Frolicking with very British flowers

Lara from Manor Farm Cottage Flowers

On Friday we welcomed Lara to the Flower School with her buckets of very British flowers to collaborate on our first British Flower Day Course.

Getting to grips with our natural hand tied bouquets

After an introduction to British flowers from a grower's perspective it was time to get hands on and create gorgeous natural hand ties as nature intended them to be. When flowers are this fresh and this seasonal, there's no need to over style - they simply speak for themselves in all their British glory!

A beautiful kind of floral chaos

Just some of our flower heroes for the day included bright blue Cornflowers, deep purple and pink heavenly scented Sweet Peas, Dahlias, Zinnias and Larkspur - all of which are at their freshest right now so if you are looking for some July floral inspiration, they are a great place to start.

A big thank you to Lara for nurturing these wonderful blooms and of course to our day students who we had a blast with!

You can see more of Lara's beautiful blooms and her styling of them via her Manor Farm Cottage Facebook page.

Floral Musings

The Tallulah Rose Flower School

invites you to

Floral Musings

14th & 15th October, Brixton East, London, SW9 7JF

This Autumn we're going back to our roots, to the soulful heart of Brixton and invite you to come on a journey of Floral Musings with us. For two days this October, we are making the old furniture factory in Briston our home and are opening the doors to all those who share our passion for design, flora, texture and colour.

Against a backdrop of raw wooden beams, vaulted ceilings and smooth concrete floors, we're going to slow things down a little, enjoy local artisan produce together like fresh ground coffee and warm baked croissants and revel in the art of conversation as we muse openly about our floral aesthetic. With natural light pouring in through the large glazed windows, we may be lucky enough to catch to morning Autumn sun and enjoy the courtyard - where we will later introduce you to the principles of floral photography and capture our day's work on film.

Over the course of two days we will be running a series of practical floral demonstrations and lectures, giving you a real insight into our world of floral design. Whether you are an existing florist looking for fresh inspiration to move your business forward or a complete beginner, we will guide you through a range of techniques (and insider secrets) using the freshest flora the season has to offer.

Course Content:

Day One - Musings on balance, scale & form

Once we've taken time out to get to know you over a steaming cup of coffee we'll introduce ourselves and our floral passions to you. We'll kick start the day with a nod to the history of our building and create beautiful meadow boxes together - using the traditional wooded crates that the building is famous for.

In the afternoon there will be a thematic lecture and a floral demonstration as we show you how to create one of the flower school's signature pieces - the floral door garland. This will allow us to take you though the key areas of floral selection, colour, balance and form whilst working on a grand scale. Then it's over to you to create your own garland using all of the knowledge you have learnt from the day. We will then take you through the principles of floral photography, sharing our hints and tips on proportion, positioning and light before you find your perfect place in the building to photograph your work.

Day Two: Musings on proportions, details and finishes

Hopefully you will have spent the night dreaming of flora and this morning you will be totally inspired and raring to go, so after breakfasting together, it’s straight on with the aprons as we delve into the romance of floral bouquets. Through a series of practical demonstrations, we will show you various styles of hand tied bouquets and present our own signature style. Then it’s over to you as you are given the freedom to find your own conversation with flowers and create your own wonderfully romantic design. We will then wander through our gorgeous archive of silk ribbons and teach you how to finish your designs and prep them for more individual photography throughout the building.

After lunching together, there will be another thematic lecture followed by an introduction to wired work and the delightful art of floral crowns. Late in the afternoon, we will end the course as we began, slow things down, put a pot of coffee on and share our learnings, hopes and dreams in an open forum with the full flower school team.

Come and muse with us a while…

Date: Tuesday 14^th – Wednesday 15^th October

Time: 10.00 – 17.00 each day

Location: Brixton East, 100 Barrington Road, London, SW9 7JF

Cost: £1600 per person*

To reserve your place, simply email us at: hello@tallulahroseflowers.com and we'll arrange the rest.

*Included in the course fee are all fresh floral materials, floristry equipment, vessels used in your floral designs, breakfast, lunch and light refreshments for the full two days.

