Becoming an Organic Flower Grower & Tulip Specialist | Polly Nicholson

#54 - Organic flower grower Polly Nicholson from Bayntun Flowers shares her small business journey. Passionate about tulips, she also grows narcissi, alliums, peonies, clematis, sweet peas, bearded irises, delphiniums, zinnias and dahlias. She supplies wholesale flowers to florists, runs workshops and is also in-house florist for residential properties locally. Growing up in the countryside, her parents grew very few flowers in their garden. So Polly used to go and pick wildflowers, and developed a lifelong passion for picking flowers. After university, she worked as an antiquarian book specialist at Sotheby's in London.  As part of her role, she catalogued a gardening catalogue, which built on her childhood passion for picking and foraging.   Once married and having had children, she signed up for a course in Practical Horticulture, which The English Gardening School were running at Chelsea Physic Garden.  And she found the course life-changing. Fifteen years ago, she and her family moved to Blacklands, a Georgian house in North West Wiltshire, which has a series of walled gardens. Missing the flowers she'd been used to buying at New Covent Garden Flower Market in London, Polly decided to begin growing her own.  And she started by planting tulip bulbs.  Five years later, Bayntun Flowers was born. Initially, she was selling hand-tied bunches and floral designs for small events locally. Polly brought in Arne Maynard to help with the design of the garden. And he suggested that she took on a Head Gardener. Polly discusses the different varieties of tulips that she currently grows, including an annual crop and historic tulips. The latter have recently been awarded National Collection status with Plant Heritage. She also discusses her numerous sustainability practices, the range of workshops that she has planned for this year and her incredible press coverage. She talks about the impact of the pandemic on her business, together with her 2022 plans. Listening to this episode, you'll hear how passionate Polly is about sustainability and growing flowers, in particular tulips. And I'm sure you'll really enjoy the interview!Show notes are available on the My Small Business & Me website: https://mysmallbusinessandme.com/episode54Flower Photography (iPhone Version) Online Course: https://learn.flowerona.com/flower-photography-iphone-version