Wedding flower growers have warned of a shortage after struggling with one of the UK’s driest springs on record.
Around a tenth of the flowers bought in the UK are from British growers but this year farmers say they are battling unpredictable weather.
Yorkshire and the northwest are officially in drought as the UK has had its driest spring in more than a century.
Depending on rainfall in the coming weeks, drought could be declared in other areas, while one water company is set to announce a hosepipe ban.
Roisin Taylor, who runs Verde Flower Co in Northumberland, told the Times: ‘I’m trying to meet deadlines for weddings, so timing is really critical. The drought has pushed everything back.
‘It’s given me shorter stems. The water collection has been an absolute nightmare. So it has had quite a significant impact.’
Ms Taylor added that the weather conditions have affected the species she grows, saying ‘it’s become less predictable, year on year, when a crop will be available’.
Concerns were also raised by other flower growers at the Groundswell farming conference, as many farmers are facing the same issue.
Around a tenth of the flowers bought in the UK are from British growers but this year farmers say they are battling unpredictable weather
Wedding flower growers have warned of a shortage after struggling with one of the UK’s driest springs on record
Concerns were also raised by other flower growers at the Groundswell farming conference, as many farmers are facing the same issue.
Olivia Wilson, who has a flower farm at Bellingdon, Buckinghamshire, said: ‘It’s been very difficult because of drought.’
A lot of her plants have been ‘stress flowering’ due to the heat, meaning they produce flowers early.
The dry weather comes following an extremely wet 2024 that left many fields underwater.
‘I keep thinking, “This year will be more normal”. Last year was incredibly rainy. It’s not the drought per se, it’s the unpredictability,’ Wilson said.
Martin Williams, a farmer in Herefordshire, added: ‘You keep thinking that next week it’s going to arrive but it hasn’t. It’s got to the stage where it’s beyond repair.’
Cissy Bullock of Flowers from the Farm, a trade association, said its farmers are the ones who ‘sit on the front line’ and ‘feel the changes in climate first’.
Environment secretary, Steve Reed, spoke at Groundswell, telling farmers that land that yields little food may need to be taken out of production for needs of of nature, housing and energy.
He ssaid: ‘It envisions taking some of the least productive land out of food production [and] supporting the more productive land to increase production.’
