RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2022- Part 2 - The Build
Part 2 - Building on site - The Feel Good Florist’s first flower show! #rhstattonpark
And what an experience this was, I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the two on site days being the hottest days in history! My goodness, I was watering those petunias like there was no tomorrow. With the van packed to the roof and litres of water at the ready, myself and my amazing volunteers set to work!
With over 135 pots of Petunias and a few Bidens I felt very relieved by my choice not to use many cut flowers and focus more heavily on the plants for the design as this gave them a much greater chance of surviving the 38 degree temperatures, what was in our favour was at least we were sheltered by the marquee.
What we needed to start with was the root structure at the top of the tree, I mossed the outside of a rectangular metal /chicken wire frame and secured the moss covered Biden plants to be hanging upside down. The moss was drying out fast so we had to keep them moist with regular sprays from our water pump! Amaranthus and ivy were inserted into the moss through the gaps using either water tubes on their stems or inserting them into the Agra wool which was placed on top and disguised with moss. Finally the glorious 2 metre long Contorta corkscrew hazel branches were inserted into the centre of the wire frame creating a show stopping root like effect.
With the top of the design complete it was now time to put those patiently waiting Petunias into action. Using upturned crates, buckets, floral trays and anything I could get my hands on ( I even used coke cans!) we created an even ascension of height around the base. Next was to staple pin chicken wire to the stand and wire it to the willow trunk. It was important to keep the chicken wire taut as it would be holding all the plants.
Holes were cut into the chicken wire and pots pushed through using the items placed underneath for extra stability. For any extra height where the crates couldn’t reach I balled up chicken wire and put that underneath. What I love about this installation is how earth happy it is. No floral foam and all the plants were grown a matter of miles from Tatton. The chicken wire will all be used again in future designs and the crates were borrowed from a lovely local shop in my area.
With some of the left over willow we twisted by plaiting groups of stems and left them out in the sun to dry, these worked wonderfully to represent the branches of the tree and were easily inserted into the gaps between the willow on the trunk.
Final tweaks were made using some of the left over moss and ivy to cover any bits of chicken wire peeping through! And there she was, the mother tree in all her upside down glory!
It was such an achievement for all of us, 4.30am starts and lots of labour in the incredibly hot sun! Also quite the privilege to be exhibiting next to some exceptional florists, I can’t wait to see what the week has in store!
Special thanks to Natasha @undefindlife, Michelle @mahoneyweddings, Andy @AP_joinery_Propertymaintenance, Nicola @foreverplanetartisans,