August has carried on where July left off, with heat, strong sun and drought. We have given up on some of the cool loving annuals, such as the antirrhinum and cornflower as we just couldn’t keep them watered and shaded enough. Instead we have focused on keeping our late summer stars alive- dahlia, amaranthus, statice, zinnia and cosmos. Every year is challenging. This has not been our most challenging year – two years of winter floods (2019/20 and 2020/21) were pretty disastrous for us. However I would like it noted that after those floods, in the spring of 2021 we spent a huge amount of money having drainage channels put in under the flower field, and it has hardly rained since.
The UK is also in recession, which will only get worse as time goes on as the cost of living, in particular the cost of fuel and energy have just kept on rising. How does this affect our business? Well of course our own costs are significantly higher, everything is more expensive – seeds, bulbs, compost, packaging. And as our product is a luxury item, general retail sales have dropped. However we are providing flowers for a lot more weddings this year. Some weddings postponed from the last couple of years due to covid are only just now taking place. Next year I think the number of weddings and events will go back to how they were pre-covid. So what should we do? Quietly bide our time and see what the future brings? Cut back our expenses, batten down the hatches and wait out the recession? Or do we take a risk, carry on with expanding the business and grow even more blooms? Watch this space to find out what we have decided to do, although if you follow us on instagram I think you’ll already have seen a few hints about our plans.
Hay Lane Flowers 