The Flower School’s attention-grabbing designs make a noise

By Bethany Byrne & Co.

This poignant and personal floral display highlights Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) – a condition the head florist has lived with for nearly three years. Severe headaches and vision problems are represented by a three-dimensional sculpted head set in a lush bed of wild, meadow-style florals, symbolic of the resilience of those faced with long-term health challenges. Special glasses that simulate the vision loss that can be associated with the condition are on hand to offer visitors a unique perspective.

By Hattie Shackleton, Honour Farm Flowers

Garden birds are crucial to thriving ecosystems in our green spaces and woodlands. A grounded meadow scene filled with responsibly sourced blooms, many grown at the designer’s flower farm in Yorkshire shows a regenerative closed loop system, with flowers flowing and arching to create an immersive display. At the centre of the meadow, a large woven nest, handcrafted using traditional willow weaving techniques, houses two recycled paper eggs; while overhead, dried-grass birds hang as though in motion.

By Violeta Veikniene

This exhibit celebrates the resilience of life amid destruction and highlights the ecological impact of blazes and the importance of conservation efforts to prevent them. Vibrant yellow, burnt orange and blazing red blooms cascade firework-like from two triangular structures. Sculpted from charred wood, the V-shaped design represents the florist’s initials to emphasise her passion for raising awareness of this increasing problem that devastates landscapes and habitats. Burnt tree fragments symbolise the scorched remnants of a post-fire environment.

By Kathryn Cronin, Fierce Blooms
Sponsored by East Cheshire Hospice

This living floral threshold raises awareness of the life-supporting work performed by East Cheshire Hospice. Created in memory of the designer’s beloved friend Christine Jones, who died at the hospice, the design illustrates the hospice’s motto ‘Where People Come to Live’. A wooden door frame, itself a threshold, is festooned with living, cut and dried Cheshire-grown blooms. Cottage garden florals, including East Cheshire Hospice’s symbol – the sunflower, are arranged in glass vases.

By Stacey Hartley
Sponsored by Northwich Sing Space Musical Theatre Choir

Inspired by the florist’s own experience of being a choir member, a floral conductor leads a chorus of blooms in song, while music and quotes taken from choir members at Northwich Sing Space Musical Theatre Choir describe the sheer joy of communal singing. A floral meadow cocoons the display, representative of the safe space a choir can create, while music stands filled with sheet music and floral annotations evoke a feeling of blossoming through song.

by Emma McGeehan & Ashleigh Slack

With its tall branches softened with bold blooms and ribbons crafted from repurposed disused tent material, this installation celebrates all under-represented groups in music, while evoking the atmosphere of a lively, crowded festival. Visitors are invited to listen to a playlist of female, non-binary and trans artists curated by Yorkshire Sound Women Network, a Yorkshire-based initiative that aims to enable underrepresented creatives to thrive.

By Bethany Bielby aka Gardening Gal

Flower Flock highlights the benefits of using sheep’s wool in the garden. Wool can be spun into garden twine, felted into container liners, or transformed into sustainable, moisture-retaining compost, releasing nutrients as it breaks down. Taking inspiration from a working sheep farm during lambing season, three life-sized sheep sculptures, adorned with British-grown blooms, graze within a straw pen, all watched over by a floral sheepdog to create the quintessential rural scene.

By Anja Norris
Sponsored by Endometriosis UK

This Won’t Be the END of Me! is boldly symbolic of the chronic burden of endometriosis which affects 1.5 million women in the UK alone. Representative of the physical and mental struggle, this installation features a fiery palette of blood-red and shocking pink blooms imprisoned by a length of barbed wire that coils menacingly around the work in an unrelenting choke hold. Recycled cotton and wool strands and mirrored shards complete the exhibit, placed on a bed of ice-cold slate.

By Georgia Singleton 

Perfect Haven is an ode to our rivers, waterways and oceans, and the need to protect them from pollution. Featuring highly scented, textural flowers and foliage, and a soothing soundscape, this multi-sensory installation is constructed around a wooden rowing boat. By appealing to the senses, the display aims to connect with visitors emotionally and mentally; evoking nostalgic feelings by transporting the viewer to a happy memory of a time spent among nature and enjoying our waterways.