Habitat Aid is delighted to announce that they will be supplying the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) with packets of native wildflower seed especially selected for honey bees. BBKA Enterprises Ltd. successfully trialled an Annual Wildflower mix and a Special Bee Mix of annual and perennial wildflowers at the BBKA annual Spring Convention at Stoneleigh Park. Both mixes will be available from the BBKA website from 10th May and will retail from £1.00 plus P&P.

The packets are unusual in several regards.

The seeds are top quality, guaranteed UK provenance, and are all native wildflower species.

The Special Bee mix consists of 25 species, suitable for most soil types, and all of which benefit honey bees and/or bumblebees.

Rather than the small packets for sale at Garden Centres sizes start from 10g, or approximately 800 seeds, and go up to 50g (4000 seeds).

Packets come with proper instructions.

All BBKA Enterprise’s profits from the sale of this packet of seeds will be gifted to the BBKA’s own Education and Research fund

For further details please contact Roger Cullum-Kenyon at BBKA Enterprises:

roger-cullum-kenyon@bbka.org.uk

02476 696 679

Habitat Aid Ltd. is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

How to instantly get 30% more value on your flowers!

We’ve all been there. You order a dozen roses to find that on delivery your beloved only has 9. Why?

Ordering from a middleman instantly reduces your value for money. Most middlemen charge between 20-25%. And then the florist he calls takes between 5-10%. That’s an average of a whopping 30% just for taking your order and calling a florist himself.

You’re paying for the brand name. You’re talking to people that hardly see flowers in their day to day life. You’re talking to people who may have never even seen a bouquet being made.  Calling a middleman is like buying a raffle ticket – sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And unfortunately these days, it’s most often lose.

We try to be as transparent as possible. We charge you a delivery fee on top of your order. This is calculated by the distance it takes to travel to your destination: it’s not a set fee where sometimes you’re paying too much and other times you’re paying too little (and therefore the fee gets taken out your flowers!). The prices you pay for delivery to London is for hand delivery, by our own drivers. The price you pay for UK deliveries is what we pay to our courier. All of the flowers we deliver come straight from our studio to your recipients home.

So say you order a £100 bouquet from a middle man: he’ll take 25% of that immediately. Then the florist takes a 5% cut. Suddenly you’re £100 bouquet is only worth £70. Oh, and then there’s the hidden delivery cost, which is probably between £5-£10.

Many florists working with the middlemen end up feeling ripped off. They’ve only gotten 5% from your order, while the big boys have gotten 25% just for calling them. That 5% in their total orders often doesn’t add up to enough to pay the bills. And that’s why you’ll get 9 roses instead of 12.

Todich Floral Design LTD is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

If you want to send someone you love a card that’s really special, how about one made from paper infused with wildflower seeds that will grow into real flowers? It’s the latest green innovation from ecohip, the website for eco-friendly gifts, gadgets and beauty products.

The cards are made from 100% recycled paper, sourced from Botanical PaperWorks, a pioneer in eco-friendly stationery. Embedded within the paper are a selection of wildflower seeds. When your loved one has finished displaying the card, all they have to do is find a sunny spot, spread a thin layer of soil onto the paper and water well. In 6-8 weeks wildflower or spruce trees will bloom, creating a special gift to remember. The card range includes:

• Baby congratulations cards


• Congratulations cards – perfect for weddings


• Mother’s day cards


• Condolence cards


• Blank greetings cards for any occasion

As you would expect from ecohip, the boutique eco store, the modern, beautifully designed cards are totally eco-friendly. They are printed with vegetable-based inks and even the plastic overwrap is made from corn. Ordinary cards are often made from unsustained paper sourced, using toxic printer inks and fixing agents.

What’s more, when you plant your ecohip card, it is totally biodegradable. Each year, billions of conventional cards end up in landfills and contribute to deforestation – this Christmas alone, around 1 billion Christmas cards will be sent in the UK, which means that over 300,000 trees would have been felled [source: Defra].

“These cards are a wonderfully novel way to touch someone and give them an environmentally responsible gift,” says Steven Chasan, owner of ecohip. “When you send someone dear to you a letter or card made of our plantable paper, each time the flowers bloom, they’ll remember you.”

“More and more of us are recognizing the need for environmental responsibility in this day and age,” says Chasan. “We’re simply doing something we love that happens to also fulfill a need.”

Other items available in the plantable paper include calendars, journals, handbound books, writing paper and gift tags.

For more information visit http://www.ecohip.org/

Tactile
Interiors has launched a new range of products for their eco friendly website
and at least 70% of that product range is from British Designer/Makers. 
The new products range from recycled glass vases to locally grown flowers.

All the products at
Tactile Interiors are natural, recycled or recyclable, sustainable or ethical
and at least 70% are sourced from the UK.

So why does the company
choose to buy British? Tactile Interiors believes that by buying and selling
locally and choosing British designers, it is able to reduce transport miles
and bring you stylish home accessories from local craftspeople.

Gordon’s
Gin Recycled Glass Vase,

made
in Devon.

You can now order fresh British flowers
from Tactile Interiors.  The bouquets are made weekly with the latest
flowers available.  Buying these flowers is a great way to support
British growers and is a more environmentally friendly choice than buying
flowers grown overseas.

The
very best of British Cut flowers