HOMEstead GROWN, South Park, Macclesfield (2025)

22/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 6 and I do hope you might feel inspired to…
- Grow something
- Visit a flower farm
- Choose British and locally grown flowers
- Share the joy that flowers bring!

I’m proud to be a member of the 1,000-strong trade association Flowers From The Farm which champions, supports and networks growers on all scales, the length and breadth of the UK.
Wherever you live, you can find your nearest seasonal flower farmer here: https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/find-flowers/

Every week can be a British flowers week 😊

21/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 5, and a little bit behind the scenes at HOMEstead GROWN HQ. Specifically, what lurks under the flower arranging?

Well if there's one thing you can be sure of, it won't be oasis / floral foam which contributes needlessly to the global problem of micro-plastic pollution as it crumbles and enters our soil, food chains and watercourses.

Of course when Oasis was the new wonder-product of the 1950s, we didn't know that it would never degrade and that beautiful arrangements would - ironically - be harming the planet.

Now that we know it, there's a choice. The fast-growing movement of sustainable floristry is championing back-to-natural mechanics to support flowers and foliage, like we always used to: moss, chicken wire, branches, flower 'frogs', and new, creative ways.

I give you...
1) My newest £8 vintage acquisition with the brilliant wire device cemented inside to hold flowers in position.
2) A few more vintage charity shop finds to arrange without floral foam - pop chicken wire inside the bigger vases.
3 , 4 & 5) A completely compostable wreath: a vine-stem base on which to bind moisture-retaining moss and British-grown seasonal flowers & foliage with twine. Gentle, 'green' funeral tribute ('farewell') flowers.
6) A natural, compostable, mineral product in compressed blocks called Agra-Wool, although the processes used to make it mean that it's still not completely eco-friendly. So I'm aiming to use it less.
7) Meadow boxes: Pack a box with jam jars, top the lot with chicken wire and let the flowers & foliage do the arranging for you.
8 & 9) The hugest of wedding pedestal arrangements is possible with all stems supported in chicken wire inside the container.
10) We made a structure in plaster in pots with cones tied at intervals to hold water and chicken wire: a 'broken' floral arch to stuff with billowing branches and blooms, no floral foam needed.

It takes more effort and thought, but I love every creative challenge and wouldn't do it any other way.
What do you think?

19/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 4, and you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Apart from the sheer sensory beauty of freshly picked flowers, there are so many ways in which seasonally grown British flowers are a fantastic choice. For starters...

- You're supporting a local business and the economy of your community.
- You're reducing the environmental impact of the global flower industry where 90% of flowers bought into the UK for sale are flown in from Africa, South America, Europe...
- You're helping to sustain the UK farming and horticulture industries, which are striving for increasingly sustainable practices.

At HOMEstead GROWN, we grow very intentionally alongside nature, which means taking the 'hits' from the nibbling and digging wildlife with whom we share the garden. But mostly, they're a delight.
It means never resorting to chemical treatments and returning to the earth what came from it wherever we can, to regenerate it.

And that sensory beauty I mentioned? Unbeatable scents, garden-to-vase freshness and longevity, and all from an endless variety of delicate and unusual blooms that just can't be bought on the high street.

Each British-grown stem tells the story of the seasons, of dedicated hands, and of a deep-rooted connection to the earth.

Photos 1-5:

19/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 3. What do I grow?
What I love! Each year, some new varieties, keeping one eye on the trends for new ideas.

Here are a few seasonal highlights:
1. Tulips. My TOP desert island favourites. Absolutely endless choices of shape and colour shading, March to pretty much May. The doubles open like peonies and last for ages in the vase. I'm not so much an orange or red person, but tulips are a different story.

2. Add some buttery scented narcissi and ranunculus - Persian buttercups - in swoon-worthy shades of flamingo, peach and apricot as well as pinks and white. Perfection as they unfold.

3. Early hellebores and snakeshead fritillary (not shown) ... I take the same photos of them every year, just can't stop myself. Great vase life. Exquisite signs that spring's on the way.

4. Wild foxgloves have their own beauty but have you seen the apricot, peach and the white cultivated varieties with deep purple, mottled throats?!

5. Alliums. 250 more this year! First, the bright drumsticks, but with a dozen more varieties, the cutting season spans two months and counting. Some are a bit bonkers like the HUMUNGOUS starbursts (Schubertii) but the white, almost black and the paler mauve ones (Christophii) are something else.

6. Anything lacy and frothy because it adds a delicate quality to any vase or bouquet: ammi, daucus (carrot flower), feverfew, and astrantia which are like little starry pincushions ...

7. The summer stars: peonies, Queen of Sweden rose with her straight, thornless stems, phacelia , stocks... all the scents and pastels.

8. Dahlias. A new bed of 150 additions this year and I. can't. wait. My favourites are always the perfectly formed pompoms .

9. Crysanthamums. Forget plastic-wrapped, garage forecourt sprays. Look out for lots more curvy, spidery beauties on my plot in shades of peach, apricot, gold, bronze this autumn.

10. And pansies, especially the diminutive violas. I press them continually to use in the winter. This stunning colouring is Antique Mulberry Shades.

People, I have only scratched the surface.

17/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 2... and a question I'm often asked is: Where do you grow your flowers for cutting?
The answer is - all over my garden! A dedicated growing plot of raised beds; the borders, wild areas and the grass verges where bulbs can 'naturalise'; in pots, veg crates and troughs; a mini wall-greenhouse and cold-frames, and my new game-changing 8m poly tunnel. Always room to squeeze in more or change the use of an area. Always experimenting to find the right spot for each crop or plant to thrive, and that proves quite a challenge given the amount of perimeter shade and the range of soils. I have as many fails as successes much of the time.
People also say: Your garden must look so colourful. But actually, I grow on a small scale compared to some and the minute something lovely makes an appearance, I'm out there with the snips!
I kid myself that I buy plants to make a beautiful herbaceous border to look at from the house but guess what - nowhere's off-limits when it comes to cutting the perfectly blooming stem for your bouquet!

