Rozanne Delamore, The Ledbury Flower Farmer, grows 400 varieties of flowers on her Herefordshire farm. In her Christmas floristry masterclass, the first in our winter series of Home & Garden Design Events, she created three stunning arrangements with home-grown blooms and festive greenery foraged from her garden.
With a full house of creative gardeners and floristry enthusiasts in the Gallery Showroom, Rozanne explained her passion for grown, not flown, flowers, and how she works with nature on her smallholding to create show-stopping displays full of colour and scent all year round. From impressive statement arrangements for weddings to a flower subscription service, garden-gathered bouquets and even pick-your-own, Rozanne's enthusiasm for growing is infectious.
Spring on the farm brings snowdrops and narcissi, hellebores and primula before the aquilegia, ranunculus and tulips bloom. Summers are busy with weddings – iris and sweet William, scented roses, dahlias, peonies and foxgloves taking centre stage in her beds and polytunnel. Late autumn and winter gifts the last of the blowsy chrysanthemums, jewel-like baubles of crab apples on twisted branches and silvery eucalyptus. And at Christmas, it's the greenery which comes into its own for wreath-making – the lime green fronds of Leylandii, variegated holly, Corsican pine and the dainty cones of western hemlock.
Rozanne has a degree in Rural Environmental Protection from Harper Adams University and returned home to Herefordshire from Norfolk in 2020, growing her first crop of chemical-free cut flowers the following year. She is a member of the Pauntley Flower Hub, where like-minded florists from across the three counties looking for specific stems sell to each other the best of their beds that day. From running stock fencing horizontally above flower beds as a plant support to coppicing eucalyptus in summer to produce new spring growth, embracing the wonky stems of home-grown blooms to keeping slugs away from dahlias, Rozanne was full of expert tips and advice for growing your own.
Her first arrangement was a zesty lime, green and white table centrepiece full of tone and texture. Picking up stems of Garrya Elliptica – an evergreen shrub laden with catkins like silver tassels – eucalyptus, Scots pine and the lime green pom poms of chrysanthemum 'Spray Feeling Green', she created a zesty display to elevate any Christmas table.
"Chrysanthemums do have a very good vase life," she explained. "And they're good for taking cuttings too. The problem I've had with them in the polytunnel is that they're a bit too exuberant and I had to get stepladders to pick them. I can't even walk up one path of the polytunnel because it's literally a jungle of chrysanthemums."
Next, Rozanne turned her attention to a stone urn, using florists' wire and Niwaki flower frogs to hold stems in place. Securing fiery chrysanthemum 'Beacon Red' alongside variegated holly 'Golden King', Hamamelis – witch hazel – dried allium seed heads, Viburnum 'Tinus', red dog wood and pheasant feathers, she created a stunning arrangement for the Christmas table, or a striking centrepiece for a sideboard. Finally, she explained how to create a dried arrangement with lavender and the silvery penny-sized discs of Honesty, intertwined with string lights for a gloriously ethereal arrangement.
Rozanne's guide to shrubs and foliage to plant in your garden
| Ivy with berries |
Viburnum Bodnantense Dawn |
Skimmia |
Cornus Mas – Cornelian cherry |
| Chrysanthemums |
Mahonia Japonica |
Hammemelis – witch hazel |
Arbutus Unedo – Strawberry Tree |
| Miscanthus grasses |
Autumn/winter flowering cherry |
Heather |
Scots Pine |
| Christmas Box / Sarcococca |
Viburnum Tinus |
Daphne |
Dogwood in red, green and orange |
What a wonderful afternoon. We absolutely loved Rozanne's demonstration and can't wait to go home and raid the garden so we can create our own arrangements. Mrs G
Rozanne is so clever. Her arrangements are absolutely stunning and she's so knowledgeable and engaging. It was a fabulous afternoon. Mrs A.
Rozanne runs regular courses at her farm between Ledbury and Parkway, from wreath-making to sessions for for DIY wedding or church flower-arrangers, and leads seed-growing workshops for environmentally-conscious creatives keen to plant their own cutting garden. Learn more about The Ledbury Flower Farmer here.
Book another of our Home & Garden Design Events, from a decorating masterclass with world-renowned interior designer, architectural historian and paint pioneer Edward Bulmer, to The Art of Christmas Tablescaping with Holloways Interior Designer Annie Blackledge.
