The Bloom Guild

Over the last couple of years, Adam and I have been gravitating towards gifting each other ‘experiences’ rather than objects for special occasions. We’ve never been big present people, but love giving each other the ability to go and do something, that we wouldn’t normally do. For my birthday last year, Adam gave membership to the ‘Bloom Guild’ – a flower growing workshop run by Wagga Wagga based Little Triffids Flowers.

I was thrilled with the gift, but knew I’d have to wait a few months to be able to attend my workshop. This weekend past though, I was able to pull on my wellies and potter around a rather spectacular garden…

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve probably heard me mention Little Triffids once or twice before. Sophie, who runs Little Triffids is a dear friend and has been my go-to florist for many years. There were no favours given though in securing my place at the workshop though (I love the fact Adam’s gift to me is helping to support a local business) and I certainly received no preferential treatment over the other participants.

The morning started with cups of tea, served in vintage china, in the dappled shade of Sophie’s beautiful backyard which is full of big trees, sprawling flower beds and some of the most picturesque garden sheds I’ve seen. Before the workshop proper started, each participant was presented with a few little goodies – a folder full of tips; a personalised notebook, pencil, biscuit (baked locally by another local business Dough Re Mi) as well as three packs of seeds.

Sophie gave a brief rundown of the Little Triffids history before running through half a dozen or so gardening related areas including seed raising, irrigation and feeding. Tim, her husband, made a cameo appearance to talk about compost and the group was also treated to a beautiful picnic lunch (served in COVID safe individual boxed portions) which we were able to nibble on as we sat and listened.

Next on the agenda was a trip to Sophie’s main cutting patch. I’ve had the opportunity to visit it quite a few times before, but it’s a place I never tire of visiting. There’s always something new blooming and it really is ever-so-peaceful about wandering between rows and rows of homegrown flowers. Soph is a truly generous host -eager to share her experiences in the garden and happy to be among like minded people who adore flowers as much as she does.

The workshop concluded with a brief flower arranging demonstration (using just picked flowers), where Soph was able to work her magic for all to see.

Although the weather was warm and steamy, which made it a little uncomfortable out in the sun at times, I had a really nice but super informative time. The idea behind Adam’s gift is that I’ll be able to use my new found garden knowledge when we move into our new house and gain a lot more backyard space than we currently have. In the meantime though I think I’ll investing in some new potting mix and planting out some large pots with my new collection of seeds!

Have a wonderful week.

M. x