Seasonal Flowers
A time for reflection
Now that the 2025 flower season has come to an end, it’s time for the field to be prepared for its dormant winter rest, and it’s also my moment to reflect on the season that has passed. The work never truly stops, of course, but the pace shifts. As autumn and winter settle in, everything becomes a little gentler. It’s a pause — a chance for me, and for the plants, to recharge in preparation for next year.
As I look back in order to plan ahead, I’m also reminded of why I created The Dahlia Wood in the first place. My aim was to build a flower farm rooted in its local community, offering slow-grown, seasonal Welsh flowers. Three years on, I feel incredibly proud of what we’re able to grow and the flowers we provide to our customers. And while our regulars understand and embrace our ethos, I can’t help but feel that the wider public is still a long way from truly thinking about where flowers come from. In short, many people still don’t realise — or aren’t ready to accept — that flowers are a seasonal product.
What does the term “seasonal flowers” actually mean then?
The mis-use of the term “seasonal” drives me absolutely potty. Every time I cast eyes on yet another online flower shop offering a “seasonal bouquet” in January — one clearly filled with blooms imported from overseas — my heart sinks right down to my mud-laden wellies. Because they are not seasonal. Well, not in the area they’re being sold.
It makes me wonder whether we’ve disconnected flowers so far from nature that we no longer question it. Each phone call I take before Valentine’s Day, when I explain that because I grow my flowers I simply don’t have any fresh ones available; every bride who asks for white roses in April; every disappointed Christmas customer wanting to send a bouquet — they all confirm what I suspected. People consider cut flowers as a permanently accessible decoration, rather than a fleeting moment of nature to cherish while they’re here.
When you think about the word “seasonal,” what comes to mind? Fashion collections, festive menus, or maybe the changing colours of the trees? We instinctively accept that clothes, food, and landscapes shift throughout the year — but for some reason, we don’t apply that same understanding to flowers.
We’ve become so accustomed to having everything, all the time. But this “year-round availability” is an illusion created by imports, artificial growing environments, and long-distance transport. It disconnects us from the transient nature that makes flowers special in the first place.
Seasonal flowers, in the true sense, are simply those that bloom naturally in your local climate, without being forced or flown halfway across the world. They follow the same weather patterns you do — the chilly springs, the warm bursts of summer, the wet spells, the sudden frosts. They’re shaped by the same landscape and conditions that shape everything else around you, each one marking its moment in the year.
Do you want to wander through the seasons with me?
Our flower availability tends to start in mid to late March and finish in October when the first frosts arrive.
SPRING
Early spring offerings include Ranunculus, Tulips, Anemones, Wallflowers, Iceland poppies, Honesty and Geums. As we move into later in the season Alliums, Nigella, Sweet Williams, Foxgloves, Corncockle and Dutch Iris arrive
SUMMER
Early summer brings Roses, Sweet Peas, Lavatera, Ammi Majus, Campanula, Snapdragons, Scabious, Chinese Forget-me-not and the start of Dahlias, China Asters and Phlox.
AUTUMN
In August and September we will have an abundance of Dahlias, Phlox, Cosmos, Amaranth, Rudbeckia. We can often see a second flush of Scabious, Snapdragons and Roses.
Let’s reconnect with our seasons?
Well I feel a bit less ranty now I’ve reminisced through each glorious chapter of the year. The wonderful scents of spring flowers, gentle frothy abundance in summer and the bold colour and rich tones in late summer and autumn. Surely all of that is worth waiting a few months of winter for?
And if you’re now imagining a wedding filled with proper seasonal beauty — no April white roses in sight — or you’re simply dreaming of treating yourself (or someone local) to flowers that actually belong to the moment we’re in, you can wander over to my wedding pages or browse my seasonal bouquet offerings to see how each season comes to life here.
Thanks for reading! If you found this interesting you might like to keep an eye out for our forthcoming mini-blog series, featuring wedding flowers through the seasons.
