Suzi Hunt, owner of Flowers with a Twist, Cardiff
we can fi nd it for her, but the price rockets to at least £3 per stem.” Similarly, Eddie can source stunning, scented blue or white muscari all year round through his network of growers, but outside the European spring season, the price more than doubles. Dutch hyacinths too storm into springtime with their heady fragrances and rich colour palette of dark purple, cream, yellow, light, blue, dark blue, burgundy and dramatic shades of pink – synonymous with spring, yet available almost all year. Andy Noble of fl ower wholesaler Alagar notes
that seasons are changing all the time. “You never used to see scented paperwhites until well after Christmas, but nowadays they are already in the Flower Market in October.” Pussy willow is another line that fi rst appears in October, but it is one that regular Flower Market customer Suzi Hunt of Cardiff -based Flowers with a Twist resists until the New Year. Suzi makes her pilgrimage to the Flower
Market every month or so “for inspiration, to get ahead of the trends and to fi nd seasonal materials I just can’t fi nd anywhere else.” “Seasonality is hugely important,” says Suzi.
“It is one of the key diff erences between a fl orist and the off er from the supermarkets. A good fl orist understands and refl ects the seasons in their work. Our regular customers always like to see something diff erent. Plus the prices and quality of seasonal stock work in our favour.” Andy Noble sees tulips as the fl orist’s perennial
favourite. “We stock dozens of varieties from the simple single colours to double tulips, frilled tulips, lily-fl owered, viridifl ora and the exotic Parrot tulips, all in a massive range of colours. One of our bestsellers has to be the stunning white and green Parrot tulip.” Typically, English and Dutch tulips have a 30-40cm stem length, whilst Italian and French tulips boast an elegant 80-90 stem.
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F&wb Spring 2013 55
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