My name is Maria Ryan and I run a small scale garden based flower farm and design studio in rural Co. Carlow. I’m in my fifth year of my flower farming journey so my days are filled with digging, planting, and a whole lot of dreaming and planning! I’ve always loved flowers, my childhood memories of making rose petal perfume and my mother’s May Altar blooms of tiny posies in mini vases and the beauty they would bring. My parents garden was made entirely from my mothers cuttings and self-seeders, a concept that seemed pretty magical as a child and still is! My dad on the other hand was more interested in the food and science side of things. When I eventually had my own small garden I added herbs, scented jasmine, flowering cherry blossom and my very first rose bush.

Having worked in both the worlds of finance and then crafts, designing and making children’s clothes followed by co-running a children’s store I did enjoy what I was doing but felt I was always looking for my real passion. Our second garden (the one where I grow now) here seem too wild and exposed to ever get to grips with, it seemed every plant would getting eaten by rabbits, killed by frost, the vegetable plugs I planted were eaten alive my cabbage butterflies and simply nothing would thrive. It was a far cry from my lovely sheltered semi-detached garden in Kildare. We had originally planted a vegetable patch back when we moved in, the carrots were successful but not much else. It seemed impossible! Then January 2018 a determination took over and I was going to have a vegetable and herb garden, there would be no going back. I had minimal funds, I bought wood for one raised bed after another and slowly made a vegetable patch. And I had success! Plenty of failures too but those wins were golden. The memory of my son picking spinach to eat in the morning before heading to school will always be treasured. And then I discovered flowers. I threw down a seeds from a “cutting flower” packet into a raised bed I’d made from granite stones I’d found in the hedgerows. What came up was a mix of cornflowers, calendula, zinnias and more, they were enough to have me hooked. And the next year the flowers started to take over from the vegetables!

Realising I needed to understand the soil and basics of growing I went and studied for a Certificate in Organic Horticulture with The Organic College An tIonad Glas, Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick and then studied Flower Farming online with Floret Farm. Since then I have learnt from so many great florists and growers and I think the world of growing is one where you never stop learning! That’s what’s so exciting about it all!

Once I was growing more and more flowers, I realised there was no going back, I had discovered my true passion and I couldn’t go back! I was able to combine my previous experience with flowers and Bell Meadow was born. The name Bell Meadow comes from the land on which I grow flowers. It has been in my husband’s family for generations and in the old Irish land maps, sections were given names, from the lawn to the bell, meadow and bogs. Like most small businesses, I do get help from my family especially my husband Andrew and my children.

I love to share my flowers through bouquets, weddings and also wholesale to other florists. My seed collection came about in 2020 when I couldn’t find the seeds I wanted to grow as we could no longer source them from the UK. I also love to share knowledge and encourage others to grow their own flowers, the absolute pleasure of being able to nurture seeds to full bloom can not be underestimated! It is absolutely food for your soul. The benefits of growing flowers for your own well-being and also for nature and the pollinators is incredible.

We have dates available for weddings and events for 2024 so please do get in touch if you would like to discuss.

Each week you can order blooms for local delivery from March 2024. Local delivery is in Carlow, Castledermot, Baltinglass areas. If you want to order something other than listed do email me on bellmeadowireland@gmail.com.