A new wholesale collection hub dedicated to English-grown flowers and foliage is launching on Thursday April 30th at New Covent Garden Flower Market, marking a step forward for British flower growers and the florists who want to buy homegrown products.
The initiative comes from Stem Union, a grower‑led hub founded in 2025 by three south Cambridgeshire growers and florists - Ellie Hunt, Ellie Canon and Cissy Bullock, and will operate as a Thursday pre‑order collection point at the Nine Elms market. The hub will connect London florists directly with a coordinated group of small‑scale English growers, offering fresh, locally grown flowers within 24 hours of harvest.
© Stem Union
Stem Union was established last year just outside Cambridge to support growers across Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk, pooling supply from multiple small farms to make locally grown flowers more accessible to the trade. While initial demand was expected to be regional, strong interest from London florists quickly highlighted the need for a physical presence in the capital.
"London florists are desperate for more English-grown flowers, but access has always been the problem," said Cissy Bullock. "This model removes a major barrier by bringing dozens of small growers together and giving florists a single, reliable place to collect their orders."
© Stem Union
A practical solution for a growing British flower sector
The British flower-growing industry is undergoing a resurgence, with increasing numbers of growers supplying the market and rising demand from florists for locally grown, seasonal product. However, fragmented supply and logistics have often made it difficult for growers to supply wholesale markets, and consequently for florists to source enough volume for large events and regular trade.
Stem Union's hub model addresses this challenge by collecting weekly availability via an online ordering platform, giving florists access to a broad, coordinated range of flowers and foliage from a single source.
Currently representing 16 growers, from micro‑scale specialists producing unusual foliage to larger farms growing multiple flower varieties, the hub enables even the smallest producers to participate in wholesale supply.
Growers upload weekly availability online, florists order between Sunday and Tuesday, flowers are cut fresh on Wednesday morning, and by Thursday morning they are available for collection in London - just 24 hours from field to florist.
© Stem Union
Why New Covent Garden Flower Market?
New Covent Garden Flower Market has long been synonymous with premium flowers and remains one of the UK's most important wholesale floral destinations. While English-grown flowers are already sold at the Market, volumes and logistics have historically made it difficult for many small-scale growers to participate.
"New Covent Garden is where florists expect to find the best and most interesting flowers," said Cissy. "Re-establishing it as a hub for British-grown product, even in a small, practical way to begin with, feels like joining the dots."
The Stem Union collection point will operate once a week to start with, focused on pre‑orders only, thus controlling costs while testing demand. Orders placed via the Stem Union website will be available for collection at the Market from 4am every Thursday.
The model is not designed to compete with existing wholesalers, Cissy stresses, but to complement the market by supplying product that has traditionally moved directly from grower to florist — often specialist or limited‑volume lines unlikely to pass through conventional wholesale routes.
"If anything, this will bring more florists into the Market," she said. "As they collect their orders, they're walking past other traders, with English and imported product. That exposure benefits everyone."
© Stem Union
Supporting growers, rebuilding routes to market
For small growers, even what appear to be relatively modest wholesale orders can make a meaningful difference. "Selling an extra 150 stems that might otherwise go unsold can be transformative for a microbusiness," Cissy added. "This model allows growers of all sizes to participate, while helping florists source more British flowers with fewer barriers.
"What we are doing is part of a countrywide movement, which demonstrates a wider shift across the industry towards the hub model. It puts New Covent Garden Flower Market in a leadership role as the hub in the capital and largest marketplace in the country."
Flowers from the Farm, the national trade association linking more than 1,000 UK flower growers, of which Cissy and the rest of the growers in Stem Union are members, supports the hub model as a scalable route to market that could extend to other regions over time.
"The launch of the Covent Garden hub marks a significant milestone for British-grown flowers, says Amber Cottam, Operations Manager for Flowers from the Farm. "It reflects the rapid growth of grower-led wholesale flower hubs across the UK, with 16 now operating and more set to open in 2026.
The formation of the Grower-Led Wholesale Hubs Working Group - bringing together Flowers from the Farm, the Flower Grower Collective, and independent hubs - signals a shared commitment to collaboration across the sector. By continuing to evolve the hub model, we are creating stronger routes to market that benefit growers, buyers, and the future of the UK cut flower industry."
Its arrival at New Covent Garden has also received the support of one of the Market's longest standing and best-known florist celebrity customers, Simon Lycett. "I am so excited that the wonderful and innovative growers of Flowers from the Farm are combining and collaborating with New Covent Garden Flower Market and will be offering us florists the opportunity to pre-order and collect their beautiful seasonal stems from Nine Elms each week across the summer months," he said.
