First of all let me apologise in advance for the quality of the images below. They were taken on a mobile phone and I will replace them with sharper images as soon as I have some!

Today, we have just installed four large counter top displays of scented garden roses, painted bird boxes and aromatic herbs in the main entrance Perfumery Hall in Selfridges, London store where our shop is located.

Selfridges asked us to design a Real Flower Company 'living' scheme for Chelsea Flower Show week and this is what we came up with. It had to include yellow roses to tie in with Selfridges centenary. It's amazing that the store is celebrating it's 100th birthday isn't it?

The displays are inspired by our own farms where we grow our scented garden roses and herbs. We really do use bird boxes between the rows of foliage on our farms to attract insect loving birds!

The displays include a total of 32 rose bushes, 8 pots of lavender, 16 pots of rosemary, 20 pots of thyme, 16 hand made and painted bird boxes and around 400 of our yellow and ivory scented garden roses which are attached by little water filled glass test tubes.

As they're 'living' displays we will be keepng them in top condition for the week by checking them daily and changing the roses as they fade.

Pop along to Selfridges to see it in all it's glory, it's there for 1 week only so do take a look before we remove it on sunday 24th May!

I remember reading this article, Right on the Button written by Alex Petridis, when it was published in The Guardian last July and I agree with him that it's about time that the floral buttonhole made a comeback outside of the wedding market.

In my previous life I worked as a Menswear Buying Director in the fashion industry and, in my experience, when tailoring and formality make a comeback, accessories such as shirts, ties, cufflinks, socks (no cartoon novelty ones please!) all have to work harder to help men assert their individuality.

The downturn has seen some menswear designers opting for a return to quiet quality and tradition. Grey tailoring, heritage fabrics and subtle detailing are all key trends, crying out for the addition of a stylish buttonhole don't you think?

We have had a couple of orders for buttonholes at our shop in Selfridges where they have definately not been for weddings so maybe they are about to take off as a fashion accessory...I hope so. I will certainly be working on a little collection for our website.

Well things have been rather busy since we opened our shop in Selfridges. Our new shopfit was finally installed a few weeks ago along with our 'tasting' wall of white bird boxes. The idea is that we have a different rose variety displayed in each box so that customers can choose their favourite scented roses by name. Although they look terribly cute in white the idea was always to paint them and the project is in work as you can see! Aiming to have them filter through to our shop in the next couple of weeks now....

Bird Boxes





Bird Box Jasmine