How this Walberton flower nursery has adapted to lockdown

But since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK and most florists and wholesalers closed their doors, owner Ben Cross has had to come up with new ways to get his flowers to people’s homes. The nursery specialises in British Alstroemeria, also known as the Peruvian Lily, and produces millions of stems right throughout the year. Mr Cross said of the flowers: “They don’t know it’s a lockdown. A lot of businesses can stop buying in their products, but for me, the flowers are still growing. “It’s not like you can stop because the product is always coming through.” He has teamed up the owner of Beachtown Blooms in Littlehampton to set up a nationwide letterbox scheme so that people can get flowers delivered directly to their homes. Mr Cross is also directly supplying care homes, local charities and NHS members through a Facebook group at a reduced rate. And around Mother’s Day, a collaboration with a supermarket meant that frontline NHS workers received some of the nursery’s fresh flowers alongside their food orders. Mr Cross said: “I think we’ve adapted fairly well and a lot of people seem to be enjoying the service.” Demand for freshly cut flowers was high, he said – pointing to examples of people sending them as gifts for birthdays, to those who have been unwell, or to their partners who the lockdown has prevented them from seeing. “There’s all these scenarios where flowers are becoming really important,” he said. “They are very good for mental health and a bit of joy and colour in these days of quarantine and isolation.” Mr Cross, a fourth generation farmer, said that – with the pandemic resulting in more people buying locally – it was a good time to raise awareness of his British Flowers Rock campaign, which he launched back in 2014. “Over 90 per cent of cut flowers in the UK are now imported,” he said. “Obviously the environmental and carbon footprint of that is gigantic.” He hopes that, even once the pandemic is over, the letterbox delivery scheme will continue and people will be more aware of the importance of buying British flowers, Find out more by searching @CrosslandsFlowerNursery on Facebook. A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton: Thank you for reading this story on our website. But I also have an urgent plea to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality local news on this free-to-read site and in print, please purchase a copy of our newspaper as well. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on our town centres and many of our valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you buying a copy. Our journalists are highly trained by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards anywhere in the world. Our content is universally trusted - as all independent research proves. As Baroness Barran said in a House of Lords debate this week on the importance of journalists: “Not only are they a trusted source of facts, but they will have a role to play in rallying communities and getting the message across about how we can keep ourselves and our families safe, and protect our NHS. Undoubtedly, they have a critical role.” But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. In return we will continue to forensically cover the local news - not only the impact of the virus but all the positive and uplifting news happening in these dark days. In addition, please write to your MP urging the Government to provide some additional financial support for local newspapers and their websites like this one and ensuring that supermarkets continue to stock them. I cannot stress enough how important such an intervention would be. We thank all our readers and advertisers for their understanding and support - and we wish YOU all the best in the coming weeks. Keep safe, and follow the Government advice. Thank you.