We’ve had a music bus, a beach bus, and it’s now time to
venture in to flowers with the help of Katie from Flower Show Presents.
This week we were kindly invited to accompany Katie on a
trip to Crosslands Flower Nursery, specialising in British alstroemeria, in
Barnham. Crosslands was established in 1957 and has seen 4 generations lovingly
care for the alstroemeria there. Despite other British flower nurseries
suffering, Crosslands has continued to bloom and has no intentions on stopping
anytime soon.
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| One of the many alstroemeria varieties grown at Crosslands |
We met Ben, or Alstroemeria Ben as he is fondly known, who
had a real passion for this beautiful flower. Showing us around the 4 acre
nursery and a variety of different alstroemeria, he explained everything to us
from why the PH of the soil was so crucial to going through just how the
flowers go from the greenhouses to local florists, including some in Brighton.
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| Ben and Katie colour checking alstroemerias |
Katie ensures the flowers she uses are British grown, and
after talking with Ben it is easy to see why it is so important. These flowers
are cared for from dawn until dusk and picked at the perfect moment to produce
large flowers that are guaranteed to stay in bloom, with stunning colours, for
weeks.
Ben loves to share his experiences with everyone and you can
often see him at a range of flower shows, as well as visiting local
universities, giving talks on why ‘British Flowers Rock’.
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| Enforcing the message that English Flowers are best |
I love Alstroemeria, they are my favourite flowers, pretty & delicate but last for ages, so, thanks for bringing those growers to my attention. I am a little confused though, I've probably missed something obvious, but what has this got to do with buses? I was expecting a flower decorated bus but all I can see is that you took a florist to a nursery. Does that mean if I took the bus to Brighton to go to Fabricworld it then becomes a 'fabric bus'?
ReplyDeleteHi Valerie. Thank you for your comment. Alstroemeria really are lovely flowers.
DeleteI am sorry if our post was a little confusing about what we are doing. We are going to be creating a large bus made from flowers. It will be situated in Lewes for an event on 1 September as part of the Artwave festival. This post was regarding us picking out the flowers we would like to use on the bus but we will be doing updates as we start building the bus. I hope this helps clear up any confusion.