Spring is the time of plans and projects

Winter has been a stubborn stayer and spring somewhat tardy but at last we're nearly there!
The verges are full of cowslips and crocuses.. plucky enough to survive the frosts, and nervous green shoots have started to show on our beloved trees.

 Our winter months have been filled with planning, scheming, and hatching ideas, as well as travelling the country meeting with wonderful brides and event planners. This summer is FULL of exciting weddings and events.. Tattie Rose Flowers will be adorning the luxury camping area at Glastonbury Festival, the Great Hall at Stirling Castle and again the soaring fences and perfect areanas of the Blair Atholl International Horse Trials aswell as many a marquee and castle across the country.

It's been my first winter in Edinburgh... it's true what they say, it is bloody cold and very wet yet somehow it still manages to remain beautiful despite the lashing rain and wind. I continue to be blown away by the wonderful people that live in this city- colourful, creative and generous characters always willing to share a useful word or two about starting and growing a business from scratch or where to go to hear the best Jazz band on a friday eve. Between the winter weddings and visiting beautiful venues making plans for the finer months, I have been frequenting the local and not so local auction houses, scouting out vessels and vases. Under these roofs are a concoction of both interesting objects and people, all with a story that you might be lucky enough to windle out of one or two, I love that a complete stranger can teach you something you'll take with you forever.

We have a beautiful thistly white wedding happening this weekend for a very special family and then we head South to finalise our events before the magic happens. Enjoy the snippets of sun , listen to THIS and hope that we have a summer to rivale the carribean.

TR x

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face

Summer seems to have come and gone without us really even noticing, oh no hang on, I do recall one day I ventured out without a wooly jumper on- ah well, we choose to live in this beautiful country not for the climate.
Autumn is upon us and it is truly beautiful, although there is a distinct lack of berries in the hedgerows which will seriously effect sloe gin supplies nation wide which is a horrific thought but also all our autumn arrangements are suffering, fear not they are still full of rosehips, russet beach leaves and wonderful Tom Pierce. Along with digging out delicious soup recipes and wrapping up in chunky knit cardigans ladies across the country are filling hand painted bowls with ornamental pumpkins and gourds resulting in conversations like this;
Man- Can you eat these?
Lady- No of course you can't!
Man- Well what's the point of them then?
Lady- They look pretty
Man- Right. (walks away shaking head)
The end of the summer took Tattie Rose all over the country, we adorned ancient castles, grand houses, sparkling marquees and corporate board rooms and our flowers were greeted with oohs and aahs. We have some exciting projects and opportunities on the horizon and next week we travel to Oxfordshire to do flowers for an incredibly exciting party, there will be huge trees, moss, pumpkins and twinkly lights- photos will be posted.
Edinburgh is exciting, there is moving and shaking and the whole place feels warm and content. As the leaves change we turn over new ones and hope to reach the goals we conjured up all those months ago when we moved to the North.
Heading off to the workshop now to plan next week's event listening to this and dreaming of a little holiday to here...
Salaams until next time x

Courses for Horses

August is nearly at a close and over the last few days I have noticed Autumn slowly start to unravel, if you look closely the oak leaves are starting to curl and pass their best, the mornings are chilly and I saw the tiny white beginnings of snow berries on a hedge at Blair Atholl.
It has been quite a month, a month full of flowers, friends and feet finding. My flowers have decorated the Edinburgh Military Tattoo which I was lucky enough to be invited to see as well on a warm clear night. It was magical and filled me with nostalgia as I remembered sitting in the stands as a child with my siblings wearing bin bags to keep dry whilst the pipes and drums kept us warm.
To Salisbury we went to do flowers for the loveliest bride in a beautiful place working with a wonderful team of caterers and organisers who fed us well and gave me tips and advice and made me laugh with stories of previous events. We covered the rafters and tables in the old barn with rich Wiltshire greenery and the leading lady of the weekend was a beautiful orange rose from Columbia.
The last week took me North of Edinburgh to Blair Atholl to do the flowers for the International Horse Trials there. It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I left my workshop with my tent and wellies, not knowing what to expect nor knowing what was expected of me. All my worries evaporated within seconds as I was introduced to the team I would be working with and the course I would be ' decorating'.
Blair Castle sits large, white and regal in the middle of it's beautiful estate, the land is wild yet well cared for and across this ground is where riders and steeds from across the world as well as the country test their skill, courage and fitness tackling the three elements of an international 3 day event- dressage, cross country and show jumping.
My small contribution to this incredible event was to decorate the fences for both the cross country and show jumping with silk and real flowers and Blair Atholl greenery.
  The cross country course is a work of art ..huge looming fences, deep ditches, steep slopes and thick aintree style hedges.. The people who built it are heroes. Peter Wilson and his sons Ben and Chris, Tony Simmonds and Harry Williams. They are five of the kindest, most inspiring and hard working people I have ever been lucky enough to meet. Last week was one of the happiest weeks of my year and it was mainly down to them so for that I am truly grateful.
 So now I head into my favourite season listening to this with a spring in my step, a head full of ideas, the belief that anything is possible and feeling that a big part of the puzzle has been found.
Till next time...

