A couple of days before sitting down to write this, we posted a bouquet by Essex florist Nicki Hedin – aka Flowers From My Garden - on our Instagram page. The dahlias and zinnias burst from the square frame in lustful shades of red and purple, bobbing above a sea of country-green foliage. Someone in the office, a city-dweller all their life, said it felt like looking at the country garden they’d always dreamed of as a child, distilled into one tight bundle of twine-wrapped stems. Someone else said it’s rich colours and subtle wilderness made them think of a naughty romp on a sun-dazed afternoon, stretched out across some rolling hill with only the odd bumble bee for company…
…Which was weird because no sooner had those words left the mouth of this particularly deviant member of the Floom team, a comment popped up under the Instagram post from one of Nicki’s bee-keeping countryside neighbours, saying that her wards always buzz on over to the cutting gardens where Nicki grew these very blooms. A rather more wholesome image I think we can all agree, but also one that offers an insight into just how special Nicki’s floristry is.
![Floom Flowers From My Garden Studio 3B Web](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-3b-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=3a23e3c2217533ab2daf55bf976d5f23 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-3b-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=e5bbe1315f05d07591e69663775b0289 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-3b-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=b199855e7917b8026a7d88da2fc1be47 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-3b-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=6ee044f179e6e3c7aaf116d1a526b83f 400w)
You see, unlike many florists, who make the twilight pilgrimage to a trusted flower market each week in search of the finest, freshest flowers, Nicki – with her bucolic gardens - is all about cutting out the middle man. Except the idea of ‘cutting out a middleman’ is gross business-speak that would never cross the mind of someone who made floristry her life in the most (vague pun warning) organic of ways. That’s probably obvious though. For starters there’s the wonderfully shrug-of-the-shoulders name, and then Nicki immediately states that, “floristry started as a hobby and as a way to pay for my plants. I would pick a few bunches to sell at the gate.”
floristry started as a hobby and as a way to pay for my plants. I would pick a few bunches to sell at the gate.
![Floom Flowers From My Garden 3](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=726b7c9571396eaef98d1f3f8f1c050b 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=da6492c151ac34eda8c6daa5cd6d3c4d 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=baf625c6ee1286d3a90397223c7eae01 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=fbd4a77d1cadc0bc4b99664eb46a36f4 400w)
Nicki quickly fell in love with the whole process – “from seed to finished bouquet” – and the fact that the joy she got from creating them would be transmitted to the person who received them. “I love the colours and the way they can change each other when put together,” she says, elaborating on her feelings. “I love it when you find that one special flower that just makes the whole bouquet zing. I love watching the plants grow from seed to early March into small plants ready for May and then it’s such a thrill to see them burst into colour and provide such abundance. Then at the end of the season they provide me with seeds for the next year and so it goes on…”
![Floom Flowers From My Garden 4](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=e77617556c832341f57a798d06305fd5 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=ceb471601d5904b14f6250ca4f8996e7 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=24a0a73f53489b6cd20d123f94610c98 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=31a798c1f475eaee92e70d37152bd816 400w)
![Floom Flowers From My Garden 7](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-7.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=3f0a7acf6d71813cd700301c12d74e3e 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-7.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=c194202db3ff8fc302ffd77ae8f77bf5 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-7.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=5f7e1447882214d5849f9c781bc91c06 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-7.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=a9bd309c4747b7f53d867646bf04a12c 400w)
![Floom Flowers From My Garden 6](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=2b74f6a1a489438a8c25b059b30e4b78 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=a1d137925a61ef648e1f32dd99dcb875 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=c3be7645c4290332dcfb66f98ef5932b 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=ebabeeeacd3fd0809f16bcf5428a49dc 400w)
It’s easy to lose yourself in Nicki’s dreamy eulogizing, which is of course also the case for her showstopper of a garden. There is an order to the two gardens that Nicki tends to, of course, yet somehow the gloriously ramshackle beauty of nature finds a way (as it always does) to thrust itself to the foreground. As Nicki strides with purpose around the beds that house her floral wards, each stem sways gently in the Essex breeze, scattershot bursts of colour dotting the backdrop of rolling hills like splashes on an Impressionist’s canvas. A gentle brook splish-splashes it’s way between the two gardens, around which Nicki forages for twigs and pine cones in the winter (“for wreaths”).
A gentle brook splish-splashes it’s way between the two gardens, around which Nicki forages for twigs and pine cones...
![Floom Flowers From My Garden Studio 1 Web](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-1-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=b2d3a92d17ce1428a925af952b189bd2 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-1-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=6db7d55ae7ea5f89c25c619f07b045cd 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-1-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=0034cbc1e2c29a7d80e64fbb9d8ec78a 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-studio-1-Web.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=ab4fbe43f484986209fae4eb2e5be22a 400w)
![Floom Flowers From My Garden 5](https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=900&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=75635d3e1238aa6e3fc3a42f6bd44add 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=625&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=4f0c81c40c07553f0ee5c9cb360baabe 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=375&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=57da5a4082d2aae70bcad99d6ba29ff5 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/floom-flowers-from-my-garden-5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=250&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=e87803cb8c6db409216a95bd2c6ca689 400w)
Surveying the abundance of her kingdom like the most benevolent of custodians, Nicki smiles when we ask her what flower she would be if she were one. “An achillea,” she says. “They can be a rainbow of colours. They are also a long-lasting and reliable flower.”
Words by James Darton
Photography by Christina Wentworth