Record heat leaves flower growers short of blooms

British flower growers say the hottest summer on record has cost them entire crops, with some unable to bring anything to London markets.

Speaking at Chiswick Flower Market on Sunday, some growers said they had lost most of their crops due to the weather, while others described the measures they had taken to save theirs with one saying they had lived in a caravan in the middle of a field so they could water the plants before and after the day's extreme heat.

Organisers of the monthly market said several had dropped out because they had nothing to bring.

Met Office provisional figures show summer 2026 was the UK's warmest since records began in 1884.

England and Wales had their driest July on record, and by 10 August the National Drought Group reported 71.3% of England was in drought, with more than 27 million people under water restrictions.

For growers, that meant rebuilding the working day around the heat.

Lisa Comfort, who has a flower field in Chipperfield, Hertfordshire, said by 08:30 BST it was already too hot for her to cut the flowers, and the only window to water came once the sun was down.

"With the children, we were like, it's just too hard," she said. "They feel like they've been camping all summer. They'll remember the summers we spent on the flower farm."

George Stevens, a fourth-generation grower at Stevens of Sibsey in Lincolnshire, lost most of his peony crop in May when a cool start to the month was followed by temperatures above 30C (86F) within days.

"It just went from 14 degrees to 30 degrees," he said. "We missed the whole season."

What followed was months of hard, dry ground: "If we're putting seeds in the ground, they're not germinating because there's not enough moisture.

"Then you've got to irrigate, which is so expensive to do."

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."

The flower trade is not alone. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, which campaigns on climate policy, estimates the heat and drought could cost arable farmers as much as £390m in lost revenue, with 2026 on course for one of the worst harvests since detailed records began in 1984.

What the growers have in common is that none of them plans to stop. Each has spent the season working out what to change.

For Lisa, it was the watering itself.

"We heard about this pulse watering idea. I think it came from farms in Australia, and they basically water for 15 minutes every six hours, just to keep the soil moist," she said.

"Since we've done that, we've noticed a massive change. We wouldn't have learned that unless we were up against it."

Ellenah Murahwa, whose family run Holmbush Flowers in Horsham, West Sussex, has been rationing in the same way. Their dahlias usually open in the first week of August and have only just started.

"With the drought, we had to manage that quite tightly," she said. "Last year we had plenty of rain, we didn't have that problem, but we had no sunshine. You just have to work with the weather and do your best."

Andie went after income that does not depend on the weather at all - turning the farm into a venue.

"We're doing a hoedown in the dahlias, so we're doing line dancing. I'm doing a silent disco in the dahlias, which is very popular," she said.

"People are so desperate to get out and do something fun so we've really leaned into events this year."

British-grown cut flowers remain a small share of what the country buys.

The growers' association Flowers from the Farm estimates about 90% of those sold through UK florists, supermarkets and wholesalers are imported, chiefly from the Netherlands.

The association, which says it now has more than 1,000 members, says buyers increasingly ask for seasonal, scented and locally-grown blooms.

George had about two hours' sleep before Sunday's market, after a night cutting by head torch. Asked how he keeps going, he laughs.

"It's more for me probably pride, and I want to see my family so proud. If you didn't love the job, you wouldn't do it. I'm so eager to keep my family legacy going."

For Ellenah it is simpler.

"This is definitely a passion project. It's mum's hobby that has turned into fields of flowers. It's always something that brings joy."

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