How do the British use flowers at home?

When many people think of living in Britain their minds are filled with thoughts of daily high tea ceremonies, jumping around London city in a black cab with a local cabbie (cab driver) telling you the latest gossip or the best place to go for a bargain and at the end of the day sit in a pub and wash down your worries with a warm beer. While there is truth in all of that the reality for many of us who grow up there is very different. Take me for example, I grew up on a farm in the wettest part of England called Devon. There was tea, biscuits and quaint little villages, however, we spent most of each day finding new ways to describe rain, different words for the colour grey and longing for the few days a year of sunshine. My Mum was a joyful soul and always tried to cheer the family up. Her best way to cut through the long miserable grey rainy days was bringing some flowers into the home.

Starting in mid to late January, my mother was always the first one to the shops buying as many daffodils as she could. This simple yet beautiful yellow flower was cheap and instantly added a ray of sunshine yellow to our house. As the months passed the flowers changed but were always as bright and as colourful as could be. Multi-coloured primroses, luscious bunches of lavender, a simple garden rose or a simple selection of large daisys, every British mum knew Flowers made the home a happier place.

That got me thinking… How do we the British use flowers at home? Many parts of the world are faced with long rainy seasons with little sunlight, or perhaps you a daily squished in an office with no light and just four walls greyer than a British winter. What tips can you learn to brighten up the home from the way British people use flowers?

The Dutiful Daffodil - Brighten up a room with flowers!

As I mentioned above daffodils are a MUST! A bunch of sunshine-yellow daffodils on the windowsill brings joy to the heart and the promise of the summer to come. Britain produces over 90% of the world’s daffodils. This little flower is cheap and cheerful guaranteed to make you smile. If you are able to find some of these where you live, we heartily recommend them. If you cannot get hold of them but still want to brighten your room, search for flowers with as many bright colours as you can, at this point it’s not so much about the smell just the visual effect. That pop of colour is what you want against a darker background. Some great examples are our new French Design Series bouquets on our Give Gift Boutique website. We know in Hong Kong the grey office walls are wrapped around many of us, so why not brighten up your loved ones day with something that has that bright splash of colour.

Luscious Lavender - Make the room smell amazing!

When we think of flowers we often focus on the beauty they add to a room, the way they catch the eye as you enter. If though they smell amazing too, you can hit all the senses at once. Every family in the UK knows that all those awkward smells at home can be covered with the right floral scent. My mum and my sister would often collect and dry flowers to create potpourri and place them in areas around the house that needed to smell a little nicer, the hallways, the bathroom and my teenage bedroom for example. Maybe you find yourself in a similar situation, smelly pets? neighbours cooking smells? an odorous offspring? A selection of fine flowers dried or otherwise could cover that unpleasant odour, opt for some roses, lavender or a bowl of potpourri and trick your friends' neighbours or colleagues into thinking you live in a garden of roses!

Roses are Red Violets are blue, here are some flowers please forgive me too! - Sending a message with flowers.

The British are socially awkward, especially us men! Without a doubt, on a daily basis, we can be sure to forget an important event, say the wrong thing or just do something stupid and upset our wives, our family or our friends. What can we do? Enter the petrol station flower bouquet! While the thought of gas station flowers makes any respectable florist shudder in fear, to the native British male this is a “get out of jail free card” a way for us to convey our apology without the need for words or a public display of emotion. Yes a bouquet of flowers, no matter where they came from, show we are sorry and we care. Have you been a bit of an idiot? Said the wrong thing? Upset someone? Express your emotions with flowers show people you care, but don’t buy cheap convenience store bouquets, do it properly, get a real florist to help. Not sure what to get? We at Hong Kong’s best florist can help you with that!

Best in the Blooming Town! - Show off with flowers.

People often think of the British as well mannered ladies and gentleman, humble and not giving to bragging. On the surface that is not wrong, we do like to keep a certain level of face. Pride, competition and outride ego though find themselves expressed in different ways. One common area where I grew up was the annual BLOOM COMPETITION, basically a contest between all the neighbours in a town as to who could cover their house in the largest and most impressive display of flowers, garden ornaments, hanging baskets and vegetable patches. This was a WAR between neighbours something to be taken very seriously, there were days it became more intense than a Korean soap opera! What was our goal, to be the best and basically to show off. While I wouldn't want to encourage anyone to show off too much, a little here and there is ok…. So if you have a special event coming up, a new shop opening, a graduation or you just inviting the inlaws round for dinner, flower it up, people. Cover your home, a well-tended to the house of pot plants or beautiful bouquets will tell your friends and family you have got it covered, you are a successful adult.

That’s it for now, and believe it or not, this just scratches the surface on how the British use flowers to accomplish many things. That’s it from me right now, better go help my family water the garden, competition day is soon!