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Backyard Blooms

@backyardbloomscumbria

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Flower grower + florist
Flowers by subscription • Bouquets • DIY flowers • Workshops • Events • Installations 🌿✨
📍Sedbergh, Cumbria, North West UK

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🎄CHILDREN’S mini workshop ~ get festive! Make your very own Christmas candle decoration. Open to children and adults too. (Children must be accompanied please).

£20pp ~ @threeharescafe in Sedbergh

SUNDAY 13th DECEMBER 2-3pm

Choose from a range of pretty bowls, lots of fresh foliage, colourful candles, berries and dried flowers.

You can add a pretty ribbon and use our Christmas stamps to create a little card on handmade paper. Perfect to tie to your bowl if it’s a gift 🎁

Lots of help and instruction available.

The workshop will take place at a table in the corner of the much loved Three Hares cafe. The cafe will be open so you can order something delicious while the creativity happens!

You MUST BOOK please, by DM or via my website - there’s an email form at the bottom of every page.

🎄FESTIVE FAMILY TIME ~ Come in and get creative!

#familytime #christmasworkshop #childrensactivities by @backyardbloomscumbria

The ‘heart’ in the big window at the Black Bull has dried beautifully (I think) and I add things as we go along. Dill, bronze fennel, marjoram, grasses, alliums of various sizes.

Is it summer or autumn, I’m not quite sure. Here at the Black Bull summer is not quite over, edging past perhaps. The dry and heat has brought things on everywhere and it’s been survival of the fittest plants-wise. Even in Cumbria.

Golden, bleached grasses make fantastic shapes and heather has been added to the dry stone wall. Great colours. Mirroring what’s outside. We always try to have something new for visitors to look at.

I notice that the heather is incredible this year and we’ve had just enough rain and sun to have the most delicious brambles in a long while 😋

It hasn’t been the easiest year for growing flowers - easier here than down south but still. I decided early on to roll with it and see what survived.

Like many here in our valley, Howgill, our water comes out of a tiny spring in the side of Winder, the fell above Sedbergh. We just have to learn to manage it and to that end watering the garden and cut flowers is OUT.

Managing soil, leaving lots of weeds as mulch, keeping things (all sorts) close-planted has been fairly effective. Anything in a raised bed, less good 😕
Patchy at best. Oh well.

The last couple of pics show the large wreath in the main entrance with added amaranthus, which has been a belter this year, clearly loving these conditions. A great start with @wildeflowerscumbria ‘s excellent plug plants ~ thank you Janet!

Other happy things this August:
*roses are having a great year
*rudbeckia hirta
*dahlias
*coreopsis
*asters
*heleniums
*marjoram, mint
*eryngiums
*yarrows
*many perennials have coped ok

Not so happy:
*Lavatera trimestris
*pansies - bit depressed about that
*cosmos
….. not hacking it at all!!

#augustflowers #littlegardenstories #seasonalflowers by @backyardbloomscumbria

MIDSUMMER 💚 ~ perhaps it feels a little later here in Cumbria. A giant hoop of things that grow in abundance in my garden and meadows. The taller ‘weeds’ now have strong stems and create structure underneath the froth. Vivid greens now, it will mellow as it dries.

*Lady’s Mantle
*Bladder campion
*Feverfew
*bindweed
*statuesque nipplewort
*many kinds of native grass

and others

When the hoop is dry, we can move it to a wall if we can find a space. Or maybe hang it laterally in the Three Hares…. just some thoughts!

The hoop hangs here with the three suspended branches washed white and clean by a local river. They live in this window and remind us in shape of the Howgill Fells. by @backyardbloomscumbria

SPRING LEAPING HARE WORKSHOP ~
Yes, it’s a bit of a diversion for me but I hope the first of many collaborations. I found this leaping hare design in Suffolk ~ I think it’s really special and rather like a cave painting!

The hugely knowledgeable Trea Udo taught this group how to make our leaping hare, bringing her own special touch to the design. Trea is an expert traditional basket maker from Dent. I was her very inexpert helper!

She talked about the different kinds and gorgeous colours of willow and how she prepares them. She demonstrated the different techniques required for working with what to many was a new material. There’s a lot involved. It was an incredibly popular workshop and required concentration - frankly everyone needed fuelling with delicious cake so thank you @theblackbullsedbergh.