Photos 1,2,3 & 10:
,

16/06/2025

So here we have it, ta daa 🎉 ... the annual British Flowers Week launches today!
You can follow along .flowers.week and with the many flower farmers and growers like me who will be joyfully filling social media with a celebration of everything that makes seasonal flowers so wonderful and important.

To kick off, here's a pic or two of me from last summer surrounded by one of the very favourite flowers that I grow - 'Annabelle' Hydrangea. We planted them en masse 12 years ago to make a fantastic impact all summer, as each head alone can be as big as a MELON! At the last count there were at least, oops, 35 plants... and right now there are literally hundreds of small limey green flower heads developing. Within the month, it'll be a frothy sight to behold.

They take me back to seven happy years living in Belgium where I first met Annabelle: Belgians typically have a love of stylish, calming, structural gardens planted simply with white roses & hydrangeas, lavender, topiary and smartly clipped espalier trees. I love a country garden riot of flowers but this look stole my heart too!

I'd love to know - what is your favourite flower, and why?!
Rachel x

Photo no. 4:

14/06/2025

That brief but special annual harvest time for gorgeous peonies - enjoying every bloomin’ minute of them and every bouquet made up this week where they are undoubtedly the divas!

09/06/2025

British Flowers Week is coming! 16th- 22nd June. With many new followers in recent months - why, thank you kindly - it seems like a good time for a little hello and introduction from me, Rachel. I'm now in my fifth year of growing beautiful, scented, seasonal flowers for cutting. I fell into it by chance and discovered a whole new, inspirational world of passionate British flower growers up and down the length of the country. I supply my flowers locally from my home workshop as bouquets, wreaths, and arrangements for weddings & events, workshops and farewell flowers: all are garden-grown without chemicals, in rhythm with nature, and a little on the wild and joyful side. Between April and October, no two flowering weeks are the same and everything is freshly picked and long-lasting - it can be in your vase from my garden in a matter of hours! That's my passion - the excitement of nurturing a stem from seed or bulb and being able to share the most beautiful of flowers with so many customers surprised by the variety, freshness, longevity in a vase; and pleased to know exactly where their flowers have come from - a truly local, independent business.
You can follow me on Facebook/instagram and read more on my website: https://www.byhomesteadgrown.com
Photo credit:

09/06/2025

NEW - Meadow box Workshops -
Arranging Flowers Sustainably

Tuesday 8th July
£45
10:30 - 12 noon
2:00 - 3:30 pm
7:00 - 8:30 pm
at The Silk Museum, Park Lane, Macclesfield.

Join me for a relaxing, summery workshop arranging the best seasonal flowers and foliage from my Macclesfield garden and growing plot.

You will be making a ‘meadow box’ - an arrangement which looks as though the flowers were still in their natural surroundings - the corner of a meadow or garden.

Learn about sustainable flower growing and arranging, with nature in mind.

Take away your creation complete with the 25cm long container to use time and time again.
All materials will be provided, and no experience at all is necessary.

There will of course be delicious home-made cake and drinks on offer, and all this in the calm atmosphere of the Silk Museum cafe area.

Limited places!
Book yours here:
https://www.byhomesteadgrown.com/workshops

05/06/2025

In case you missed my insta reel, here we have it: Nineteen happy Hens, Derbyshire spring sunshine, beautiful stone holiday cottages, flowing Prosecco: a recipe for creating the most gorgeous and individual wreaths with some of the many flowers, grasses and seed heads I've been sowing, growing, collecting and drying through the seasons. Some had never used a glue gun or done anything like this before and everyone was amazing, just got stuck in after my demo and needed hardly any help at all! You can see the fun and magic unfolding...
If you are local to me and interested in a creative, flowery activity for your party or event, do get in touch and we can make a plan.

18/05/2025

Wedding Season - hurrah! Now in full swing , this year's started in style with a special one because I've been growing flowers in the bride and groom's tartan colour palette ever since tulip and anemone bulbs were ordered and planted last autumn.
Of course, working in tune nature isn't ever a precise art and the growing season couldn't be more different from this time last year, so some of the intended blooms flowered after the event and some needed cold storage in the fridge for a fortnight beforehand to stall them - because are you even a florist if you don't have flowers instead of food inside your fridge...?
But when it came to it, what sheer happiness to harvest so many flowers of my own, and collect a big supplement of beautiful field-grown blooms from neighbouring , all in a stunning range of purples, bright pinks and white. A request for broccoli to feature in the florals? No problem, thanks to the purple sprouting broccoli on the allotment of neighbouring …Look closely at the buttonholes 😉.
As always, the arranging mechanics were planet-friendly too - not a crumb of floral foam 'oasis' (which is plastic-based and never goes away) in sight. It takes longer but I'm absolutely committed to that extra effort.
And never one to waste things, the surplus tulip petals are now drying beautifully, ready for the next purple wedding on my books ...
If you are planning your wedding with me a year in advance, what could be better than having locally grown seasonal flowers specially planted and sustainably grown for you or me to arrange for your big day!

HOMEstead GROWN

22/06/2025

21/06/2025

19/06/2025

19/06/2025

17/06/2025

16/06/2025

14/06/2025

09/06/2025

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05/06/2025

18/05/2025

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