Lessons of a Flower Farmer - with Lois and Anna Brown

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Enjoy some tea, cake, and garden chat in this informal and sociable class with Lois of Little Garden and Anna of Browns Flowers. Each speaking from either-end of the flower farming spectrum, Lois and Anna will cover their biggest highs and lows in the garden, sharing tips, tricks, ideas, and casual discussion about their experience of growing.

Both Lois and Anna are self taught 'get-on-with-it' gardeners, and share many similarities in their energetic approach, but have just as many differences in the scales they work. Anna runs a (very full) 1 acre flower field providing cut flowers for florists from April-October with her small team and family. Working alongside her main colleague Phil - who humbly holds a 30 year career working with plants - Anna's garden approach is often influenced by fairly old-school practices combined with a lot of tried-and-tested experience of running her field for 6 years.

Lois' experience is more paralleled to an allotment-scale, growing mainly in her mums garden in Gaydon (which you may mooch about during the class). Primarily working as a florist, Lois' focus over the years has been squeezing in a lot with her limited time! Growing a wide variety of low-maintenance plants in smaller quantities, whilst trying to implement no-dig principles into a flower patch which also serves as an ornamental garden.

£35 includes hot drinks, cakes, and free roam of the gardens. Suitable for anyone with an interest in plants and gardens. The focus of discussion will start with our flower-farming experience, but then spread into all aspects of gardening with lots of questions encouraged from all attendees.