Courses 2024:
GROWING FOLIAGE FOR FLORISTRY
Excitingly, we have been awarded a grant from Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) to plant 1000 native trees & shrubs as a foliage growing trial. This means that the usual foliage growing courses will happen on-line on October 9th, 12th & 16th, with an additional option of two voluntary, hands-on tree planting days in early to mid January 2025 (dates tbc), including a visit to see the established plantings at Spindle.
Following a fascinating seminar at Spindle last November, I’m delighted to share this aerial photo of ‘milk stand’ at Wyld Meadow Farm owned by farming friends of ours just down the road, where we’ll be planting. It’s a long term project – it’ll be 5 yrs before they’re ready to harvest!
Last November’s seminar was in collaboration with the Soil Association, funded by FiPL and guided by the wonderful Rachel & Pia from Dorset National Landscapes / #AONB. We looked at how agroforestry works in practise on a farm scale and why foliage growing might be a good idea from an agroforestry perspective. Our focus was on questions of design, stakeholders, business models and partnerships, funding and constraints.
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If you would like to join in on the voluntary foliage planting days, there will also be an optional visit down to Spindle to look at the plantings there. We will look at some special, unusual favourites & how long you can expect to wait before they are ready to harvest. We will spend time walking around the site looking at the many different varieties of foliage being trialled, and discuss the details of when to cut what, whilst keeping an eye on how to also have good stems for future years.
With all this info – including a delicious lunch in return for the sweat of your brow – the voluntary planting days should be a rich source of information for anyone wishing to learn more about planting foliage. If you’re interested in learning more about establishing a foliage plantation, we are welcoming applications to join in with our volunteer planting days in early 2025. Please dm me for details.
THE ON-LINE COURSE
Costing £120 – this is great value for money. Over 2 hours, we will cover the kinds of foliage florists want, what plants to grow & how to grow them, maintenance and pruning, some propagating techniques, conditioning, pricing, presenting foliage for sale, weed control and ground cover planting as well as optimum spacing for harvesting.
I will be providing access to detailed pdfs of recommended plants and varieties, local s.w. plant suppliers, and optimum times for taking cuttings.
In the meantime if you need it, I also offer 90 minute Zoom consultations costing £110.
Testimonials:
‘I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and learning more about the foliage aspect of farming. Such an amazing location and beautiful barn. I came away really excited about the future of growing more foliage and feel your course covered many of the questions that I had. The handouts are proving most useful albeit my shopping list is getting longer!’ Marney, Chetterwood Flowers, September 2021
‘I just wanted to say thank you so much for Saturday’s foliage course. I had such a lovely morning and have learnt so much from you. It was great to meet you and see your amazing field… it was so helpful to see what you have done and how you’ve planted out your space. You were so generous with your knowledge and i’m very grateful for all the advice you gave and also for the plant lists, which add to my never ending shopping list!’ Helen, Home Hill Flowers, September 2021
SUMMER TABLE CENTRE ARRANGEMENTS:
August 4th – Sunday in North Wales at Werner Wood Craft Centre (see link below.)
Following the success of last year’s courses at Wernog Wood we’ll be offering another wonderful summer day of foraging in the beautiful surrounding woods of this magical place in North Wales, followed by making table centres and arrangements using beautiful locally grown British flowers & foliage.
CHRISTMAS WREATH and GARLAND MAKING:
December 7th – Saturday in North Wales at Wernog Wood Craft Centre.
For more information please see the courses page, or contact Zanna for more details.
December 14th – Saturday in the New Forest at Tiptoe Yoga