Maker/Florist Collaborations
Eight Guild makers along with the most sustainable local florists and flower growers have been inspired to create collaborative displays to mark the Flower Festival held at Rodmarton Manor in 1972.
Flowers and foliage are combined with basketry, ceramics, jewellery and textiles in a unique way for the 2025 festival.
Each collaboration celebrates the skills and creativity of the makers and florists. It showcases local and regional florists who practice sustainability at every stage of the process, a shared ethos of the Gloucestershire Guild.
Beth Bruce-Gardner of Honeymoon Fern
Beth Bruce-Gardner, owner of Gloucestershire based Honeymoon Fern, provides sustainable wedding and event flowers along with thoughtful funeral arrangements and seasonal bouquets for local delivery. Flowers are garden-grown or from other local growers between April and October, whilst out of season, they are still British but sourced from slightly further afield, supplemented by dried material along with whatever the winter garden might offer.
Beth is proud to be an ambassador of Sustainable Church Flowers and gives demonstrations and workshops to church and community groups who are interested in reducing the environmental impact of their floral arrangements.
With ethics and sustainability at the heart of the business, flowers from Honeymoon Fern are a heart-felt celebration of nature.
Emma Thistlethwaite of Thistle by Nature
Thistle by Nature is a UK floral design studio founded by Emma Thistlethwaite.
Honing in on 10 years of working with flowers, Emma sees Thistle by Nature as treading between a personal art practice & design offerings for ceremony, set & styling.
Emma works often with themes of circularity & seasonality and is inspired by stories rooted in the landscape & symbolism in the natural world.
Thistle by Nature aims to be a place where nature & concept-led design meet, nurturing what grows between flower arranging and allowing the flowers to arrange us.
Tess of Iris and Wilf
I am Tess, I run our family business with the help of my husband Matt and our two children Iris & Wilf. We grow and sell fresh seasonal flowers in Fairford Gloucestershire, selecting varieties for their vibrancy, beautiful scent and individuality.
It all started with Dahlias, but we now grow a huge variety of flowers to give our floristry a natural ‘English country garden’ look.
Growing with the seasons means each week in the flower field is different.
We are always adding more perennials to the flower field, as they are a more permanent and sustainable way of growing flowers. Perennials are also more adept to cope with the effects of climate change.
Our season runs from April to October, but that isn’t the end of the story …
through the autumn and winter we work with dried flowers and potted plants.
Kate of Fox Lane Flowers
I am a flower farmer and florist based on the outskirts of Stroud. I cultivate a vast array of seasonal cut flowers on half an acre at Oakbrook Community Farm, where I practice biodynamic farming. I have a beautiful flower studio on site where I create floral arrangements and hold workshops.
My journey began with a background in art, which transitioned to studying organic horticulture through the Soil Associations. It was my love for food, outdoors and sustainable practices that steered me towards this path. Combining my artistic flare, utter obsession with flowers and my commitment to organic and sustainable growing practices, whilst reducing carbon footprint of flowers has led me to be the proud owner of Fox Lane Flowers.
