Record summer weather leaves flower growers short of blooms

The cost is what worries growers most.

Andie McDowell runs Dahlia Beach, a pick-your-own farm in Oxfordshire with nearly 30,000 dahlia plants, and needs about 5,000 stems a week in a season that runs only from late August to the end of October.

“We’re spending an absolute fortune. It’s been really crippling and that’s a cost that you don’t factor in from one year to the next,” she said.

“It’s the same amount of effort, the same amount of energy that you put into it, and then you’re just having to throw more and more money at it just to get the flowers to flower.”

Buyers rarely see what sits behind the price of a bunch.

“The cost of labour has gone up, the cost of fertiliser, everything, even the cost of hiring the blooming van to get here. We’re being pinched on all sides,” she said.

George added that the sums had put his business close to breaking point: “By the time you’ve done it, you’re near the point of is ‘it still profitable to keep going, and where’s the cut-off point?’ That has been the biggest tackle I’ve known this year.”

Lisa puts it more bluntly: “You don’t get into this to make yourself rich. You don’t ever calculate your hourly rate, that is a big no-no because you realise you’re earning 50p an hour. It is a way of life.”