Trea and I plan to work together on other projects - we have lots in mind, so watch this space. Trea lives an enviable social media free life, so if you want to get in touch with her please DM me and I’ll pass on her details.

🌾🌾🌾 by @backyardbloomscumbria

At Backyard Blooms you can buy 100% British-grown flowers. I grow everything on our flower farm here in Cumbria - without pesticides, chemicals or synthetic fertilisers.

As well as growing a huge range of flowers throughout the season, all suited to the climate here, my approach is to build a diverse habitat for wildlife and pollinators. I grow all sorts of other crops in between my flowers and, yes, weeds - it all helps to nurture the soil and makes the land more climate resilient.

My beautiful seasonal bunches are bursting with colour ~ well-known favourites and the quirky or unusual. Always generous and full, picked just the day before they reach you, my flowers are the freshest possible.

You can buy flowers via
💐 subscription, or
💐 one-off bunches of any size, or
🪣 buckets to create your own wedding flowers or event through my website. Link in bio.

📮There’s a contact form at the bottom of every page.

My flower season starts around the corner in mid-April with phenomenal tulips 🌷💥 by @backyardbloomscumbria

WORKSHOPS 💚🌿🌸 Without doubt one of the great perks of this job ~ making flowery things with groups of friends and their families. It’s great fun, very relaxing and the results always stunning.

I run bespoke workshops here in our barn and in my farmhouse kitchen. I can have large groups - up to 18 of you - in the barn, and a little fewer in the kitchen!

We make flower crowns or hand-tied bouquets or learn how to make your own wedding or event flowers. All sorts of creativity. Absolutely no prior experience is needed.

The barn is very beautiful, we have swallows nesting in the beams, stone flagged floor, it’s unconverted, and as it always has been, but full of flowers.

The kitchen is cosy and light and perfect for small gatherings. And nearer the cake.

After the workshops we repair to the kitchen for a delicious homemade tea, and sit in the shade in the garden. The views across the valley are amazing. You are of course very welcome to wander through the garden at will.

I am fairly full for the first half of this year - April to June is a popular time to get married! However, from July to September I have space. If this sounds like fun and something you would like to find out more about, have a look at these photos or my website, or message me.

💚🌿🌸💚🌿🌸💚🌿🌸💚

#creativewithflowers #thingstodoincumbria #visitsedbergh #flowersandotherstories #flowerworkshop by @backyardbloomscumbria

🌿WHEN ARE THEY COMING?

The unexpected nature of what will grow and be abundant every season is pretty thrilling! I know the garden will be full of glorious flowers and surprises. Yes, it’s very rainy here in Cumbria, but it’s all going on under the surface. I can sense it, as the days grow longer and birds chirpier.

Around early April I will be selling flowers again. One can’t be certain ~ but I’m happy to wait. I can choose the very best from the garden, unique and joyful plants to pick to make up a bouquet that will give lasting interest: scent, texture, shapes, depth of colour, ultimate freshness.
No air miles, plants chosen to work well at this height and in this corner of beautiful Cumbria.

These photos show a range of bouquets and jars of different sizes.

PRICES?

My special bouquets start at £25.00. A large ‘pickle’ jar is £30. Jam jars £18.
But if you want to order a regular bunch of flowers it’s a really great deal 🌿 A simply wrapped but still generous bunch can be had starting at £15 per month for 6 months.

Have a look at my website if you are curious, and send me a message if you have any questions or would like to order. Anything’s possible!

💚🌿💚🌿💚🌿💚

#ayearinflowers #gardengathered #seasonalfloweralliance #flowersforthehome #sedbergh by @backyardbloomscumbria

MOTHER’s DAY SPRING BOWL GARDENS WORKSHOP 🌷Come and a make a bowl of bulbs for Mother’s Day ~ a magical, mossy, mini garden of bulbs, ferns, ivy and wild strawberries and little violas too.

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SATURDAY 14th MARCH 10-12am
in the Stables at the Black Bull Hotel, Sedbergh

£60 per person ~ includes tea, coffee and cake.

Please book via my website, or Pepy 07763 201489, or @theblackbullsedbergh. (Last date to book: Weds 4th March).

