Florists get clever over 'challenging' weather

Growing flowers for weddings has been a challenge this year, says one florist and grower

A florist who grows her own flowers says the hot weather this summer has been challenging for growers to meet demand for the wedding season.

Louisa Butcher, of Brunstead Blooms near Stalham, Norfolk, said the warmth had seen "everything just racing to seed".

She said some plants were stressed and not flowering for very long due to the heat, while others - especially over-wintered perennials - had seen "bumper crops" and developed good roots.

"Last year was tricky because on the East Coast it was very grey and quite chilly," she said. "So it's been a real mixed-bag, another farming challenge."

Flowers such as dahlias like heat, but like many plants this summer have needed additional watering

With timings essential for weddings, Ms Butcher said the county was lucky to have a network of "super growers".

"If there's something that I haven't got, but which I need, chances are I can ring someone else and they'll have it, so supply is not a problem - but making sure things are growing at the right time is a perennial challenge," she said.

'Seasonality'

Flowers for late summer weddings were more predictable with plants like dahlias, statice and cosmos being ready now.

"The most important thing is to understand seasonality, and understanding at this time of year it's tricky to have sweet peas anyway, but in this kind of year it's almost impossible," she said.

Ms Butcher said it was also more expensive to grow plants this year as they needed more water, as well as the staff to water the plants, which added to costs.

"This is a very, very dry part of the country anyway," she said. "It does end up being more expensive."

Ms Butcher said she was able to harvest about 25,000 litres of rainwater a year, "which in a year like this would still be classed as not enough, but it puts a real dent into having to pay for water".

Mulching the soil was also key to locking in moisture.

The UK has "almost certainly" had its hottest summer on record, according to provisional statistics from the Met Office.

This is in line with evidence that summers are getting hotter and drier because of climate change.

Cosmos appear in late summer but this year have needed more watering and mulching