A little update from Rob, our farm manager this week....

The rose hips are flowering and are really quite impressive. They are crawling with bees which we're delighted about.

The blackberry is in full flower and are also full of bees. It looks as though we'll get a great crop this year, starting the week after next with the green ones that we love to include in our bouquets.

We are now through the first flush of scented garden roses and are now in a bit of a dip but it looks as though the roses will be back in abundance much sooner than anticipated owning to a fabulous run of great weather this year and to some ver clever management of the crop by Rob.

Well here it is, it's finally come home to the office!
We really were delighted to have won this RHS Certificate of Commendation this year for stand presentation from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, it really means a lot to all of us at The Real Flower Company.

It was the highlight of the horticultural year, the start of the summer season, the flagship day for flowers. This year's hot ticket; the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, proved that the simple pleasures derived from gardens, flowers and plants are as important as ever, if not more, in our current economic climate.

Here are a few more photos that I took around the show ground last week.

James May's Wonderful Plasticine Garden - Won RHS 'Plasticine Gold medal'

Okay, so there were no real flowers, no scent and the insects were confused, but there was still plenty of evidence of back-breaking work and creative planting (not to mention the wiring and sculpting!) and most of all it was fun.

Head-Turning Hats

I loved the real flower hats made by the talented finalists in the RHS Florist of the Year Competition. If anyone know's who made this one please post as I'm afraid I didn't write it down.

Downderry Nursery Lavender Display

Alium Divine Nurseries display

The Witan Wisdom Garden

Loved this little garden...

The Hesco Garden

The Cancer Research UK Garden

The Foreign and Colonial Investments Garden

We were situated next door to this garden...

Echos of Japan in an English Garden

In association with The Real Flower Company and in honour of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, our friends over at Boxwish have written a lovely article featuring the top 5 fantastic floral films featuring roses.

Here are the chosen films. If you click on the links you can see the full review of the film on the Boxwish website:-
The Da Vinci Code
A rose is left behind everytime the sought after grail is moved!
Bed of Roses
A widowed man takes a shine to strong business woman, sending her roses to lift her spirits!
Youth Without Youth
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the rose is used to great effect as a metaphor for time and the cycle of life.
Beauty and the Beast
The rose is featured heavily throughout the film and the falling petals provide a clever visual reminder of the Beast's looming fate.
American Beauty
In this 1999 Oscar winning film the rose represents the forays into the sexual fantasies of frusrated office drone Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey)

I happened upon the award winning chef Tom Aikens on Twitter this week twittering as @tomaikens.

His tweet "Just finished service 90% flower menu, did someone say it was Chelsea flower show week???" caught my eye as I'm really interested in the edible flowers trend; I love both flowers and food.

Here is Tom's website where you'll find the phone number and you can even book online! It's £45 for lunch menu, coffee on top (with lot's of petit fours!)

Whether you're going to the Chelsea Flower Show or not this is the perfect May lunch menu.

Roast scallop with Nasturtium, carrot dressing and puree
Goats cheese mousse with broad beans, flowers and leaves
Confit of salmon with Viola and pickled radish
Chicken with lemon risotto and Marigolds
Poached rhubarb with Rose petals

Isn't this gorgeous? Inspired?

Images courtesy of Tom Aikens

Great news this morning from our team at The Chelsea Flower Show, it's been a record beaking 3 days for us so far and that looks set to continue today.

Although it's been very windy there the weather has been holding up and so far Chelsea has been teaming with people not rain.

Chelsea week marks an important date in our calender because it's the week when we officially start picking our English garden roses from our Hampshire farm.

To celebrate this momentous occasion we are offering a special 'Chelsea' subscription of 'English Roses for 6 months' (we usually offer only annual subscriptions). The 6 months subscription consists of a hand tied bouquet of Scented, English grown garden roses and herbs delivered each month for the 6 months of the English growing season. Delivery is free on 5 of the 6 bouquets, Tuesday to Friday.

The subscriptions can be booked at Chelsea, on our website, by telephone 01730 818300 or at our shop in Selfridges Food Hall, London.

The team here at The Real Flower Company are celebrating after receiving the coveted RHS certificate for our stand design at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Our 'Certificate of Commendation' was a glorious suprise and, after the weeks and many weekends of hard work that go into ensuring that we look our best at Chelsea, a little 'pat on the back' for all the RFC team who were involved. Well done everyone!

Three fabulous gardens won Gold this year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and I applaud the judges for their exquisite taste.

My personal favourite was the perfume garden but that maybe because the planting included all of the cut flowers and herbs that we grow ourselves and therefore I felt completely at home in it!

Gold and Best in Show: The Daily Telegraph Garden by Ulf Nordjfell

Gold and Most Creative Award: Perfume Garden by Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins

Gold: Champagne Laurent Perrier Garden by Luciano Guibbilei