Rachel's top 10 tips for Social Media success

So, this week has been Business Week for our May Career Course students with a large part of our focus on Social Media and how to get the most from it when setting up a new business.

Social media has completely transformed the way we communicate and is allowing us as florists to get connected with wide audiences all over the world. This in itself can be a little daunting when you are just starting out so we teamed up with The Florist and Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona this week and shared our tips for Social Media success.

Here are Rachel's 10 top tips:

1. Account names - Standardise your account names across all social media platforms to make it easy for people to find you. With the international reach this is important to build a strong local brand.

2. Personal photo - Have a professional headshot taken and use the same one on all your accounts. People respond much better to an individual photo rather than a generic photo of flowers or a shop front.

3. Location - Unless you’re running an international business, make sure you mention where you operate. It’s more likely that people will be looking for a local florist.

4. Portfolio – Use of photos in Twitter increases retweets by 150%, so keep your social media accounts regularly updated. These will act as a current portfolio, far better than the old fashioned tatty, out of date, hard copy.

5. Conversation – Social media is all about engagement, not about blasting out marketing bumph. Ask questions, talk to others and you’ll be reap the rewards.

6. Personality – Don’t overthink before you post. Let your own voice, views and opinions be heard but never be offensive or critical of others.

7. Social media management – There are lots of tools to help you manage time. Hootsuite and TweetDeck are just two platforms that allow you to compose one update and send to many different platforms. You can schedule in advance, perfect for updates when you are busy.

8. Frequency – There’s lots of science behind when and how often to post. But it’s your business and there will be some trial and error. Monitor how many likes, pins or retweets you get. Regular refining means you’ll hit on the right way for your business.

9. Respond – not every post you publish has to be yours. Find things that you like and inspire you and share them. It’s all about conversations, have these and you’ll build your network more quickly.

10. Commit and be consistent - Be prepared to be in it for the long-haul and you’ll get results.

Ultimately, we love connecting with you all via our Facebook, Twitter and Blogger pages and our advice would be to roll up your sleeves, be honest in how you communicate and get stuck in!

Behind the scenes with Gracie

Make up via Little Lab

Last week I got the amazing opportunity to model for the Vogue on Vivienne Westwood talk that was taking part at the Royal Crescent hotel as part of Bath in Fashion. Working with the amazing Ashley from Taylor Barnes Photography and the fabulous Little Lab make-up artists and their fabulous airbrush techniques. With the help of a corseted dress and a huge wig, I was transformed into a Georgian lady with a punky Vivienne Westwood edge! 

That wig!!!

Bath has always been a place of high fashion and the Bath in Fashion programme of events has been stronger than ever this year so I jumped at the chance to get involved. 

I've never modelled in my life so at times was hard to keep a straight face throughout the talk - I have a tendency to get the giggles but I don't think VW takes herself too seriously either so i'm in good company!

The super talented Taylor Barnes gets snappy happy!

I had a fantastic day and would like to say a big thank you to Rachel, Little Lab and Taylor Barnes Photography. It was completely inspiring to work with so many creatives! 

Gracie x

Vogue on Vivienne Westwood

Our intern Gracie was transformed in to a live floral installation

Yesterday we proudly sponsored the 'Vogue on Vivienne Westwood' book signing event at the Royal Crescent Hotel as part of this year's Bath in Fashion celebrations. Our very own intern Gracie was transformed into a live floral installation complete with Georgian dress and wig.

Author Linda Watson gave us a fascinating insight into the career of the extraordinary fashion designer - all the while with Gracie artfully in-situ as our tribute to the bold, creative and trend setting designer.

Vivienne Westwood regularly incorporates flowers into her shows and so we wanted to come up with something that would fit with that Cool Britannia vibe that she is so well known for. We also decided to weave the Georgian themes of ‘Grace and Elegance’ into the installation to tie in with the broader celebrations that are taking place in Bath this year and hopefully created a real talking point for all those that attended.

A special shout out to The Little Lab and their brilliant air-brush tattooing which helped us to complete Gracie's transformation and to the super talented Taylor Barnes Photography for catching it all on film.