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You will have a range of hand-picked planters – antique, modern, quirky and interesting – to choose from and to fill. A choice of bulbs – muscari, narcissi, iris, little violas too. All materials are provided.
To support the bulbs as they grow and bloom we will use birch twigs with their charming catkins. Treated well, these will sprout with little vivid green leaves.
To note – the bulbs will not be flowering for Mother’s Day but will shoot and bloom over the coming weeks. The violas, ferns and strawberry plants provide interest in the meantime.
It’s a wonderful gift which will last for 3-4 weeks and you can re-use your planter again and again! Care – the bulb garden bowl will need watering a little only every 3 days-ish. The moss will enjoy a spray.

The Stables is a bright, welcoming space - perfect for creating. The Spring Bowl makes a perfect gift for Mother’s Day or a fun activity to do to together. I look forward to seeing you there! 🪴

#mothersday #springbulbs #workshop #grownnotflown #sedbergh by @backyardbloomscumbria

SEED SOWING WORKSHOP 🌱
Sowing your own seeds is one of the most fun, least expensive and fast ways to fill your garden and the vases in your home with flowers that YOU chose, you planted and you nurtured. It’s exhilarating that Spring is ahead and we can get going!

We are running a SEED SOWING WORKSHOP at the Barn @theblackbullsedbergh in Sedbergh to show you how. We will go step-by-step, learn about the supplies you need, look at a range of different seeds and get planting them!
🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

SATURDAY 28th FEBRUARY ~ 10am to 1pm

Refreshments will include tea+coffee+cake midway through the morning, and delicious soup and Nina’s scrumptious bread for lunch afterwards.

£65.00 per person ~ to book, please contact Pepy via the Backyard Blooms website or ☎️07763 201489. (Last possible chance to book: Sat 14th Feb.)

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

THE MORNING:
PART 1 - ‘Seed Sowing’: Background essentials, equipment and sowing your seed selection.
PART 2 - ‘Pricking Out’: As your seedlings germinate and begin to grow they will soon need more space to develop. ‘Pricking out’ and ‘Potting on’ are two essential techniques that help young plants thrive. You will learn how to recognise when to do this, the careful process of transplanting and how to care for them.

I have ‘pre-sown’ some seeds for you to prick out into your own pots to take home.

You will be given all necessary equipment, soil, seeds, trays, labels, pencils, and for the second part of the morning a variety of seedlings and pots to plant them in - for example, statice, strawflowers, cornflowers, annual phlox, and lots of others!
Full instruction, and a selection of books and resources to browse.

The Barn is a light, warm and inviting space and perfect for our workshop.

We really look forward to seeing you there! 🌱🪴 by @backyardbloomscumbria

TULIPS! 🌷 MOOD BOOSTERS! 🌷 It’s an explosion of colour in a January world. I have a small number of special TULIP ONLY subscriptions available.

Fantastic colours, peony or lily shaped, elegant or blousy, frilly or fringed, and other totally stunning varieties. Not available in the shops. Don’t miss out!

TWO or THREE-week subscribers will receive 12-14 tulips wrapped simply in brown kraft paper.

£32 for a 2 week subscription.
£45 for a 3 week subscription

DELIVERY - free within Sedbergh.

The tulips arrive mid-April but the exact date depends on the season and will be confirmed nearer the time. by @backyardbloomscumbria

CHRISTMAS DECOS! ✨ Thank you so much to everyone who let me loose on the decoration of their home. I love doing it ❤️ and hope it gives you as much pleasure as it gives me.

Everything grown and dried here, or from not very far away at all.

Happy Christmas all! 🎄🥳

#flowerinstallation #winterflowers #naturalchristmasdecor #slowfloralstyle #flowersandotherstories by @backyardbloomscumbria

CHRISTMAS @theblackbullsedbergh and @tsuchirestaurant ~ every stem handpicked and grown in my cutting garden or surrounding fields. It’s a memory of summer brought to life.
The Star of Bethlehem is hundreds of dried meadow buttercups (ranunculus acris) seen all over Dales’ fields and grasslands, with snow flakes of pressed ammi majus, puff balls of clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie’, whisps of rosebay willowherb, golden stipa gigantea heads, stars of buttercups, good old translucent honesty and the best lichen covered larch I’ve ever found. Strands of copper birds a nod to Sedbergh’s beautiful swifts now wintering in Africa.

#winterflowers #flowersandotherstories #flowerinstallation #slowfloralstyle by @backyardbloomscumbria