Belgravia In Bloom Floral Tribute to the NHS
May 19th to May 23rd would have been the week of RHS Chelsea Flower Show along with fabulous floral displays adorning the streets of London particularly in Chelsea and Belgravia. Neill Strain has been creating extravaganza floral displays for Chelsea In Bloom and Belgravia In Bloom since he opened his West Halkin Street boutique in 2011 and, unexpectedly, this year is no exception. While the world is in lockdown and businesses are closed, Neill decided to brighten up Belgravia with a lavish display dedicated to the NHS.
May 19th to May 23rd would have been the week of RHS Chelsea Flower Show along with fabulous floral displays adorning the streets of London particularly in Chelsea and Belgravia. Neill has been creating floral extravaganzas for Chelsea In Bloom and Belgravia In Bloom since he opened his West Halkin Street boutique in 2011 and despite current circumstances this year is no exception. While the world is in lockdown and businesses are closed, Neill decided to brighten up Belgravia with a lavish display dedicated to the NHS.
Belgravia In Bloom is one of the major highlights of the year in our world of flowers and I, along with many others, was devastated that this year the unexpected lockdown resulted in the cancellation of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and all the floral lavishness it entails including Belgravia and Chelsea in Bloom. So while the streets of Belgravia appeared in stillness with an absence of people and retailers, it suddenly occurred to me that we should ‘carry on’ as the British slogan states and bring Belgravia In Bloom back to life as a tribute to the heroic work of the NHS and the frontline workers.
My inspiration for the design in these most extraordinary times was one of hope, joy and gratefulness… Hope that this will soon be over, that everyone can return to “normality,” that we can re-open our Belgravia boutique and continue to provide our magnificent flowers to our clients; joy, because there is little greater joy than that of nature and beautiful flowers; and gratefulness to all those NHS heroes and the frontline workers who have worked incessantly these past months helping so many to recover from the virus.
What could picture better these three inspirations than a rainbow, the symbol of hope and promise of better times ahead.
So we created a rainbow of seven colours with Roses, Chrysanthemums, Peonies, Sweet Peas and other seasonal blooms each colour delicately blending into the next, with the dedication to the NHS set in a cloud of white Roses and Chrysanthemums.
We are very excited to be able to re-open the Belgravia boutique on June 15th, according to the latest government announcement. We will have lots of fabulous summer flowers from our talented growers who are also really delighted at this news. As of June 15th we will re-introduce our daily delivery service across London and we’re preparing some special new items for our webshop. Due to the overwhelming success of our Florist’s Choice weekly bouquets delivered every Friday since mid-April, we will continue with a range of Florist’s Choice designs, including hand-tied bouquets, table arrangements, our signature Petite Coutures and stunning Phalaenopsis planters, available in small, medium, large, deluxe and super deluxe to meet everyone’s requirements. These designs change frequently according to what are the best and most beautiful flowers we can source.
Until June 15th, we continue to offer our weekly, Friday delivery of Florist’s Choice hand-tied bouquets, Phalaenopsis planters, fragrant candles and Peonies which, for a short time longer, are still in season. These extraordinary blooms, a favourite of many clients and my own, are pure joy. Sometimes scented, their big, full heads of tightly packed, fluffy petals come in exquisite feminine colours and are sublimely divine arranged in a glass vase.
Neill x