Our Flowers

It is high summer and I have noticed to my horror that I haven't written a post since March! That is how things have gone here at The Garden Gate. We have been cutting and cutting from the cutting garden Tulips and Narcissus have given way to Alliums, Iris, Sweet Peas, Scabious, Phlox, Fennel, Cornflowers, Ammi and more. The Dahlias are just starting to flower but it will be a couple of weeks before they really get going. Last year we cut in the region of 15,000 stems but I have to admit to losing count. This year there will be more. We also buy in from other British growers. We do this to increase the varieties available but also to keep up with the quantities we need. Due to our sandy soil I source Roses from The Real Flower Company as they don't grow well here. Then I source flowers from other East Anglian growers...mostly in Norfolk. Sarah grows Peonies and Julie any number of things, currently including some gorgeous Mallow. Then we go further a field to growers in Lincolnshire and the West Country where the larger growers tend to be. Currently we are sourcing Cornish Agapanthus and Scabious from Lincolnshire amongst other things. luckily we are able to access these flowers via some small scale British flower wholesalers who help us source different varieties from the growers they buy from. Finally we buy Freesias from a family farm on Guernsey. When I send out bouquets I add details of where the flowers have been sourced from but I have started to add a little posting on the website each month so if you buy bunches you can see what we are using. With weddings I also try to share with the couple where their flowers are sourced from and what we have used. Often we have used so many different types of flowers the list isn't exhaustive but I think it is nice to know some information about your flowers...varieties and where they have been grown etc. 
It is very important to me that our flowers are ethically sourced. I like to support other small scale artisan style growers, located as locally as possible. It is important to us to know where the flowers we use are grown and where possible by whom. We also use small scale British Flower Wholesalers that we trust to do like wise.

What we are cutting now...