More photos to follow later this week x

A festival of flowers

Image via: http://www.buzzfeed.com/

It may be a bit cold and grey in Bath today but our heads are literally in the clouds as we are busy planning our Festival Flower Crown workshop at this year's Bath in Fashion event.

Join us on Thursday the 8th May at The Pavillion as we teach you how to make your very own flower crown to rock at this year's festivals. You will be able to pick your own blooms and learn the art of wiring your flowers together to create a pretty circlet which we will then show you how to finish with ribbon and attach to your hair.

There will be a chance to WIN a ticket to see the Spring/Summer 2014 catwalk show, produced by the internationally renowned John Walford which will be taking place in the Assembly Rooms that same afternoon.

We will also be collaborating with the creative folk at Little Lab who will be offering delicate floral air brush tattoos to complete your festival look.

We hope to see you there x

Workshop Details:

Date: Thursday 8th May
Time: 10.00 - 12.00
Tickets: £5.00 (to include all materials and tuition)
Bookings: Tickets are available to purchase from the Bath Tourist Office from Monday 28th April

Our advanced skills course

Image via: http://zsazsabellagio.blogspot.co.uk/

Some exciting news about our newest course - just one place remaining for April - could it be yours?

New for Spring 2014 is our advanced skills course aimed at those already in the world of floristry seeking new inspiration and new challenges.

Designed with professional florists in mind and those that have completed our own four week career course, the advanced skills course will take students to the next level and give them both the technical know-how and confidence to design and direct large scale event floristry.

This four day course can accommodate up to six students who will work together as an ‘event team’ and take on various large scale challenges out on location around Bath and the surrounding areas. 

Leading the course is director Rachel and Tallulah Rose florist Saffy, who brings with her over twenty years of experience directing large events with companies such as London’s Rebel Rebel. We will also be working alongside a professional photographer to ensure students get beautiful photos of their work in order to strengthen their portfolios.

Course Details:

Price: £1850 per student

2014 Dates: April 14^th – 17^th / October 20^th – 24^th

^{See the website for further details or call us on 01225 425 998 to book.}

Mother's Day Bouquets

A blooming lovely bunch of sorbet roses

What did you get up to this Mother's Day? We were joined by a lovely bunch of ladies for our Mother's Day workshop on Friday and had a great time getting to grips with a range of different hand tied bouquets. First up on the menu was this soft and perfectly feminine rose bouquet featuring some of my favourites - the acapella, talea, avalanche and senorita varieties. Their sorbet shades looked good enough to eat together.

Spring was definitely in the air on Friday

In the afternoon we went 'wild and free' and made beautifully lose, garden style bouquets with the freshest spring blooms. On the menu were headily scented narcissus, apricot parrot tulips, white anemones (with green centres!), colour popping craspedia and vibrant gelder roses. The wilder style of bouquet is always a challenge but our ladies rose to it and left literally with an arm-full of gorgeous blooms  - enough the give to their mums and keep for themselves!

Getting to grips with being more wild & free...

The Mother's Day series...

Image via: http://thebloggersdaughter.blogspot.be/

Last week we shared our thoughts on motherhood with you...well, nurturing in general really. We praised those of our graduates who are balancing their new floral careers with busy family lives and promised to share some of their profiles with you in the run up to Mother's Day this week. So pop over to our Facebook Page and meet our first pair of partner's in crime - Holly and her son Noah.

We'll also be celebrating Mother's Day in style in the school rooms this Friday with our special one day workshop. Places are limited but we do have just spaces left so if you are looking for a special gift for your mum this year, why not come and learn how to make the perfect seasonal hand tied bouquet with us using a beautiful selection of blooms. There's nothing more special than presenting your mum with a beautiful bouquet that you have made yourself, or come and learn together and share the experience of flowers.

You can visit our website for more details or simply email us at hello@tallulahroseflowers.com or call 01225 425 998 x

Gracie's Guest Post

Flower school frolics with Gracie & Lemmy

Well, I'm coming to the end of Week Two of my internship at flower school and this week has been bridal week. There have been some amazing flowers around school this week and everybody's individual styles have really started to shine through.

