New Covent Garden Flower Market is one of the supporters and partners of the inaugural National Florist Day (NFD), which will take place on June 8^th, 2024.

Organised by perennial industry champion Caroline Marshall-Foster of The Florist Magazine publisher Purple Spotted Media, NFD promises to be “a rolling campaign and awareness day to celebrate all that is wonderful about our profession and the people in it”.

The brainchild of Caroline, NFD has been her dream for a number of years and she is thrilled to finally be in a position to make it happen, and for the market to support it. “To have Covent Garden Flower Market involved is brilliant,” Caroline said. “My Mum used to buy from it way back in the 50’s when she had shops, I have literally grown up and worked with it since the 70’s so I am chuffed it is a Patron,” Caroline says. 

“The last few years have been particularly challenging for florists and the supply chain, but everyone still battles on and with a determination to succeed. 

“The industry has never been very good at promoting just how wonderful the traditional sector is.  It is driven by hugely skilled professionals who are also the very backbone and magic makers for the all-important gift and special occasion market.”

Registration for florists is totally free and open to every type of florist. Since what Caroline terms a “very soft” launch on March 3^rd more than 500 florists have signed up, which is a spectacular start. There is a cut-off date of April 20^th for registrations, simply to ensure that those involved will receive the requisite support prior to the big day. “The thought of at least 600 florists sending out a collective message and doing things around the UK and Ireland at the same time thrills me to bits,” said Caroline, trying to forget all the work that looms!

There are three ways that the campaign will engage with and promote the industry, she added: Ambassadors; Faces of Floristry nominations; and consumer facing activities.

• The first 12 Ambassadors have already signed up, hand-picked to represent all facets of the industry, with fabulous back stories and huge successful in their own fields. They will be announced in stages from next week.
• The Faces of Floristry aims to create self-love within the industry by allowing everyone to nominate - and raise up - an amazing grower, wholesaler, florist or shop, student or tutor or driver as a way of both spreading the NFD message out to the public and internally finding exciting new talent. This is an open-to-all element, which will be shared with everyone soon. 
• The consumer facing elements are currently a ‘work in progress’ says Caroline.

Caroline said: Other fun initiatives include a Floral Jukebox Jury… what song do you reckon sums up a florist? and a Flower Icons challenge… which blooms will make it to the 2024 Top Ten! A cool website is being built with all of this and oodles more information about our amazing industry and this will be launched later in April amidst a host of consumer press marketing.

“But the most exciting bit is the awesome Tool Kit - packed with ideas on how you can get involved and make the most of the day … and the week leading up to it!”

NCGM Press Officer Tommy Leighton said: “This feels like an event that has been a long time coming and of course, we’d love to see as many florists as possible involved in our core catchment area of London and the South East. As a Patron of NFD, the Flower Market will feature in the event’s communications initiatives, across its website and in The Florist. Like any campaign of this kind, how much the Market is able to get across its own messages of support and appreciation of the legion of florists who are our customers will depend very much on how we use the campaign as a Market and how all of the individual businesses here engage.  

“There is a special logo available to show that you are supporting NFD and there are various initiatives to tap into, as mentioned above. We will also be marking the event in the market – I’ll release more details on that further down the line.”