A tardy post...

The blog of tales has moved location thus allowing photographs!
These are the works of the incredibly talented and equally gorgeous Julie Davenport who spent a few days with us in Wiltshire shooting us at work for an exhibition at the Royal Horticultural Society's annual photographic exhibition.
The end of July was spent in the most beautiful place I have ever been on the Knoydart Peninsula on the west coast of Scotland with a gaggle of quirky wonderful people- photos and stories will follow.
Since returning from paradise, Tattie Rose's flowers have been installed into the VIP box of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, rusty metal crowns overflowing with eryngium, roses and oak, and huge glass flutes filled with plump hydrangeas and stunning hybrid delphiniums jumbled in with hypericum berries huge branches of oak.. a feast for the senses- now very excited about seeing the show.
The Edinburgh festival has started, the city is alive and swarming and the sun is shining (sporadically). Tomorrow will be the first night of throwing myself into the festival fever as all my friends and I hit the town to celebrate my birthday and the cutting up of my young person's rail card.. sad that Network Rail decides when you are officially post youth.
Life has placed some hurdles on the yellow brick road so keep your fingers crossed and listen to this.

x

Testing... testing

The Lion's month

It has been weeks...
And so much has happened.
So to start, a Midsummer Night's Dream party in Wiltshire. It was absolutely amazing in every way. The people who helped where fantastic and fun, the situation was beautiful nestled in the Wiltshire Deverills, the client was what every flower girl dreams of and the flowers... well though I say so myself and I probably shouldn't, were fabulous. Trees on the tables, made with our own fair hands, full of wild dog rose, pink hydrangeas, roses and foxgloves. The tent poles were wrapped in honey suckle and rambling roses and then scattered with foxgloves. A huge wall of beech divided the marquee and it felt like you were sitting in a forest.
We were photographed at work by the brilliant Julie Davenport. Her photographs are stunning and she put us all at ease as we were shot for a project of hers which will be appearing shortly.
Tink and I headed back up North and recieved a surprise phonecall inviting us to do flowers at the London 2012 Olympic Games. A huge honour to have been asked, a massive task to undetake and a big decision to make. Unfortunately due to all the commitments in August and a slight Geographical hurdle and the annoying inability to be in two places at the same time I have had to turn down the opportunity.. BUT, how many people get to turn down the Olympics?! (positive thinking)
This week our flowers adorned Archer's Hall in Edinburgh for the Royal Week Cocktail party, I think they were pleasantly surprised by the lack of soft ruscus and crysanthemums as I filled the arrangements with delicious blue hydrangeas, delphiniums and phlox. We passed the test and have been invited back next year.


And so the rain continues to poor, I continue to explore and find out more about this city they call 'Auld Reekie'.

A little wink goes a long way..

It was such a nice surprise today to walk out of the flat and be greeted by sunshine! I honestly contemplated building an ark on Saturday so it was with great pleasure that I stripped off my arctic coat and cable knit jumper and drove out to my workshop this morning with the window down, raybans on and THIS playing.
It's been an exciting last week, my little flower company featured in The Best Scottish Weddings magazine with a few photos of my work and a lovely write up about what we do. I've had the preliminary meeting to talk about flowers for possibly the most well known event in Scotland.. it's going to be brilliant and I'm so honoured to even have been thought of. Preparations are in full flow for this weekends event, on Wednesday Tink and I have a very long journey to Wiltshire with a van full of flowers and 'trees'.
My resolution to become more efficient with computers and admin based tasks is not going well, I wish the type writer would make a come back..ooh and flares whilst we're at it.
I've got a big idea that I want to put into action, it will involve a little help from my friends but it could be amazing if we can pull it off.
'Til next time y'all
x