Western Morning News (Saturday)
Florist vying for place in national finals
BODMIN florist Caroline Crabb is celebrating making it to the semi-final of the prestigious Florist of the Year competition, being held at RHS Garden Bridgewater in Manchester.
Caroline, who owns and runs Fleurtations florist in Bodmin, has been a florist for 28 years and holds both UK and US floristry qualifications. Having successfully competed in floristry events around the world, Caroline overcame strong competition in this year’s Florist of the Year heats, where she created a hand-tied bouquet, an arrangement and a body adornment under the theme ‘Inspired by Nature’.
She will now showcase her skills in the semi-final alongside nine other professional florists in a bid to make it to the final of Florist of the Year 2022. The overall winner of Florist of the Year will go on to represent Great Britain & Ireland at the Interflora World Cup in September 2023.
Caroline said of her decision to enter Florist of the Year: “I felt that
I needed to get back in the groove of competition designs. A few friends pushed me into entering to keep me challenging myself. The opportunities that being part of the floral world has given me is beyond anything I ever thought would happen when starting my floral journey in 1994. Being in the floral world has introduced me to so many different people, I have travelled to many countries and been blessed with making some very good friends. Without floristry I would never have met some of these people.”
Caroline will be in action at RHS Garden Bridgewater tomorrow, April 24. Alongside the other semi-finalists, Caroline will be creating a series of unique and inspiring floral designs within the theme ‘Growing Together.’ She will need to create three floral designs under strict competition conditions, including a Surprise Design that she won’t know the details of until the day.
The five semi-finalists who will go through to the final will be announced at RHS Garden Bridgewater.
For the first time ever, the Florist of the Year competition is open to all florists in the UK and Ireland, not just Interflora members. And in another first, the winner of Florist of the Year will represent the UK and Ireland at the Interflora World Cup in 2023, to be held in the UK for the first time in the competition’s history.
Interflora has been running and promoting floristry competitions since the early 1970s, helping to champion the art and technical skill of floristry. The Interflora Florist of the Year competition is sponsored by FleuraMetz, one of the largest florist wholesalers in the world.
RHS Garden Bridgewater is the horticultural charity’s newest garden and their first to be located in an urban area. The 154-acre garden in Salford, Greater Manchester, features cutting-edge design by RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winners.