Behind the bench: a very real view into the other side of life as a working Florist

Let me start with the simple fact that Floristry is a deeply misunderstood job.

Perhaps you're thinking, oh yeah I bet it's really tough playing with flowers all day, and of course you've seen thousands of social media posts showing you just how wonderful it all is, right?

And it is a truly beautiful job, for those with thick skins and spines of steel. For those who feel fulfilled by hard work. For those who understand giving effort in order to receive rewards.

A friend commented in conversation recently on the dichotomy of needing to be tough and resilient to work with beautiful, fragile things. We had a good laugh about it (thank you J) but it really is true - floristry as a job is not for the faint of heart. Yes, flowers are very pretty. Yes also, arranging them is such a good feeling. Again yes, they often smell fantastic. And yes, there are two sides to every coin.

This post is written particularly with those of you who want to be florists in mind. Not to put you off but to honestly inform you, especially if you feel it's an easy way to make money and way better than your current job. And most especially if you're having a fantasy that it will be relaxing and artistic. Let me reiterate at this point, it is a beautiful job and personally I wouldn't want to do anything else for a living (most of the time), however it is most definitely not all about stopping and smelling the roses.

Are you ready to hear the pain points of life as a florist? Here we go:

Florists rarely, if ever, sit down. That's right, it's a standing, lifting and carrying job, great for people who enjoy a physical aspect to their work.

Our days are pressurised. Yep. We are always working within time constraints, perfect for people who enjoy performing under pressure (hospitality and kitchen workers might relate)

We're expected to keep calm and carry on. Even on our worst day. We are creating a handmade product that conveys emotion on behalf of others and it's our job to do it as smoothly, compassionately and pleasantly as we can. Excellent for those who enjoy human interaction and doing for others.

It's rarely an exercise in artistry. This may be shocking to some but most of the time we are working to patterns and recipes and the times we get to play are, more often than not, in our own time. People who enjoy following patterns with an eye for accuracy have a huge potential to excel.

It's probably harder than you think. Firstly to learn, understand and get good at it takes education, practice and perseverance. Trends and techniques constantly evolve and new flower species emerge frequently, which means we have to keep up. If you enjoy a life of learning, you might just love being a florist.

To summarise, florists work under pressure, at speed, on our feet, lifting weights and keep on smiling to please people throughout the day. We nod and smile while grimacing inside while people tell us how lucky we are to have such a pretty job, knowing that luck had nothing to do with it, only years of training and hard work have got us where we are. And no matter how far up the chain we go, dirty work will always be part of our job.

To be a successful Florist is to earn your stripes. There are no cheat codes. There are tough times along with triumphs, laughter, sweat and at times there will be tears. We work with a perishable product, our sales are impacted by weather and we put our own needs aside to make others happy. As a balance we get to work with beautiful flowers, spending our time with likeminded people; strong, resilient types who we can learn a lot from and share our successes and failures with. It is incredibly rewarding and such a beautiful job because of the amount of ourselves we put into it, not in spite of it.

These might seem like controversial points to put out there from a person whose business it is to educate florists but it is deeply important to me that we are training people who are coming in with their eyes wide open, ready to embrace the hardworking aspect of their new career as much as the beauty of it. We would rather be a part of your success than lead you up the garden path - ahem - so to speak.

As always, feel free to get in touch with me if you'd like to ask any questions.

And if you'd like to do flowers for fun and relaxation, do come to one of our casual workshops where we work without pressure and simply enjoy the process of being with and arranging flowers. It's blissful.

Take care for now,

Emma

How kindness, compassion and understanding can play a part in Sustainable Floristry

Let's be honest, we live in a world that has become so accustomed to a consumer-based lifestyle that it is extremely difficult to live a completely eco-friendly life. Our existence as humans leaves a mark on the Earth no matter how lightly we try to tread.

Not to be discouraging though - it's easy enough to make small changes in how we do things and collectively this can add up to significant change. I do believe that most individuals care about the environment and this can be to different degrees and our actions can be expressed in different ways.

In recent years we have begun to look more closely at florists and how we can reduce our impact on the environment. This is a great thing that I'm personally invested in and am happy to support the growth of knowledge surrounding this subject.

What I'm not enjoying though is seeing people shamed, remarked upon and publicly addressed for not being perfect in their practice. Unfortunately it seems to be becoming a common habit for some to elevate themselves by showing others up for not stepping up at a rate that is agreeable to the finger-pointer. I am curious also about the habits of these people in how sustainable their own practice would look if their backstage area was explored.

Noticing this has prompted me to write about realistic and manageable sustainability in floristry, with the hope of prompting some thought and understanding as to why not everyone is immediately changing over to eco friendly techniques in an immediate sense. Let's talk about this.

While it's not so difficult for a new flower business to begin with sustainability in mind (within the limitations of knowledge, education and products available to them), perhaps we can take a moment to consider long-established flower businesses and the real difficulties they may face in changing over to more sustainable systems. Over the last couple of years I have had many chats with fellow florists and suppliers alike and the prevailing feeling seems to be that most of us would genuinely like to operate more sustainably, however there are many humps to get over.

For instance:

Most florists, in reality, are small businesses with bills and staff to pay who must consider what is economically viable for them in order to stay afloat.

