To a Mountain Daisy Floral Design and Flower Farm is the creation of two friends Lucy and Rebecca. they grow and create one of a kind floral arrangements inspired by the seasons. Their studio is based on their Flower Farm, where the majority of the material used in their designs is custom grown for their events. Mountain Daisy specialise in using heirloom, old fashioned and uncommon flower varieties prized for their fragrance and ephemeral qualities. To learn more about the company, how it all started, what inspires them and what’s in stall for the future take a look at our interview with them below…

 

How did it all start?

In 2016 Rebecca was getting married and we couldn’t find a local florist to create her wild natural floral vision for her big day so she thought let’s give this a try. Once we created Rebecca’s own flowers we realised just how much we enjoyed working with such a natural medium and after a few years of playing with seasonal flowers, researching and attending workshops we started to build up a portfolio of work. In 2018 after Rebecca dabbled successfully in growing her own flowers at home we decided to make it official and To A Mountain Daisy was born. We both love to get creative and have equal parts to play in the designing process while Rebecca does the majority of the work on the farm and caring for the plants I (Lucy) tend to client consultations, organising workshops and social media.

 

The story behind the name…

To A Mountain Daisy is a Robert Burns poem. Rabbie Burns has an important part in our local and Scottish heritage and that’s exactly what we wanted to reflect in a name. The Poem is an ode to a daisy and is written in beautiful dramatic Scots.

 

Where are you based?

Mountain Daisy Flower Farm is situated on the rolling hills above the town of Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway. Currently we don’t have a fixed space and are by appointment only but we hope in the near future to host workshops in our studio space which is currently being built on the farm.

 

What inspires you?

Our main inspiration is mother nature and just keeping it seasonal. Everything from the colour of the leaves across the Scottish landscape to the natural shapes of the flowers we grow inspire us

What is your creation process?

When planning our bridal work we start with the bride, I meet all our brides and grooms and I take pride in getting to know them all, a lot of our couples say afterwards that we knew what they wanted more than they knew themselves. Each season Rebecca and I talk over the Weddings coming up, we choose colours and flower varieties based on our brides then Rebecca gets hands on at the farm where she grows the varieties knowing who’s bouquet they could end up in, it’s a special bespoke process and we feel really privileged to be able to offer it. Rebecca’s seedlings are like her babies and there’s nothing better than seeing a particular flower we discussed months previous come up the week of the wedding it was grown for. For our design work it feels like a natural process of putting together the brides vision and the natural shapes of our home grown flowers.

 

What makes you, your brand or products unique?

It has to be our ethos, we are proud to use organically grown locally cut flowers, use zero foam and no single use plastics. We are conscientious of the environment and our carbon footprint and try and do our wee bit to be as eco-friendly as we can. If flowers don’t get used they are dried to use in the future or composted to go back into the land. We are members of an amazing organisation Flowers From the Farm which make British flowers more accessible to everyone and provide a great support network we are constantly learning from.

 

What is your next project?

On the Farm we are literally growing and up sizing. Rebecca (with help from her husband, Scott) has a massive new plot to fill with beautiful flora and fauna and we hope to have more flowers than we ever have before. Another exciting thing we’ve just started to plan is my own wedding flowers for June. I think we both can’t wait to have the creative freedom but we are also feeling the pressure on expectations, every Bride I meet has asked what we are doing for it.

 

What are your plans for the next 12 months?

On the farm Rebecca is continuously working on the season ahead and we have just picked all our summer flowers and foliage. I think we are most looking forward to having our own Roses for the first time this year, I can’t wait to be able to offer our Scottish grown garden Roses. Amongst our busy wedding season Mountain Daisy are also offering various seasonal workshops throughout the year. These will be focused on explaining the benefits of using British flowers and making beautiful arrangements without the use of foam as well as getting hands on and having fun creating something with nature.

 

What is your biggest achievement?

Our wee business has had so many successes it’s hard to choose one. Winning most festive stand after the weeks of prep’ for The Country Living Fair has to be up there. We also made the front page of Dumfries & Galloway Life, our local glossy magazine and when they came to take photos it just felt like we are business owners rather than hobbyists’.

 

What is your best-selling product/line?

For us, each season is so different but we always celebrate how successful our seasonal workshops and bridal creations are. Our best selling product has to be our Autumnal and Christmas wreaths. Our willow wreath bases are hand woven and made from scratch by Rebecca and I and embellished using foraged ingredients grown on the farm and surrounding woodlands. Many of our customers comment on how surprised they are on how long our wreaths last and a few even bring back they willow bases to be re worked across the seasons.

 

Your experience of your first Country Living Fair 

Both Rebecca and I had heard of and highly regarded Country Living Fairs but we had never attended as visitors so naturally it made it very difficult to plan what was needed of us. I remember the moment we saw the advertisement and looked into the application process, we just looked at each other and said let’s go big and give it everything. The issue of our product is the majority of it must be fresh and handmade just a day previous to selling. Rebecca and I spent months really focusing on planning key items we wanted to bring to the Country Living Fair. We designed a range of dry everlasting decorations; we hand bound succulent’s into Kokodamas (a form of hanging plants) to offer gifts and really focused on three handmade Christmas wreath designs. That’s not even mentioning the fun we had designing our stand space. After setting up and feeling pride in what we accomplished Rebecca and I realised it all came together was time to enjoy selling a product we believe in. I’m not going to lie, travelling three hours a day and working on our stand 4 days in a row was hard work but it really was so much fun. We gained so many new followers and booked in new clients, we received so much praise and sales of our work and met some amazing fellow suppliers.

 

What do you love about Country Living Fairs?

We really enjoyed our time at Country Living Fairs but I think the community between suppliers and the diversity of different high quality producers really stood out. We not only had a great time selling our own product I think we both got the majority of our Christmas gifts too!

 

Your three top tips for crafters and makers…

Keep your product natural, niche and something you believe in.

 

Any advice for fledgling businesses…

Keep going! Remember yourself worth and knowing that if you believe in your product or service you won’t give up on it. Celebrate all your successes and take pleasure in trying and learning- don’t call them mistakes.

COMMENTS 0

Leave a Reply

Important Announcement

We are delighted to announce that the management of the Country Living Christmas Fair is transitioning back to Hearst UK, owners of the Country Living Brand. For 2024, Country Living are partnering with iconic sister brand, Good Housekeeping, to bring a fabulous new and enriched festive experience to the London Christmas Fair. Good Housekeeping is the UK’s biggest lifestyle magazine brand for women and in 2022 launched its own, annual Christmas weekend festival, Good Housekeeping Live.

Good Housekeeping Live with the Country Living Christmas Market will take place at the Business Design Centre from 13th – 16th November 2024.

The Glasgow and Harrogate Country Living Fairs will be paused for 2024.

For more information on Country Living Events for 2024, please contact Ellie Craig, Artisan Growth Manager at [email protected]