My mother loved flowers and she made them a very normal part of everyday life. We always had flowers and plants of some sort in the house. Most often it was just a few stems picked from the garden, or a bunch of daffodils bought from the green-grocer but, as I grew up, the idea of bringing nature inside and observing the changing cycle of the seasons, was a routine firmly planted in my mind. I realise now how lucky I was.
At that stage, I never dreamt that flowers would be my career. But now it's very obvious that my whole approach has its roots in those early experiences: I still like to bring nature inside and choose seasonal, locally grown flowers whenever I can and whatever the scale of the event I've been asked to design. I still generally prefer it if the finished decorations have a simplicity and artlessness that emphasises the characteristics of the individual flowers or plants rather than any floral technical wizardry. And finally, I like it when flowers look 'comfortable' in their surroundings... when they seem the right choice for the container and for the room they are in. I think all this is particularly important at home. In fact I like to think that home flowers are like good home cooking: get the best, freshest, seasonal
Shane Connolly is passionate about using quality seasonal flowers and says "Nowadays we all agree that, when it comes to food, we should be sourcing the best quality ingredients from local producers. It's exactly the same with plants and flowers, and a little bit of common sense goes a long way to helping them last and give of their best in your house."
