Flower Farmers of Ireland Workshop at Mountain View Kilkenny
Dahlias including Cafe au Lait, Wine Eyed Gill and Shiloh Noelle
Last October I was fortunate enough to attend a two day floral workshop event organised by the Flower Farmers of Ireland with Sabine Darrall held in the beautiful Mountain View Kilkenny. The Flower Farmers of Ireland is an association of Irish Flower farmers. “Seasonal, scented, freshly-harvested Irish cut flowers and foliage, grown with love and arranged with flair…this is what’s at the heart of the Flower Farmers of Ireland association”. Members are from all around Ireland and new members are always welcome! Sharing knowledge and learning is also a large part of the association and once a year as many members as are available, come together to create, learn and share together.
(All links to those mentioned in this blog are at the end of the post. All photos are by Magda Lukas except two which are individually noted)
Mountain View Kilkenny
I joined the FFOI in late 2019 and the first Flower Farmers workshop I attended was in Cloughjordan where Rachel and Ashley from Green and Gorgeous gave a talk on flower farming and perennials. I remember frantically scribbling down plant names as Rachel discussed their attributes. My spelling of the names was very questionable, as at the time a lot of the plants were new to me! I was very nervous attending but had the good fortune to sit beside Maura Sheehy at lunchtime from Maura’s Cottage Flowers in Kerry who was so friendly and welcoming. I left with plants from Anna of Seekings Flower Farm in Cork, a list of miss-spelt plants and the encouragement that Flower Farming was a real thing in Ireland and could be done! There had been a room of people who were doing it!
Sabine Darrall
For a few years workshops were online and we had talks from the incredible Shane Connolly and Cel Robertston from Forever Green Flower Co. In 2022 a physical workshop was organised by a committee in the Irish Flower Farmers, the long hours and efforts they put in to organise the two day event, were so appreciated by everyone.
The first excitement of the day was meeting up with flower growers you already knew and then finally meeting in real life all those growers you’d been online friends or followers of! And of course discovering other flower farmers that you might not have previously heard of.
The venue was the very picturesque Mountain View in Kilkenny with Sabine Darrall and her assistant having flown over from the UK especially for the event. Sabine was an absolute joy to learn from. Her knowledge and skill knows no bounds! She shared practical tips and encouraged everyone throughout the two days. Advice and pointers were given to members. Every single thing was created using sustainable methods, no floral foam and very single flower and stem of foliage grown by Irish flower farmers.
There was large scale installations for everyone to work together on. First up was four individual installations, one of which is pictured above. There was a backdrop and a table scape also created. Sabine demonstrated a bowl design and then everyone had some time to create an arrangement themselves.
The following day we had the opportunity to learn both wearable flowers and a cascading wedding bouquet. Learning different styles is always so exciting!
A behind the scenes photo of the backdrop wall work in progress - Photo by Maria
It is some sight to see an enormous room filled with endless buckets of Irish grown blooms. The quality, the variety, the scent! It is some sight to behold. Sometimes one farmer will have excelled at growing a certain flower, say asters, that you haven’t quite got the hang of. Or you’ll see something you might have never seen before in person, or a beautiful colourway. And that is so inspiring! As a grower and as a floral designer or florist, you will not leave without a list of new flowers or colours to be excited about for the following year.
The finished bowl of blooms above. All grown here except for the beautiful rose at the front from Susan at the Vintage Rose Farm in Dublin. All bowls used chicken wire.
Flowers and foliage in my bowl above included , dahlias, phlox, apple of peru, rudbeckia, chocolate cosmos, annual cosmos, scabiosa and pittisporum.
Side photo of my bowl as it was being created. Photo by Maria
It was exciting to try a cascading wedding bouquet. The beloved style of the 1920s that is back in style. We were so lucky to have a wedding model to hold our bouquets for photos.
As you can see, it was an eventful workshop! Filled with so many flowers, friendships, conversations, joy, skill sharing, inspiration and more. Sometimes it’s good to take the time to create just for the love of it!
If you want to find out more about the Irish Flower Farmers or find your local flower farmer the website is linked below. An interactive map will help you locate your nearest farmer.
Thank you for taking the time to read,
Maria
Links
Flower Farmers of Ireland : https://flowerfarmersofireland.ie/
Sabine Darrall https://sabinedarrall.com/
Photography: Magda Lukas Website
Ribbons: Rachel https://www.pomegranatecolours.com/
Venue : Mountain View