Flowers & Folklore

In this Garden Gossip episode of Flowers & Folklore, Sarah and Keeley spill all about their new floristry studios and what they’ve been up to lately. Tangents include a rant from Sarah about the council, Keeley schools Sarah on the Goethe Effect & nasturtiums and we chat about dried flowers.
Enjoy!

Floristry & Flowers
We both begin our journeys in new studios. Follow Rook Botanics and The Green Edit Studio on Instagram to stay in the loop.

Inspiration
Keeley:
* Mr Bloom on Instagram
* Keeley’s trip to the coast, featuring nasturtiums

Sarah:
* Small Biz, Big Chat networking events in Glasgow
* The snowflakes from Sarah’s workshop
* The petticoat daffodils (we think!) at Haddon Hall
* Caroline McQuistin on TikTok

Coming up…
Keeley:
* The Green Edit Studio website for upcoming floristry workshops
* Join The Green Edit Studio mailing list
* The Idea Catcher Spreadsheet
Sarah:
* Sarah’s upcoming spring workshops
* Join the Leftover Flower Club
* 1:1 floristry workshops with Rook Botanics

Flowers & Folklore on Instagram

We’d love to hear from you!
Have your own floral stories or lore about a favourite flower? We’re accepting reader submissions, so if you have a flower story, (about any flower) please share it with us! Leave us a voice note on our website flowersandfoklorepodcast.com, comment below or email us at [email protected]
Enjoy the episode!
Sarah & Keeley
Find Sarah online: Instagram | Substack | Pinterest
Find Keeley online: Instagram | Substack
More info and transcript on Flowers & Folklore you must access this via your desktop and not your phone.



Get full access to Flowers & Folklore at flowersandfolklore.substack.com/subscribe

This was the episode to start it all. Until it wasn’t. Originally recorded (and then discarded) not once, but twice by Sarah when she was first beginning her podcasting journey, today, 4 years on this episode makes it to the airwaves. But, dear listener, it’s worth the wait.
Ah, the little bluebell. A flower tied to ancient woodlands, fairy folk and warnings not to stray from the path ahead.
In this episode we explore why bluebells have captured imaginations for centuries and take a few detours on the way. Because, hey, it’s us.
Enjoy the episode.
PS look out if you hear them ring!
Books & Poetry

* Discovering the Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker
* The Brief Life of Flowers by Fiona Stafford
* The Language of Flowers by Margaret Pixton
* Hedgerow Apothecary by Christine Iverson
* Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
* The Traditional Games of England, Ireland and Scotland by Alice Gomme
* Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life by Marta McDowell
* Flower Fairies of the Spring by Cicely Mary Barker
* The Fairy Caravan by Beatrix Potter
* The Bluebell by Anne Bronté
* To a Bluebell by Emily Bronté
Artworks

* The Bluebell Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker
* Helen Allingham Bluebell paintings
* Lucy Loveheart
Also mentioned

* Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
* Countryside the podcast episode about Beatrix Potter by two walkers in Cumbria
* Village of Death the podcast episode about Eyam plague village in Derbyshire
* The Bluebell Railway
* The Fairyland Trust
Flowers & Folklore on Instagram

We’d love to hear from you!
Have your own floral stories or lore about violets? We’re accepting reader submissions, so if you have a flower story, (about any flower) please share it with us! Leave us a voice note on our website flowersandfoklorepodcast.com, comment below or email us at [email protected]
Enjoy the episode!
Sarah & Keeley
Find Sarah online: Instagram | Substack | Pinterest
Find Keeley online: Instagram | Substack
More info and transcript on Flowers & Folklore you must access this via your desktop and not your phone.



Get full access to Flowers & Folklore at flowersandfolklore.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! Keeley takes us down lots of fragrant and delicious rabbit holes all about the violet. This small but mighty flower has deep roots in the floristry world, as well as being the OG red rose (it’ll make sense once you listen!) And yes, this gave Keeley another opportunity to complain about roses.
We take a trip down memory lane with films and books, take a quick stop at the Tate to admire some art and look up recipes for violet pudding.
Books

* The Hedgerow Apothecary by Christine Iverson
* Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants, and Trees by Ernst and Johanna Lehner
* Floriography by Jessica Roux
* Discovering the Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker
* Flowers and Their Meanings by Karen Azoulay
Artwork

* Lady with a Bowl of Violets by Lila Cabot Perry (1910) at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
* A Bouquet of Violets by Édouard Manet (1872)
* Ophelia by John Everett Millais (1851-52) at the Tate
Head to our Instagram for visuals.
Also mentioned

* Betty May @bettymaywrote - features the character Violet the mouse in the Wildwood series
* The article by Felicity Hall from historyworkshop.org.uk about flower girls
Flowers & Folklore on Instagram
We’d love to hear from you!
Have your own floral stories or lore about violets? We’re accepting reader submissions, so if you have a flower story, (about any flower) please share it with us! Comment below or email us at [email protected]
Enjoy the episode!
Sarah & Keeley
Find Sarah online: Instagram | Substack | Pinterest
Find Keeley online: Instagram | Substack
More info and transcript on Flowers & Folklore you must access this via your desktop and not your phone.
P.S. Leave us a voice note!