The big thing I have learnt this week is that sometimes, just by incorporating a totally different colour or texture into a display which may not necessarily feel natural at first, can totally lift an arrangement. For example, the students designed flower crowns yesterday and by injecting a hint of blue delphinium amongst the pink and peach roses and finishing with canary yellow ribbon, Jules' crown got the wow factor!

Colour contrast flower crown

The highlight of the week for me has been watching the window and door garlands being constructed, especially the eco-friendly alternative to oasis version, using chicken wire and moss - I'm fast learning that it's amazing how much you need your initiative when you're a florist!

An eco-friendly take on the more traditional oasis trailing garland

Over the course of bridal week, it's been great to see the entire flower journey from producing a single groom's button-hole right through to large scale table-centres and garlands. The variety of flowers has been incredible too from pastel sorbet shades right through to neon brights.

Next week I'll be off to Covent Garden Flower Market so be sure to follow my twitter feed @florenceflorals and the hashtag #floristintern to see what I get up to!

Gracie x

Celebrating all things Mother's Day

Image via: http://inesdelreves.tumblr.com

I'm not a mother (well, sort of if you count a little red dachshund called Alfred), not because I don't want to be, but because put quite simply - life just hasn't really played out that way. But I do recognise that the bond between a mother and her child is something magical and other-worldly and something that should be celebrated in style.

Here at flower school, we love to nurture too. We like to think we nurture our students and hold their hands as they embark on their own unique flower journey. We also nurture our graduates and encourage them on with their new ventures as they embark on their new floral careers and of course, we nurture the amazing blooms we work with everyday and are constantly rewarded by the colour and life they bring to the school rooms.

Next week, in the run up to Mother's Day we will be celebrating some of our lovely graduates who are busy juggling their new floral careers with children and family life - keep an eye on our Facebook page and come meet some more nurturers.

Gracie's First Week

Amongst the Ranunculas

Hello Gracie here,

Over the last few days I have been filled with inspiration and have picked up some fantastic advice on running and starting up a business within the floristry industry which is gold dust for a newbie like me!


The school is beautiful every nook is photogenic (especially with the addition of an odd dachshund or two) and being around so much creativity coming from the students and the teachers creates a wonderful space to work in.

One of the highlights from my first week was watching the wreath tutorial. I simply can't get enough of the different shades of pink and the ranunculas the students used were so pretty.

Magically simple but stunning Terrariums

Another favourite was the terrariums from Monday, after fawning over them on Pintrest it was fantastic to see how to create them in several different styles all equally gorgeous!

I'll hopefully keep you updated on my 'interning activities' every week but if you would like to see daily updates follow my twitter @florenceflorals or follow the hashtag #flowerintern


Gracie x

Meet Gracie

Our intern Gracie enjoying the lavender

We have a new addition for our March Career Course - our lovely intern! Gracie has a passion for all things floral and is spending some time in our school rooms being inspired and breathing it all in. For those of you who love the old social media as much as we do, you can follow Gracie's journey via our Twitter @tallulahrosey and by following the hashtag #floristintern

Have a great day people x

Come and walk the talk with us

Image via: http://lookdepernille.com/

Do the flower shoes fit? Then wear them we say! If flowers are at the heart of what you do but you're looking to inject some sass into your business, we may just have the course for you.

We have opened up our five day Business Skills Course to those who have the appropriate technical floral skills but may be looking for some industry savy advice to kick start a new business, as well as those of you who may have been in the industry for some time and are looking to re-brand and slip on a new pair of floral shoes!

During the course of the week, we will introduce you to some of the best industry experts in their field. From leading brand agencies, bloggers, social media experts and event florists, to accountants and business bank managers. We will also take you to the world renowned Covent Garden Flower Market to meet nationwide flower suppliers - ensuring you have access to the best contacts to enable your business (be it old or new!) to flourish.

There is a full course break down over on our website but as ever, if you'd like to talk to us in person please get in touch either by email at hello@tallulahroseflowers.com or call us directly on 01225 425 998. We're a friendly bunch and we'd love to hear from you.

Team Tallulah x

Will you find our lonely bouquets?

