Sustainable Flowers for Mother’s Day

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I can’t think of any mums who don’t love flowers. So I think they are always a winner when it comes to Mother’s Day gifting. But did you know that not all flowers are created equal? Many bouquets come at a huge environmental cost, which I had no idea about until recently. The Real Flower Company have sent me a beautiful luxury bouquet of sustainable flowers to review ahead of Mother’s Day. I was interested to read about their sustainability credentials, so I’m sharing them with you, alongside pictures of the stunning flowers.

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About The Real Flower Company

The Real Flower Company creates luxury bouquets from scented roses, English flowers, herbs and foliage grown. It’s all grown on their English and Fairtrade sustainable farms. The English farms have bee hives, lace wing houses and ladybird houses. There’s also a wild flower meadow to give a diverse, safe habitat for insects, birds and mammals.

Eco-Friendly English Farm

The Real Flower Company use sustainable farming techniques and eco-initiatives at their Hampshire farm. It and conforms to the LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) standard.

Wildlife-friendly techniques include using special matting that suppresses weeds, so they don’t need to use any weed killers. Biologicals are used instead of sprays to control some pests. But to protect the bees and other insects, they never spray their roses when they’re in flower. They also have bee hives on site, as well as free range guinea fowl and bantams, who eat unwanted insects.

Fairtrade Kenyan Farm

The Real Flower Company use flowers from their Fairtrade sister farm in Kenya, after the British growing season is over. The Real Flower Company say; “The farm is accredited at the highest levels in social and environmental standards employing a local community workforce of approximately 500 men and women who hand-pick the roses, herbs and foliage then prepare the stems for transport to the UK workshop.”

Although flowers are imported, they don’t need to use any artificial heat or light to make them grow.

Sustainable Flowers

I have to confess, I haven’t given much thought to the waste associated with growing flowers. Apparently many commercially grown flowers need to be refrigerated for up to two weeks – imagine the energy use! The Real Flower Company say their flowers are more sustainable; “We get our flowers from the field to your doorstep in the minimum possible time so that you can enjoy the flowers at their freshest. We use cold storage for only 2 days in our workshop, resulting in a lot of energy savings.”

Another thing that astonished me when I started looking into flowers, is the amount of flowers that are wasted. Apparently up to 1 in 3 stems are never used! The Real Flower Company say they only cut what they can sell. Any that do end up being spare are donated to the community.

My Sustainable Flowers from The Real Flower Company

My sustainable flowers arrived by courier in a big green cardboard box, with air holes. The girls were hoping it was a puppy! They were only a little disappointed to discover the flowers, but they both remarked how beautiful they were. Ava also mentioned the smell, which is divine.

The box contained a huge bouquet of pink roses and peonies, with some narcissi, eucalyptus and lots of other lush foliage. There’s also sachets of flower food and care instructions, to help keep the sustainable flowers looking beautiful for longer.

Aren’t the flowers beautiful?

The bouquet is hand tied, so it’s ready to pop into a vase – no arranging needed! It couldn’t be easier to display your new sustainable flowers.

The bouquet is so big, I had to buy a new vase! They are too wide for our mantlepiece so I popped them on the hearth, where I enjoy looking at them every evening.

You can buy luxury sustainable flowers from The Real Flower Company here.

Mother’s Day falls on Sunday 31st March this year, so pop it in your diary if you have a mum, stepmum or grandmother to buy for. If you’re looking for more Mother’s Day gifting inspiration, you might also like this Mother’s Day gift guide.