Get full access to Flowers & Folklore at flowersandfolklore.substack.com/subscribe

In this Garden Gossip episode of Flowers & Folklore, Sarah and Keeley spill all the recent flower goss. From seasonal quiet spells to the ideas and projects that have been quietly taking up all their daydreams.
From fairy lights and backyard vows to magnolias, amaranthus, unexpected thistle, and trusting your gut when plans unravel, this episode wanders through wedding flowers, winter studios, meaningful funeral work, and the power flowers hold in moments of joy and grief. Along the way, there’s talk of cake side-quests, Tolkien, hellebores on graves, creative play without pressure, and why fleeting beauty might be the whole point.
Enjoy!
Floristry & Flowers

Keeley:
Keeley did her first ever wedding as a florist! Yes siree Bob, that’s the secret project she mentioned in our previous Garden Gossip episode. It just also happens that this wedding was her own. Perhaps, one could argue, that it was a bit mad to attempt to do the flowers on her own wedding day (& in 38 degree heat!) but the madness made way for something magical.

Sarah:
Sarah recently put together a bold, joyful funeral arrangement for someone who loved colour. She went for fiery Icelandic poppies, wiggly ranunculus, pink spray roses, winter foliage, skimmia, and little pops of ilex berries. It was a riot of life in the middle of winter, and Sarah reflects on how flowers like these can offer a quiet bit of comfort, helping people pause, breathe, and remember the personality and passions of the person they’re celebrating. Even in sorrow, there’s a little magic in the way flowers can hold space for love.
Inspirations

Keeley:
* Sarah mentioned Keeley’s Cake decorating post
* This stunning tin snowdrop made by In Progress from Meg Fatharly. Meg’s instagram is also here.

Sarah:
* Secret Garden interactive book
* Sarah’s visit to Tolkien’s grave, with a little hellebore.
* Cyclamen by Karim Abu Shakra from the Palestine Museum

Coming up…

* Sarah’s DIY wedding course which will be out in February
* Mother’s Day workshops and vouchers
* Keeley’s substack

We’re nerdy & nosey
What flower-related things have you been inspired by recently? We’d love to hear your stories and connections about flowers. Our listenership is really spread across the world, so if you have some local folklore about a specific flower please write in and let us know.
Email us at [email protected] or message us on instagram.

Enjoy the episode!
Keeley & Sarah
Find Sarah online: Instagram | Substack | Pinterest
Find Keeley online: Instagram | Substack
More info and transcript on Flowers & Folklore you must access this via your desktop and not your phone.



Get full access to Flowers & Folklore at flowersandfolklore.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, hello! So lovely to be back and be sharing our first episode of 2026 in which Sarah takes us into the curious world of the Camellia.
Don’t be fooled by its beauty and abundance, this flower has a layered and more powerful past than you might expect.
In this episode we wander about gently through history, folklore, politics and fashion houses. Plus, it wouldn’t be an episode about a pretty flower with at least one reference to a noble death, right? In amongst that creepy revelation we talk about memory keeping, notebooks, perfumes that evoke images of ‘theatre and posh old ladies’ and the lengths humans go to, just to have flowers in their lives, no matter the era.
Grab a cup of tea, settle in, and maybe don’t pluck flowers from mysterious trees...
Books

* The Language of Flowers by Odessa Begay
* A Year in Flowers by Erin Benzakein
* Floriography by Jessica Roux
* The Complete Language of Flowers by S. Theresa Dietz
* The Language of Flowers by Margaret Pickston
* Two Japanese tales featured here. This is an illustrated database of Japanese folklore and worth noting they also have Patreon. The accompanying image below is by Matthew Meyer:
Impact on Women’s Sufforage in New Zealand

Speech: “So Women Can Get the Vote” by Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia.
Journal: The camellia – suffragist symbol of womanly excellence.
Battle of the Camellias.
A symbol for Suffrage 130 by Vanessa Smith.
Artworks & Literature

La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas
Camellia artworks by British painter and botanical artist Clara Pope (c.1767 – 24 December 1838).
Camellia and Bird by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 12 October 1858).
Also mentioned

Camelia Oil by Niwaki
Camellias in The House of Chanel
Flowers & Folklore on Instagram
We’d love to hear from you!
Have your own floral stories or lore about Camellia? We’re accepting reader submissions, so if you have a flower story, (about any flower) please share it with us! Comment below or email us at [email protected]
Enjoy the episode!
Sarah & Keeley
Find Sarah online: Instagram | Substack | Pinterest
Find Keeley online: Instagram | Substack
More info and transcript on Flowers & Folklore you must access this via your desktop and not your phone.



Get full access to Flowers & Folklore at flowersandfolklore.substack.com/subscribe