One of our Lonely bouquets before it left for a secret location this morning

So Happy Valentine's to all you lovers out there! Here at Tallulah Rose, we like to share the love a bit and so last night we stayed late and created a few #lonelybouquets. This morning they left for some secret locations in Bath and if you find one...you get to KEEP IT, it's that simple!

Can you spy Rachel putting together a #lonelybouquet last night?

Whether you choose to pass it to a loved one or keep it all to yourself, all we ask is that you follow the instructions on the card and let us know where it's destined for!

For those that live in Bath, happy hunting! We'll be giving you clues via Twitter as the morning goes on so join in the conversation and follow us @tallulahrosey x

Bridal workshops

A beautiful bridal bouquet from a Tallulah Rose student

Yesterday saw our February Career Course students get to grips with bridal bouquets. For a dark, heady, romantic feel (well it is Valentine's this week after all!), we teamed the softly hued Amnesia rose with similarly toned seasonal Hyacinths, Veronica, Succulents and Clematis with contrasting Majolika roses and trailing Jasmin. Tied with a delicate cotton lace ribbon, we love this feel of this bouquet.

Our take on beautifully 'dark florals'

If you would like to learn how to make your own bridal bouquet, along with other key bridal pieces we offer a one day Bridal Day Course every month with our bridal specialist Amy. Our next course is Friday the 21st February and we have just one place remaining. If you would like to join us simply email us at hello@tallulahroseflowers.com or call us on 01225 425 998 to reserve your place.

Flowers from our students

February at its best - Narcissus, Hellbores and Mimosa

Last week our February Career Course students produced some stunning work. We kicked things off moderately on Monday with planted seasonal bulbs and succulent terrariums before getting braver on Tuesday with hand tied bouquets. 

It's fair to say that week one is a huge stretch and the amount the students learn in such a short space of time is amazing. From hand tied bouquets, to oasis work and vase arrangements, there's a different technique to learn everyday and we end the week with the largest scale arrangements - the sympathy spray.

Here at Tallulah Rose, we have a bit of a unique approach to sympathy flowers. We put the same passion into our floral selection as our bridal flowers and create truly beautiful arrangements that reflect the season. 

If you would like to see more of our students work, including our sympathy work, head to our Pinterest Board - flowers from our students and take a peek!

Spring bulbs workshop

Image via Pinterest

With our February Career Course well under way, the school rooms are full of flowers again and we're in our element working with the best that the season can give us. We're also super excited about welcoming our Day Course students this Friday for our Spring Bulbs workshop.

We'll be exploring various ways of presenting seasonal bulbs in the home, from something very rustic and garden style to more contemporary arrangements using clear glass.

If you'd like to fill your home with bulbs then come and join us in beautiful Bath and let us show you how. We have a limited number of places still available so simply call us on 01225 425 998 or email us at hello@tallulahroseflowers.com - as ever we'd love to hear from you!

Spring Term

We're ready to take our seats!

With only 5 days to go until we welcome our next Career Course students we are getting super excited in the school rooms. We can't wait to meet our newest recruits and see them flourish as they embark on their very own flower journeys. 

We always get that 'back to school' feeling right before a new course, the school rooms get a good spruce up ready for our new guests and we we may even treat ourselves to a new pencil case (because you are NEVER too old for that...right?).

We are also thrilled to be joined by our new intern Gracie for this course and can't wait to have a new flower entusiast on board. We've made some exciting changes to the 2014 course and can't wait to share pictures of some beautiful new designs. We're also thrilled to be working with some super talented British flower growers this term and will be taking our students on a tour of Covent Garden Flower Market so it's sure to be a busy month...watch this space!

Spring workshops

Image via Pinterest

You may have noticed on your morning commute (or maybe not, depending on if you've had your coffee?) that something amazing is beginning to happen. From the endless wet and muddy January ground, spring bulbs are emerging. They are tiny and they're just about getting brave enough to pop their heads out of their cosy parapets but to us florists, it's a BIG deal!

To celebrate all things spring we have some new workshops for 2014 so if you feel like getting creative with a flourish of spring flowers through your own home, we'll teach you how. All of our day courses take place at our inspiring school rooms in the heart of beautiful Bath, which is a treat in itself in springtime. 

For full details and how to book, visit our website