Say Hi To: Spindle Flowers
It has been our absolute pleasure to get to know Zanna Hoskins from Spindle Flowers over this last year, and if you’ve bought flowers from Little Perth there’s a good chance you’ve had her flowers and foliage brightening up your home! Zanna is an exceptionally gifted grower and florist, and as it’s British Flowers Week we wanted to tell a bit more of her story. So pop the kettle on and enjoy this little interview! (And then go buy some British flowers of course…!)
LP: Hello Zanna! First off, can you tell us where the dream to grow flowers first began?
I remember as a child walking the country lanes of Oxfordshire with my grandmother who first showed me her favourite thing of all, the vibrant pink and orange spindle berries.
LP: What inspired you to get into the flower growing game?
My uncle & aunt farmed British flowers for Covent Garden throughout the 80s and 90s (yes, way ahead of the current slow-flowers movement). Green & Gorgeous inspired me greatly back in the early 2000s, bringing flower farming, localism, environmentalism and beauty together. It was a penny-drop moment. THAT’s what I wanted to do.
We bought our land in 2014. Most of the planting was done 8 years ago, and it’s amazing how the field has changed over that time. What was once a rather marshy pony paddock is now full of shady trees, shrubs and flowers, and is a haven for wildlife.
It’s the foliage and flowering shrubs that I really love. I am both a florist and a grower, and I think it’s the crazy shapes they throw that just make me happy!
LP: What does a typical day look like for you on the farm?
Well, it depends on whether it’s a harvesting, a maintenance or a floristry day. For wholesale harvesting, it’s pruning saw and secateurs in my back pockets, elastic bands in front pockets, and head-first into the shrubbery.
On a maintenance day I might be putting up support netting for my perennials or spraying the spindle trees (with my home-made organic recipe of diluted veg oil, bicarb. and eco-washing-up-liquid), for aphid rust.
On a floristry day I’ll be stripping stems into buckets of water in the barn, prepping urns with re-useable chicken wire instead of floral foam or making intricate flower crowns with tiny florets and leaves.
LP: What are the biggest challenges facing British growers at the moment?
There are a wide variety of flower farms in the UK, from tiny gardens to acres of polytunnels. Some of the larger growers exclusively supply supermarkets or the export market, so florists and customers who want to buy sustainably farmed British flowers & foliage need to find and work with local, individual growers. This is rewarding, but logistically complicated.
A team of us are working on a pilot project to bring flower growers and florists together on an on-line sales platform, making it easier for growers to find routes to market and for florists to buy British. Look out for more about the ‘Open Flower Network’ in the next year or two.
The challenges facing British growers are various, including economies of scale, lost knowledge, a historical lack of joined-up thinking, and a lack of interest and support for the British flower industry from the UK government, resulting in 76% of all flowers bought in the UK this year coming from overseas. It would be a very helpful first step if there were government incentives, just as there are within other industries, for British florists to use British flowers.
British growers have been competing on an uneven playing field since the end of the second world war when Holland subsidised the cost of heating fuel for their greenhouses, giving the Dutch growers the edge on the international market. This in turn gave rise to Aalsmeer - the vast, international flower trading auction in Holland.
Over the last seventy years or so international buying habits have been formed and a lot of knowledge has been lost on how to cut, condition and use garden flowers, foliage and flowering shrubs. However, with the climate crisis comes the challenge to re-focus on people and planet. Worker conditions in equatorial flower farms are critically under-regulated, as are the use of chemicals.
There is a need to re-educate people that British flowers are the same price as imported flowers (post Brexit), and many varieties can last just as long. They are varied, textured, fresh, beautifully scented (they haven’t had their scent bred out for longevity), and have their own natural shape and movement which, as every creative florist knows, is a gift.
Many of us are trying to re-discover and share the knowledge of what time of year is best to cut UK grown flowers and foliage, so that the next generation of florists can make use of our native treasures.
Key players within the British flower industry are now beginning to collaborate too. A recent study commissioned by Coventry University into Building Collaboration in the UK Floriculture Sector found that the future viability of the sector is at risk if the issue of sustainability is not urgently addressed, together. One distributor commented ‘how do you balance carbon and livelihoods? … it’s awful that those two become competitors’. It is only by collaborating together that we can solve these conundrums.
LP: How can flower-lovers and florists in Dorset (and beyond) support the British-grown flower/foliage industry?
You can look for British flower growers in your area by visiting the ‘Flowers from the Farm’ website and clicking on the map.
Insta lovers can follow #britishflowers and #flowersfromthefarm as well as #britishflowersweek. Once you start looking, the beauty of what people are creating with British flowers is breathtaking!
You can ask for British flowers at your local florist shop – let’s hear it for Little Perth – or if you’re celebrating a special event you could look for florists who specialise in British.
The scent, freshness, texture and style will be unrivalled!
LP: What does this summer and beyond have in store for Spindle Flowers?
From a business point of view I am always trialling new things and my plant library continues to grow as I delve deeper into learning about what looks amazing, lasts well, and is gorgeous to work with. I love building relationships with my florists, and bringing them gorgeous stems to work with, like a keen puppy with a stick!
I am busy on another project with UK farmers, exploring the use of agro-forestry systems to farm foliage.
Later this year I’ll be running courses in both floristry and foliage farming over at our gorgeous flower barn in West Dorset, as well as in the New Forest, and North Wales.
I will keep working at sharing my love of British foliage and being part of the movement for change towards more sustainable practice in the British floristry industry.
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You can find out more about Spindle Flowers & Zanna’s story by visiting her website or following her on Instagram! While you’re there, definitely check out the #britishflowersweek hashtag to see what growers and florists across the country have been getting up to this week…
