Flowers from the Farm win gold at Chelsea Flower Show debut

Linda Clark is heading to Chelsea Flower Show and her flowers will form part of the display produced by members of Flowers from the Farm who are making their debut at Chelsea this year in the Great Pavilion.

This year sees Flowers from the Farm (FFTF), a network of small independent flower growers, making their debut at the show and Linda Clark from The Spotted Dog Flower Co at Blyton is among them.

All together there were 10 growers from across the East Midlands who headed to the flower show on Friday, May 18.

Linda said: “It is the first time Flowers from the Farm has ever attended Chelsea but we have been successful all over the country at other RHS shows and our local members have a display at The Lincolnshire Show each year.

“It’s been confirmed and I am excited beyond words as we won a gold in the Great Pavilion Awards. The passion, grit, perseverance and sheer determination of growers like me has made it happen.

“We made those flowers grow in spite of everything the weather threw at us.

“I am so proud to have been a small part of such an incredible event and even more delighted that the stand was built with the environment in mind and no floral foam.

“All the flowers were grown in fields around Britain including Blyton.

“This year has been a testing one for growing flowers, we had the Beast from the East and snow only eight weeks ago. In fact we didn’t know we were going to Chelsea at all until December so all the spring flowers we are using were already in the ground growing.

“The whole experience has been a real rollercoaster of worry about whether the plants would grow, too quickly, too slowly or not at all, but that has now given way to sheer excitement and I can’t wait for the next events in our flower growing journey.

“RHS Chatsworth follows next month and our own Lincolnshire Show where we will have a stand with the East Midlands growers.

“Flowers from the Farm was founded by Gill Hodgson in 2011 in East Yorkshire and now has more than 500 members nationwide, with 50 growers in the East Midlands. Most members are sole traders running small or micro businesses, such as farmers, smallholders and gardeners, who are using their knowledge of horticulture and floristry to grow and present a different range of flowers from those available in the supermarkets and the wholesale markets.”