British grown flowers: A cut above

I recently had an enquiry from an eco chic bride wondering if there were any eco alternatives to wedding flowers and bouquets and it bothered me because flowers are just so much a part of any wedding. The real issue, in our view, is their provenance and what you do with them after your green wedding.

We feel that you should apply the same principles to flowers as you do to food - we all know about buying local and seasonal food, so why not do the same with cut flowers? Just as food farmers in Britain need our support, so do British flower growers who are being increasingly squeezed out of a £2 billion industry (which, incidentally, is the same worth as our music industry) by larger, more efficient, mono-cultural growing units in Holland and elsewhere. Ninety per cent of the flowers we buy here now come from elsewhere - scandalous.

"British growers are the best, and they need our support," says Sarah Raven in her article for the Daily Telegraph.

Sarah has also made an hour long Gardener's World Special to be screened this Friday 24 August on BBC2 in 'The Cutting Edge of Cut Flowers' where she celebrates the cutting edge of British cut flowers with visits to the UK's most beautiful cutting gardens and to the British growers like Scented Narcissi, Scilly Flowers, Catkin Flowers, Country Roses and The Real Flower Company who are cutting their own niche in an ever expanding market.

So pour yourself a large glass of organic wine or English cider, settle in and learn all about our British flower market. If know anything about Sarah she will also giving out loads of tips about how to use the flowers and also how to grow your own. This is a most ethical way of choosing to use flowers for your green wedding.