The Importance of Flowers

During these challenging times, staying calm, being positive and enjoying simple pleasures at home are of the utmost importance. With government guidelines forcing shops to close, you can no longer pick up a bunch of flowers at your local flower shop, however, Neill brings you the joy and beauty of flowers with this blog post to uplift your spirits and help keep you feeling healthy during the quarantine.

I imagine most people like me are finding this extraordinary world crisis to be a time for reflection. Once we have decided not to let fear and gloom dominate our way of thinking, we begin to look for and to find some positive effects the pandemic is bringing to ourselves and to the world. In respect for all the people working so hard to help and save others and with my very deepest condolences to all those who have lost loved ones to the Coronavirus, this blog post is dedicated to everyone who is in home confinement and trying to make the most of this time to be positive and productive as I am. Let’s keep flowers in our lives!

Recent hotel launch Tulip bulb fields in Holland Keukenhof Gardens, Holland Easter floral arrangement

While the cut flower world is being hit hard at every level during the pandemic, from the growers to the florists and the exporters to the wholesalers, the joy and beauty of flowers in our lives has never been more vital. Flowers continue to grow as they always do, under the nurturing hands of our growers in Holland and around the world, in the gardens of those that today are particularly thankful to have a garden, in London’s Garden Squares such as the one I gaze at everyday from my window… Even if we don’t have our usual bouquet of fresh flowers on the coffee table, I believe it is important to keep flowers in our lives in any way we can for the uplifting feelings they give us. So today I would like to share a few stories from “inside” the flower world so you can immerse yourselves for a few minutes in the magnificence of nature.

Sonneveld Hydrangea Ichtus Phalaenopsis Orchids Vanda Orchids at Ansu Roses at VIP Roses Lily of the Valley growing Magnolia in Belgrave Square Cadogan Place Gardens Camelias in Hyde Park

Spring is undoubtedly the most florally prolific season of the year as trees and shrubs burst into flower overhanging the palpitating growth below that spreads not just in flower beds but across lawns, fields and forest floors. In Holland, where we source our beautiful flowers, the bulb fields are in full bloom with thousands of Daffodils, Hyacinths and Tulips of every colour of the rainbow creating luminous bands of colour that attract thousands of tourists. Every year these beautiful flowers are cut by machines and left to decompose as this is the customary method used to reinforce the strength of the bulbs. Since some of these growers are worried not to be able to sell their bulbs given present circumstances, they are picking the flowers and selling them on the roadsides. Note social distancing of 1.5 meters apart is practiced even during the picking!

Daffodils in the bulb fields Social distancing sign Bulb growers picking Tulips Tulips til the eye can see Tulip flowers decomposing The bulb fields Hyacinth bulb fields Colour bands of Hyacinths

virtually open! In fact, for the first time, we are able to “meet” the gardeners and hear their own thoughts, commentaries and preferences about the flowers and their work which is an unexpected treat.

virtual visit of the gardens, a rare opportunity to see them not swarming with people! Content will continue to be uploaded during the next two months as the gardens evolve.

Learn more.

virtual tour of the Lake Garden and explains why working at the Keukenhof is so special for him.

Keukenhof Gardens, Holland River of Lily Tulips Sculpture of a Tulip bulb Designs change every year

Andre’s experience is exactly the same as mine working with floral design. We love the preparations… finding inspirations, hours of planning, designing, sourcing the flowers, sourcing accessories too, the creation of the designs and the sometimes stressful installations when working to very tight deadlines… But the best moment, as Andre says, is the “showtime.” When we actually see how much joy, positive energy and deep emotions we are able to create in people just through our flowers at an event, a wedding, or the offering of one of our stunning bouquets.

Wedding at The Dorchester The Lanesborough bridal design Engage London 2019 Bridal staircase at One Belgravia Fresh floral dress (Saatchi Gallery) Orchids and Roses at One Belgravia Floral Peacocks at Annabel's Wedding table at the Ritz Hotel

Floral design is in my opinion the most emotive of all the arts, because it is a living, ethereal medium that we know will last for only a fleeting moment during our lives. As the Keukenhof team has never created exactly the same garden design in its 70 year history, I have never created exactly the same floral design, nor have I seen an identical reaction from a client. We are all unique, individual, creative and flowers bring us immense joy!

Fresh floral Yeoman (Engage 2019) Lalique launch party Spring design at The Lanesborough Flowers for a Belgravia home Wedding table (The Lanesborough) Dinner party in Belgravia Design for a recent hotel launch The Brompton Oratory

P.S. Make sure you click on all the links to see the Keukenhof Garden videos and follow them on social media.