Petals.
Brightening up life.
OUR FLOWERS
We only source the best when it comes to flowers. We buy the highest quality stems from partners we know and trust. Our flowers won’t be the cheapest, but we guarantee that you will get the best of the best - the heaviest bud weight, the strongest and longest stems, and flowers you don’t see every day. The flowers we choose come from growers who care deeply about what they do. More often than not, these are independent family run businesses that have been around for generations, passing down their knowledge, experience and expertise, and we believe in paying them a fair price for all that goes into growing their stems.
KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE
We’ve been brightening up Wimbledon Village since 1999 and that means we think we know a thing or two about flowers. Since our humble beginnings of very early morning dashes to the flower market to battle over the last box of floppy Freesias, Gardenia has grown and evolved over the years. Before online buying became the norm we would trundle in our truck, every week, to the Dutch flower auctions in search of new, interesting and exciting products. Thanks to advances in technology we can now select the pick of the crop by clicking a button from anywhere in the world. It’s thanks to the trials and errors over those decades that we think we could do this with our eyes closed (obviously we can’t and we’re still always searching and scrolling for the finest or most unusual blooms to buy, but you know what we mean).
PRODUCT PARTNERS
All our flowers and plants come from a single supplier who we have a long standing and happy relationship with. Their slick and reliable logistics process sees the freshest blooms transported from grower to our shop, often in as little as 18 hours. They provide this exceptional service 6 days per week and put up with our difficult and creative demands without fuss and with a smile. By working with one supplier we’ve been able to build a relationship based on trust, respect and a mutual unwavering commitment to be the best at what we do.
SKILLS & EXPERTISE
In many other countries it is a requirement to have completed degree level training in floristry before being able to work in the industry. This isn’t the case in the UK, but we passionately believe that full service floristry is a skill and a trade to be learnt. The 3 common routes in attaining these skills are via an apprenticeship, a floristry training course, or on the job training from qualified colleagues. At Gardenia over half of our team are professionally trained in floristry through a higher education institution or they are in the process of doing so. To complete all 5 levels in this formal training would take almost 10 years, with the curriculum covering every aspect of floristry from care and conditioning to intricate design work and everything in between.
When you shop with Gardenia you can rest assured that we really know our stuff. Our combined flower knowledge as a team is enormous and our decades of experience in design and installation means our non-flower knowledge and our ability to ‘make things happen’ is pretty expansive too.
We know what’s in season - and, sometimes more importantly, what’s not in season. We’re trained in colour theory and the principles and elements of design. Our experience means we know how to get a Peony blooming perfectly for your event and our collective knowledge gives us the skills to do anything from wiring individual flower buds into a flower crown to creating magical foam (plastic) free floral installations.
Our team are specialists at what they do.
|
|
|
|
| Brightening up life. | Flowering for the future. | Blooming with positivity. |
