‘I’d rather die than muck up’: meet the super-florist behind Chelsea, Wimbledon and royal weddings

That equals, so Barnes tells me, around the same amount that most of the UK’s 15,000 florists make in a year - and Lavender Green works on over 1,400 events annually. The maths is staggering.

Now 30 years old, Lavender Green is a world leader in event floristry, with the best venue access in the business. It is one of just two certified floral suppliers for the six Historic Royal Palaces (which include Hampton Court and Kensington Palace and have tremendously high standards) because, and Barnes doesn’t mince her words, “we’d rather die than muck up.”

Her team not only designs blooms for royal palaces and the flower show; it is also behind the VIP arrangements for other key British social events including Wimbledon, Queen's and Royal Ascot. Its work for Chelsea alone was a five-month project.

As for her clientele, the highlights read like a bumper edition of Tatler’s Bystander. The florist of choice for society’s most discerning clients, Lavender Green created the flowers for the Wessexes’ wedding in 1999, and Pippa Middleton’s 2017 marriage to James Matthews.

Celebrities from Esther Rantzen to Liam Gallagher have booked her for parties and dinners, although Barnes is clear to note that special treatment is bestowed on all - famous or otherwise.

“We are always only as good as our last job,” she says. Case in point: the handwritten letter she received from a client whose wedding was on the same day as the Wessex’s. “Thank you for not making us feel like the poor relation,” the bride’s father wrote.

Since its beginnings 30 years ago, Lavender Green’s MO has been floristry at the cutting edge; an end-to-end service that leaves no stone unturned. As a couturier would sketch out her ideas and refine them throughout the creative process, Barnes (who has a background in design) and her team take the client’s wishes on board, generate a flurry of ideas via sketch (which consider everything from the dress to the food and the architecture of the venue), and continue in this detailed manner until the final flowers are installed.

But it wasn’t always rosy. “When we first opened, we didn’t sell one stem,” says Barnes. “Until the fifth day, when a Porsche screeched to a halt outside the shop and the woman - a polo wife - had her legs in the door before her bottom had even left the seat.

"She bought five vases at £300 each, and asked me if we could do £500 of flowers at her home every week. We punched the air and I thought, ‘Thank god!’”

Not long after, another well-heeled client rolled up; this time a Middle Eastern gentleman in search of a florist for his boss’s niece's wedding. “He said, ‘The only problem is he will absolutely not spend over £32,000,'” says Barnes. “I nearly fell over. Thirty years ago that was shed-loads of money.”

It was after this wedding, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, that Lavender Green became an event florist, and moved out of retail for good. Three decades on, she has a new base on the Fulham Road and an at-home service coming to fruition.

What’s most interesting about Barnes’ work is that she takes flowers way beyond what one might typically expect, transforming vast spaces into entire fantastical worlds. Decorating 100 weddings a year, prices can soar to over £250,000 for the full works, which might include floral towers as high as two double-decker buses, and several change-overs.

The theme of transformation is certainly trending, according to Barnes. At one wedding last year, a bride’s Tuscan garden was transformed three times over in three days.

“You cannot get a more spectacular kind of wedding,” says Barnes. “It was one of the most memorable I’ve ever worked on.”

Designed in conjunction with the bride and her mother - a good friend of Barnes - guests enjoyed a pre-wedding dinner in a lemon grove setting, with herbs, figs and blooms. The next day the space was transformed into a carpeted glass marquee, with 20-foot-high floral designs and impressive table arrangements for the wedding breakfast.

The bride’s favourite flower, the Mother’s Choice peony, dictated everything from the bridesmaids’ dresses to the silk tablecloths, the bouquets and arrangements.

But the highlight was yet to come. “The guests all left at 3am,” says Barnes. “Then our team came back and carpets were removed. We completely turfed the marquee and installed wooden tables for a very smart picnic vibe.

"Everyone had been eulogizing over the flowers on the wedding day, but when it was changed over they were gobsmacked.”

Fantastical transformations aside, it’s the full, whimsical, natural look, that chimes so well with current trends. “‘Big bum’ floristry has had its day,” says Barnes. “What we do is the antithesis of that; really classy, typically English and full-on beautiful.

"Clients want their wedding to look the very best - not the most ostentatious, but the most naturally beautiful, finished look.” For something on that scale, Barnes recommends booking as far ahead as possible, although her team is trained to execute a big project in as little as three weeks.  

Corporate events are different; whether it be VIP hospitality at Wimbledon, Queens or Royal Ascot, which tend to involve large numbers of smaller arrangements, or private parties at exceptional venues, the challenge is finding a way to marry the brand, the venue and the floral design, says Alice Groom, head of corporate events.

That c-word can often be a recipe for blandness - whether through the will to not offend, or simply to please all - but Groom (who has a background in fashion) has a creative eye. Her knack of using florals to marry brand, message and venue turns out anything but beige.

One-upmanship, of course, is synonymous with events season - and that plays out interestingly at Lavender Green, which often gets approached for multiple events at the same venue each season.

“Every one of our clients is so different,” says Alice, “so you can’t just churn out the same design because it’s cool and edgy and it works in the venue. As much as we try to be quite hand-holding, we are very honest and transparent.”  

Last year’s Serpentine Pavilion was the site of one of Groom’s favourite projects - and of several commissions that season. “There was a pool of water and a mirrored ceiling, and the client wanted the flowers to create a cool young vibe,” says Groom.

“The space was square and modern, but we went for a natural looking installation - with seasonal flowers like scabiosas, peonies, hydrangeas, antirrhinums and animatus - that looked like it was growing and contrasting with the inside.”

Using collections of mirrored plinths in the water, with flowers sprouting out of them (“we’ve done lots of hanging installations and pillars of flowers; that got people stopping and taking photos”), the client was so thrilled that Lavender Green was asked to recreate the exact same display in a different colour two weeks later.

“It almost looked like a piece of art in itself,” says Groom.

Lavender Green is a taste-maker, using skills from design and fashion to bring huge projects to fruition. As the RHS Chelsea Flower Show opens to the public tomorrow, what other trends might we see?

According to Groom, it’s all about sustainability, natural-looking arrangements and messaging. “Sustainably sourced, free-flowing, hand-tied flowers, with no floraform is huge right now,” she says.

Daintiness is over. “People want arrangements that look handmade; blousy, open and falling - maybe a petal has come off - but it makes the flowers look real. Everyone is really over big flower domes and over-the-topness,” says Groom.

As for the flower itself, hydrangeas have apparently been and gone - hydrangea plants, on the other hand, mixed in with florals are on the money. As a final piece of advice, Groom suggests staying away from generics, like roses, and opting for something that feels more genuine, like peonies.

Poppies, too, are popular at this time of year, and scabiosas. “It sounds horrible,” Groom laughs, “but it is the most beautiful late spring-early summer flower that comes in so many colours and does exactly what you want it to.”

lavendergreen.co.uk

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