This years RHS Chelsea Flower Show saw Lisa’s fourth entry into the Chelsea Florist Of The Year Competition, winning her a fourth medal – a Silver!

This year the schedule was to design and create a floral wedding throne for a spring wedding –  a definite nod to the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan taking place just the week before.

Thinking caps were on and in typical Eden style I opted for a semi foraged design and a trawl on Ebay.

The Inspiration…

I was inspired by a Spring garden, where flowers grow from bulbs into tall spires of flowers despite the prolific snails (or is that just my garden?)  The surrounding Somerset landscape was also a massive factor with its rich green woods, cow parsley smothered hedgerows and bright yellow rapeseed fields all having an influence on colours and materials. I was also determined to make this design have a low impact on the environment with mostly natural and biodegradable materials used apart from a meter or two of cellophane and a bit of glue its all earth friendly, including the brand new biodegradable flower foam from Oasis.

Flowers used include; Eremurus, Antirhinium, Arums & Callas, Roses, Craspedia, Orchids, Carnations, Amaranthus, Stocks and Dandelions!

Foliages – Ferns, Ivy, Moss, Succulents, Oak, Birch

Some of these were used for their ‘Floriography Meaning – The Language of Flowers;

The Dandelion – Faithfulness & Happiness, The Carnation  – Divine Love, Ivy – wedded Love & Fidelity, Stocks – bonds of affection,  Arum – Ardour.

Where It Began…

The base of my chair is constructed from a £5.00 battered arm chair from a ram-shackled house clearance barn on the edge of Somerset and some branches from the surrounding hedgerows. The branches were manipulated into the shape of a church window, well mother natures version of one anyway, with THE most perfectly shaped birch branch as the back bone.

The seat base was upturned with the cushions removed and lined with cellophane  and covered in cork to create a huge water vessel that would become my based floral cushion, creating a mass of flowers without the need for blocks upon blocks of oasis- a definite bonus for the environment. The edge of the seat base is covered with a ‘fencing’effect of branches and senecio succulents cascading from snail shells.

The back of the chair is created with branches manipulated into the shape of a church window arch and filled with a perfectly shaped birch branch. Bark pieces create the link from gold chair to woodland arch along with moss vines which snake through the design onto the moss platform.

The arms of the chair are created with gold wire stands supporting bulbs and  seru pods which create a natural test tube for the fresh flowers. Nestled amongst the design there are 4 birds nest displaying miniature eggs filled with flowers and a pair of wedding rings.

There is also an army of snail shells filled with succulents and flowers.