An established floral business may have a substantial back stock of things like floral foam, polystyrene, polypropylene wraps, plastic containers, poly ribbons and so on. These are all items that were used very commonly until recently. To dump these is not advisable and on a financial note, replacing them with eco friendly options would incur very high expenses that the business may simply not be able to support.

To go a step further back in the supply chain; for our fresh stock and sundries suppliers to make the change it's the same deal only on a much larger scale, with costs potentially in the millions and tonnes of plastic that would need disposing.

Also, there are many products that florists use that simply do not yet have an equal or affordable eco friendly substitute.

Now, if we look honestly at our own personal lives I doubt any one of us is environmentally perfect, from the clothes we wear to the wrapped food we buy and consume along with a plethora of other factors. We're all learning together to navigate through change, gaining new information and adjusting incrementally along the way.

In being kind, compassionate and supportive towards each other we are stronger and more able to make necessary changes together. I can't think of an instance where dividing and criticising without providing help or support has created positive change on a global scale.

So, what can we do now?

Well, as we know, small changes can add up to big differences.

As florists:

We can encourage our customers to take flowers without floral foam, reduce our use of plastics bit by bit and buy locally grown product whenever possible. These small things are a great start.

We can have understanding and empathy for each other knowing that changes may be incremental while we play the long game of waste reduction.

We can work together in sharing knowledge and information, withholding judgement of others while understanding that each and every one of us is doing our best to get by.

As consumers:

We can kindly request plastic, foam free and local flowers with empathy and understanding for small business owners who are doing their best in challenging times.

To sum it all up; humanity applies to all of us.

For all our flaws we are part of this world together, communities are stronger together and the role we play in environmental preservation is not the sole responsibility of any one of us but something we can work on together as a whole. As a community of flower lovers and florist alike our potential for change is great, if we can do it together.

To our fellow florists: we see you and appreciate the hard work you put in every day, often for love over money to create magic and beauty that helps others to convey emotion. You are doing a great job.

musings of a nature addict

Today I've been out gardening in the intermittent rain - it might sound mad, I know but it was all light, squally showers rather than pouring and I'd already begun a pre-emptive spring clean of the cupboards indoors so my 'doing' energy was up.

Now sitting back in the sun's rays that are peeping through the clouds with a lovely brew of tea, I've had time to think about why gardening feels so good; like housekeeping for the soul it blows out the internal cobwebs, works the body and calms the mind.

For me, from that first act of digging in the earth, pulling out weeds and turning over the rich, life-giving soil, gardening is therapeutic. It gets the blood running, extraneous thoughts fall aside and are quieted. I'm inspired to give attentive care to the patch I'm working on. This time of year I like to cut back any lingering dead wood, pull out invasive grasses and weeds that have crept among the other plants while I wasn't looking. I gently condition the soil with trace elements and fish emulsion and even sprinkle a few generous handfuls of cheeky seeds in preparation for the coming spring. It's cheering, knowing all that lovely life is snuggled under the soil ready to sprout up and embrace the sun given the first opportunity.

It's easy to consider the rewards of gardening as a long-game kind of outcome but let's not kid ourselves, many of them come immediately - they may not be showy like beautiful blooms or delicious fruits but they are there. The ruffled look and smell of freshly turned earth is reminiscent of being in the fresh air of the countryside. Wondering what the tiny emerging seedlings will become when you've forgotten what you've sowed where. Knowing you've enriched it in preparation for your plants to feed well and grow strong is an act of dedicated care. Perhaps next time you're in the garden you might take a moment to sit back and look over your handiwork, acknowledging that the effort and care you've put in, how it looks noticeably fresh and fertile, knowing that your garden will be even more lovely come growth, flowering and fruiting time.

Like a lot of things in life, the way we view our garden depends on the perspective we choose to view it from. Where some may see bare earth as just dirt and a lack of anything nice, others may look at it as something exciting of great potential; knowing that time, a little care and attention can bring from that patch of dirt the greatest rewards. It's quite amazing really that so many of us can spend so much of our time chasing an elusive feeling of harmonious satisfaction or let's say a quiet mind without all that stress noise going on. We might seek material pleasures to attain that feeling, hoping that if we work enough we might perhaps be able to afford the things that will gift us that peace of mind.

But it's all there already, really, if we open up to it, isn't it? Whether it's gazing out at a garden, going for a crisp autumn walk in the misty hills, noticing a fabulous sunset or moon or stars, hearing birdsong, arranging flowers, walking your dog, being at the beach, cloud gazing - it doesn't matter so much what the activity is, more the act of observing quietly and deeply, letting all of the wonder and the beauty of the world in. Choosing to embrace and absorb rather than brushing it aside in favour of being too busy, stressed or preoccupied in (ironically) chasing the dream of peacefulness that has been there, all around us us all along.

We need never feel guilty for stopping to enjoy the rich world around us, knowing we are part of the magic of the whole. It's so easy to forget with bills to pay, jobs to hold down, children to raise, whatever plethora of responsibilities we hold as our own. But what a shame, what an absolute waste of sheer wonder and beauty if we don't make a conscious effort to stop, look, engage, breathe it in, enjoy it now and then, - or every day - looking for all the good that is contained in the complexity of the natural world around us. It's not a waste of time and it's not even self-indulgent. I'd go so far as to say that it is imperative to keeping our peace of mind intact and accessible to us whenever we need it.