Chiswick Flower Market is celebrating its first birthday in September. The market, which sells cut flowers, bedding plants, bulbs, houseplants, dried flowers, bouquets and arrangements as well as mushroom growing kits and pots, is the first new exclusively flower and plant market to be opened in London for 150 years. The September market will be the biggest one yet, with more than 30 stalls.
Created at the height of the pandemic by the local community, this fantastic new market has rapidly become a favourite Sunday destination. While the market continued to operate throughout the restrictions, it has now burst forth with joyous colour and high quality plants along the High Road. Situated in one of London’s most historic and unexplored quarters, a visit to the market offers a chance to browse the plants and flowers and explore the area’s pubs, cafes and boutique shops.
A huge hit at the first market in September 2020 was Hampton Estate from Farnham, Surrey with their ‘Fuggle’ hops. They’ll be back with their long strings of fragrant vines, which make fabulous decorations.
New to the market are florist Rebecca Gay @FlorieFloral and James Burridge.
Rebecca is a former fashion designer who began planting English country garden flowers and creating small posies to share with friends and family. She combines her seasonal cut flowers with wild plants foraged from hedgerows to make pretty hand tied bunches and wreathes.
James Burridge is market trader royalty. His family have sold flowers at the famous Columbia Rd market in London’s East End for generations. He joins his uncle Steve Burridge and fellow Columbia Rd trader Vicky from London House Plants, who have been part of the Chiswick Flower Market from the beginning, seeing the potential for creating a Columbia Rd of west London.
Other regular stallholders at the Chiswick market include Finest Plants, who will be bringing a range of shrubs, home-grown in Hertfordshire, to the September market, and Andrew Barker, a west London specialist in providing high quality & bespoke hanging baskets and planted arrangements.
To celebrate the market’s first anniversary, the volunteers who run the market – all local residents who wanted to do something to help restore trade in their local High Rd – have organised some special events.
All weekend there’s a programme of special workshops running – on microgreens and winter vegetable growing, with the gardeners of Chiswick House; on how to make wreaths and candle rings out of everlasting flowers, with Lifelike Flowers; mushroom growing with the Caley Brothers and how to make a Tinyjohn terrarium with London Terrariums. Google Eventbrite and Chiswick Flower Market to book tickets.
In a special collaboration with Chiswick Book Festival, cultural historian Kate Teltscher tells the human story of the iconic Palm House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Her book Palace of Palms about the men who conceived, realised and maintained it – the politicking and financial wrangles, domestic tragedies and epic plant hunting expeditions – makes fascinating reading.
Kate’s talk will be on Saturday 4 September in the Boston Room of George IV pub on Chiswick High Rd at 12.00pm. Tickets £8.00 from chiswickbookfestival.net
Fuller’s beautiful dray horses, a pair of huge Suffolk Punches, will clip clop down Chiswick High Rd to take part in the Sunday market from 11.00.
Abundance London will be pressing apples in a good old-fashioned apple press. Donate your apples for community juice making and enjoy a glass of freshly pressed apple juice for free.
Chiswick Flower Market is held on the first Sunday of every month in Old Market Place, outside George IV pub on Chiswick High Rd, but Sunday 5th September will be a special one!
