fern, acidic cypress, yellow sprawling euonymus and glossy laurel make up the foliage elements and are all present to add to the bright appearance. Purple alliums add their orbs of tiny stars to the frivolity and fun, while symbolising tears that may be shed through loss.

Tulips and Sweet William are used to bring a pop of red to the design, hellebores for a deeper shade of purple. The backbone of each sheaf is herringbone cotoneaster, which forms their informal and unique outlines, while also adding a twinkle of pinky red from their forming flowers.

14/07/2023

This dreary Friday brightened right up with these beautiful creations from tonight’s Foraged Floristry workshop at .caf.community 💚

If you fancy trying your hand at making a hand-tied bouquet, come join us this Sunday at - book via link in bio.

19/06/2023

Had an awesome Saturday helping delightfully polite and friendly families get creative as part of Reading Climate Festival 💚

19/05/2023

Had an absolute ball being part of the Walking for Wellbeing programme by hosted at the peaceful nature reserve. This session on Thursday began with participants choosing a flower (British-grown, of course). We then took an expertly navigated stroll (thank you .works) on which everyone responsibly foraged ingredients that complemented their flower in colour and texture. We wrapped up their office lunch break by bringing all the flowers and foragings together in a gorgeous explosion of late spring colour built in a second-hand metal container supported with reusable chicken wire. Accompanied by swans. This was then taken apart and rearranged into a delightful bouquet and given as a thank you to another Reading independent, . Minimum waste, maximum enjoyment of our beautiful UK blooms.

Flower growers:
🌷
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Photography:
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Hessian sack:
🤎

17/05/2023

💚✂️WORKSHOP TOMORROW✂️💚
Proudly representing this Thursday lunchtime at . Step away from your desk and switch off as the stupendous .works ladies lead us around TVP’s beautiful nature reserve in search of some friends for these blowsy queens of British Spring: Peony & Ranunculus! Flowers so fresh I haven’t cut the peonies yet 😃💚✂️

Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-for-wellbeing-at-thames-valley-park-tickets-601366973807

01/05/2023

Join Kathryn and learn to make your own sustainable floristry designs using materials foraged from your local area or garden in the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of Double-Barrelled Taproom. Sessions run monthly on Sunday afternoons with each one focussing on a different design and theme. Children are welcome accompanied by a paying adult and we are dog friendly (although willpower is required around sticks!). The bar is open for delicious brews & non-alcoholic refreshments.

Next session:
Sunday 14th May
£12pp
1:15pm-3:15pm
10 spaces available
Book via: https://www.greenfeatherflowers.co.uk/service-page/workshop-double-barrelled-brewery?referral=service_list_widget

We are creating: Buttonholes
Theme: Spring
Thinking about DIY wedding flowers but not sure about the fiddly bits? Looking for a sustainable alternative to a birthday badge? Or just fancy a bit of creativity over a beer? Come on down and learn how to create your own set of buttonholes using seasonal ingredients. You will learn how to condition (prepare) your materials, consider the role of different types of stems & their most effective placement in your design, contemplate incorporating floriography (the language of flowers) to add meaning and create a beautiful, unique & seasonal set of buttonholes to take home.

Please note: These workshops require you to bring your own foraged materials. Ideas of what to cut and gather will be sent out 1 week before each session to keep our designs fresh and seasonal. All other equipment is provided.

26/04/2023

💻💚WORKSHOP TOMORROW💚💻
This dude stepped away from his desk job for 20 minutes and made a beautiful, wild, foraged floristry design to brighten up his office.

If you fancy bringing nature into your workplace, why not spend your lunch break tomorrow with us on a lovely walk around the reserve at and take away your own jar of responsibly foraged beauty?

12:30-1:30pm
Thursday 27th April 2023
Free to participate
Booking open until right before the walk starts.

BOOK HERE:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-for-wellbeing-at-thames-valley-park-tickets-601366973807

works

13/04/2023

Flowers + Beer : The Green Feather inspired can for The Bright One beer is here! 😍💐🍺

It was so exciting to be asked to design a bouquet to spark the can art for International Women’s Collaborative Brew Day beer this year. And it was super special that my invite was down to the lovely , the very brewer in charge of this delicious creation, thank you so much!

The design for The Bright One is a celebration of colour, Spring and fertility. As always, using only British blooms at the start of the UK flower season. Take a peak from bouquet to beer here. Toast women everywhere with a can at . We’ll be doing so on Sunday - an ideal refresment for our second Foraged Floristry workshop of Spring 😉🌷

Components:
🧡Lincolnshire tulips from
💜Berkshire hellebores from
💛Tilehurst forsythia from our very own garden
💚Tilehurst rosemary from our generous neighbour
📷Close-up & can photography by

10/04/2023

✂️🌿WORKSHOP THIS SUNDAY🌿✂️ Foraged Floristry: Flat Bouquet/Sheaf Making

1:15pm-3:15pm
Book via link in bio.

If you’ve ever fancied making your own bouquet, this session offers a brilliant introduction. If your floristry fingers are well-versed already, come and challenge yourself by working with only seasonal foraged materials. This style of arrangement requires all the design elements of a hand-tied bouquet, but with the practical support that you can lean on a table to build it without damaging any of your ingredients. Flat bouquets are often used for coffin or graveside flowers, as - the name suggests - they will lie beautifully on a flat surface. However they were also traditionally given as gift bouquets, as being front-facing arrangements they have great visual impact when received. When asked to provide formal presentation bouquets I often choose this style so that the audience can enjoy the full composition (such as this one pictured from March 2023).
You will learn how to condition (prepare) your materials, consider the role of different types of stems & their most effective placement in your bouquet, contemplate incorporating floriography (the language of flowers) to add meaning and create a beautiful, unique & seasonal bouquet to take home. Plus the bar will be open for delicious beers and beyond! Have you booked yet?

Please note: These workshops require you to bring your own foraged materials. Ideas of what to cut and gather will be sent out 1 week before each session to keep our designs fresh and seasonal. All other equipment is provided.

02/04/2023

☀️HOLIDAY☀️
We’ll be slightly further afield than for our hoppy refreshments this week. Swapping flowers for family time 💛 Back April 10th in good time for our next workshop on Sunday 16th, which you can book via link in bio 💚

If you’re in flowery need this week do check out the website to find other environmentally conscious florists in your area: https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/find-flowers/

30/03/2023

3 reasons we’re excited to head down to Double-Barrelled tomorrow to taste this new brew:

1. It’s very making is a toast to women everywhere 💛
2. Bloody love a bitter! 🤎
3. A Green Feather Flowers bouquet inspired the can art! 🙌😃💚

29/03/2023

Nature Nurture have been working with the wonderful Year 5 children at Alfred Sutton School. We are looking for volunteers to help cut out their artwork, so that we can use them to create a Wildflower Meadow display at Museum of English Rural Life
Skills required: cutting!
If you have a little bit of time to spare and you think you might be able to help please comment below. If it’s easier for you, we can deliver a batch of children’s artwork to your home.