AN ETHICAL flower grower based in Latteridge is celebrating another successful growing season by throwing open the garden gate this Saturday.

The Organic Blooms team is hosting an open morning from 10am until 1pm on Saturday, to mark the Soil Association’s Organic September.

Director Jo Wright said, “This has been our first season as a certified organic grower and florist and it's all gone really well.

"Although we’re reaching the end of our floristry season, we’re still working hard in the field and polytunnels and visitors will be able to explore our cutting gardens, enjoy cake and a cuppa, and buy plants and flowers to take home.

"Entry is free and we’d love lots of local people to come and see what we do here.”

Organic Blooms – a social enterprise working with local adults with support needs – offers online bouquet sales for delivery or click-and-collect, wedding flowers, sympathy flowers and a range of horticultural and floristry courses. Organic September celebrates organic farmers, producers and brands and encourages people to switch some of their purchases – including flowers - to organic alternatives.

Jo said: “Cut flowers are now on sale in so many places - from online floristry services to supermarkets and petrol stations - that we’ve forgotten that really they’re a luxury.

"Most of us don’t stop to consider how they’ve been grown and how they’ve been kept fresh, stored and transported. The vast majority of flowers bought in the UK have been grown overseas using a lot of chemicals and vast amounts of water. They are grown for straightness and stem length, rather than scent and natural beauty, and a huge amount of energy is used in cold-storing and transporting them, resulting in a high environmental cost.

"But by buying British-grown organic flowers in season, people can help to change this.

“At Organic Blooms we sow, grow and arrange our flowers all on one site, without the use of chemicals. We’d love to welcome lots of people this Saturday (September 30) to show them how we grow here and just how beautiful British seasonal organic flowers are.”

Organic Blooms is on Latteridge Hill, Latteridge BS37 9TS. Free entry from 10am to 1pm, Saturday, 30 September 30. For more about Organic Blooms visit www.organicblooms.co.uk