About Us
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Media Kit
History
Bearded Florista (formerly Blue Geranium)
Phil & Don are the bearded floristas and for more than fifteen years have passionately developed through tough and good times a very successful floral design business into a recognised brand. Working with traditional floral craftsmanship skills ensures their customers are more than happy and guarantees repeat orders. Over the years, customers have purchased flowers from a small kiosk at Torquay, a stall at the historic Totnes market and currently for the past ten years at the established Workshop on Castle Street, Totnes.
Bearded Florista offers a particular style that's natural with rich textures and tonal colours that are compared to classical garden-style arrangements.
People want flowers for all occasions wherever in the world, which has fortunately offered Phil & Don some amazing opportunities such as a Premiere footballer's wedding in the Caribbean, 2012 Olympics, Royalty and other celebrity events - Full List
6,500 Like/Follow
2,341 Followers
People say the nicest things...
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Meet The Team
Donald Thornford
Chief Florista of Totnes Florist
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Front of house
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Customer service
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Events consultant
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Senior Floral Designer
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Stock buyer / purchases all goods for the business
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Visual merchandiser
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Bereavement councillor
The singing Florist, known affectionately as Don. Front of house guy, friendly, approachable and genius artist when it comes to designing and arranging flowers for weddings, funerals and all other celebrations. Loves singing and entertaining. Married to Phil since October 2019.
Philip Thornford
Florist & Manager of Bearded Florista
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Publicity
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Social media promoter
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Photographer / Videographer
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Website designer
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Blogger
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Delivery driver
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Admin - estimates, invoices
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Bookkeeping with Xero
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Florist
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Warehouse manager
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Visual merchandiser
Phil, husbear of Don for 23 years and motivator of the business they created 14 years ago. Designing and building a website allows Phil to promote and update every day, along with social media posts, brochures, business cards, promo stickers and other POS items. Phil doesn't shy away from floristry, because he creates all the fiddly floral designs such as buttonholes, floral crowns and corsages.
What We Do
The Mechanics of Floristry
Fresh flowers arrive at the shop or on location for Phil & Don to prepare, condition, arrange and install. Several hours have already been spent in preparation prior to fresh flowers arriving; Consultations, writing quotes, negotiations, ordering sundries, stock etc.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Question
Why did you choose floristry for your profession/career?
Accidental I suppose through an opportunity given by a wonderful lady called Jane Morrell, with whom I have grown very close to over the years. Jane had a florist in the town of Totnes back in 1999 to 2003 called Green Fuse, where she offered me (Don) a job as a florist. Within a short period I was managing the shop having developed a flair for wedding flower design and transferred 15 years of retail eperience with M&S.
Which products do you offer?
Blue Geranium provides fresh flowers for:
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Weddings -
Funerals -
Private and Corporate Functions -
Hand-tied bouquets for all occasion -
Deliver/Send Flowers
Do you deliver flowers?
Blue Geranium delivers flowers for all occasions:
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Wedding flowers -
Funeral Flowers -
Bouquets -
Private and Corporate Functions/events
Do I need to arrange a consultation for wedding flowers?
Blue Geranium florist provides a full wedding flowers design service. Clients are required to complete a wedding enquiry form to proceed and be invited by appointment for a consultation.
Where are your flowers from?
Blue Geranium Florist sources fresh flowers from The Netherlands in order to provide a year round supply. During the summer months some flowers are sourced as local as possible from Totnes and surrounding areas in Devon and Cornwall.
Do you buy local grown flowers?
Blue Geranium sources seasonal, local grown flowers throughout the summer months from June to September. These generally complement flowers sourced from The Netherlands.
How or why did you rebrand the business name to Bearded Florista?
We had a lightbulb moment as you do and the appropriate steps were to move away from a name that we associcated with the past - Although Blue Geranium became a well known brand, it belonged to Torquay and that part of our path changed more than ten years ago. Bearded Florista sprung to both our minds after seeing a removal truck with Beardy Removals of Brighton.
Have you worked for other florists?
Don has worked for several florists prior to establishing Blue Geranium. His first taste of floristry began while he was employed with M&S (London early '90's); followed by the greatest opportunity with Jane Morrell at Green Fuse (Totnes - 2001-3); Moyses Stevens concession at Harrods (2003 until concession ended at Christmas 2003; Moyses Stevens, Clerkenwell and Sloane Square2003-4); Followed by Don reopening Green Fuse as a franchise (Totnes - 2005-7).