Celestina Robertson
The passionate grower, educator and author on how sustainability is the driving force that inspires her Norfolk-based cut-flower farm, Forever Green Flower Company
Cut flowers should celebrate the natural world, rather than be produced to its detriment. Seasonality is key and it’s the first step to sustainability, which is the focus of my flower farm and the courses I o er.
My mum grew up on the
12th floor of a tower block with no connection to nature. At school I was encouraged in an academic direction, yet I ended up running away from my history of art degree to join a group of organic growers with a local vegetable delivery box scheme. Their ethos of providing seasonal food for local people stuck with me and has been a huge influence on my flower farm.
I went back to college to learn garden design, met my husband and set up a landscape design business with him in London. Once we had children, we moved to Norfolk for a better quality of life, and in 2013 I chose to start a flower farm. I discovered Flowers from the Farm, an association aiming to unify a network of UK growers. I rented an acre of land and began trading the next spring.
Selling flowers is the loveliest job. Handing them over is a joyful act that makes the graft worthwhile. It is hard work though. At peak season, I’ll be on the field for 12-hour days. The biggest challenge is the reason I started a business rooted in sustainability: climate change. It’s causing the weather to be increasingly unpredictable. We don’t often get mid-season hail here, but last year we got it in late May. I don’t grow under cover, so it ruined all the plants coming into leaf or flower.
I’m hoping to expand and, in the meantime, I’ve developed consultation services and workshops centred around the business and planning aspects of sustainable flower farming. Having trained in garden design, I am no stranger to meticulous spreadsheets. A formal education in floriculture does not currently exist and many growers require guidance – this is where I help.
My book, Cut Flowers, had quite the turnaround, as I started writing it in March for a September deadline while navigating the busiest year on the farm! It explains how to grow cut flowers in your garden and champions sustainable, joyful growing. forevergreenflowerco.co.uk