‘Our motto is grown not flown’
Kimberly Fleming, 58, launched an organic flower farm in Berkshire in 2020. She lives with her husband and has grown-up children.
THE IDEA
As a child, I loved gardening and planting with my grandmother. That love led to me running my own flower shop in Chicago, before becoming the White House floral designer for the Obamas. The idea for my flower farm formed several years ago after moving to the UK. My husband and I were walking around his family’s organic farmland in Berkshire, when I saw these amazing wildflower meadows, and a light bulb was lit.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
Three years ago, I began to progress the idea seriously. I met with experts to seek advice and, in summer 2020, the timing finally seemed right. We ploughed a ‘test garden’ to see how things grew, and to assess pests. It was a huge success. So, that autumn, we broke ground on two acres of the farm.
I spent time sketching out what the field would look like, dividing it into quadrants with room for perennials, annuals, bulbs, a hedgerow and dahlias.
By late May 2021, we were still planting, cutting furiously and selling at the local farm shop, as well as to customers who’d found us by chance.
I was passionate from the start about the environmental positives of the farm – ‘grown not flown’ is our motto. Research has shown that a British-grown mixed bouquet produces around 10% of the carbon emissions of an equivalent imported bouquet, which to me is shocking. It’s so important for people to start thinking about where the flowers they buy come from.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT
We started selling to local florists around June 2021. But the breakthrough moment was when a London florist rang in August and ordered 1,800 dahlias and 500 other stems for a wedding – that was when I knew we’d really found our place.
STEEPEST LEARNING CURVE
Everything! I was a competent gardener before, as well as a florist, but farming is a whole other level. It was a challenge working on fertile, but extremely stony, soil.
WHERE I AM NOW
This year, we’re working on expanding the field, squeezing in 16 new beds. It took me a year of selling to realise that I primarily want to be a wholesale resource for British flowers. I’m a member of Flowers from the Farm – a not-for-profit membership association championing independent artisan growers of British cut flowers. We’ll keep our farm shop, but last year made me really focus on what I love about flower farming and where I can make the most impact.
‘I set up my flower field from scratch’
Eco-florist Natalie Boon, 39, launched her business, the Wild Folk Florist, in 2019. She grows and designs wild and seasonal chemical-free wedding flowers on her farm near Norwich. She lives with her husband and their two children, aged four and 10.
THE IDEA
In 2015, I began gardening to relax and manage the stress from my prior job as an education consultant. I realised I needed to totally rethink what I wanted to do with my life. I grew the flowers for my own wedding in the same year, as well as my sister’s. I loved the process of growing and designing the bouquets – the seed was planted, literally and figuratively!
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
I quit my job and kept the idea of becoming a flower grower alive while on maternity leave with my second child during 2017 and 2018. I spent time with a mentor, who told me I had a natural eye for flower design. I also focused on establishing a strong presence on social media, as well as getting a few customer weddings and wedding fairs under my belt.
In December 2019, I convinced my husband to move to a countryside house with land, and I threw everything into turning my idea into a reality. I made the hillside garden into 12 terraced platforms, invested in a polytunnel and a greenhouse, and taught myself about planting. I chose to specialise in wedding flowers, as people loved my eye for design. But I love the growing process too – there is nothing more amazing than walking around your garden and picking the flowers for one of your designs.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT
This was last Christmas, when I was asked by Holkham Hall – a stately home and estate in Norfolk – to design a sustainable Christmas display. I worked with their head gardener to select, cut and dry flowers, before decorating the huge
Victorian kitchen. The feedback was amazing. I said to my best friend that if my career ended then, I’d be happy because I’d made it.
STEEPEST LEARNING CURVE
Learning on the job, through trial and error. There have been many mistakes and tears. I taught myself everything about growing, setting up my flower field from scratch, so every learning curve has been steep.
WHERE I AM NOW
I’m now entering my third year and it looks set to be a turning point. I’m booked up with weddings until September. I try to be as eco as I can: I never use floral foam or floral tape; I use peat-free organic compost, delivered on a pallet; I use no chemicals or pesticides, and I make my own fertiliser. I have huge storage tanks, so I water the plants in the polytunnel with rainwater. It’s an ever-evolving process.