Manchester Flower Festival 2025

Oak Apple plants has been based in Afflecks for 6 months now, and one of the greatest experiences this store has brought us so far has been creating a display for Manchester Flower Festival 2025! We were given the brief 'Tribes of Our City', and Abbie and Leah went to work drafting ideas.

In our eyes, the two best displays of Manchester are the music, and Canal Street. A music scene that has seen the rise of Joy Division, John Cooper Clarke, Slaughter and the Dogs, and Oasis has to be part of the vision, we we felt Afflecks was always a home first and foremost for the misfit, the outcast, the punk. With Canal St a stone's throw away, and at a time of turbulence and terror for the LGBT+ community, we felt it important to draw from the queer community and bring the vibrancy and joy to our display that they bring to our daily lives.

One of the most important things while designing and creating these visions was Abbie's desire to create a low-waste, environmentally friendly display. All materials were sourced from charity shops and fabric scraps from our own wardrobes. As with the majority of plants in the store, we used British polytunnels, as well as plants that we have been able to propagate and grow from our own plants. Half of the reason people love houseplants so much is the health benefits they bring - whether that is more oxygen in their home, mood enhancers, something to care for - so our goal is to bring these luscious offerings to you with as little harm to the environment as possible.

With our ideas in place and our resources gathered (both living and not), work began! We were provided mannequins from the team at Afflecks, which meant our first day was primarily one for moss and a hot glue gun. While our Mossy Mosher and the She-Hulk dried, we turned our attention to the rest of the display. Much of the foliage was foraged, and because of this, timing had to be tight: the earlier we built our backdrop, the sooner our project would wilt. The day before the Flower Festival began, we shut the shop, and wrestled chicken wire, manoeuvred marantas, and draped all things dangly to build our walkway and feature piece.

Our display was up for the three-day extravaganza, and to say we were proud is an understatement. Getting to work with the Afflecks team, as well as the incredible Jamie's Jungle, Occult, The Manchester Shop, and Victoria Jayne Cosmetics, we are so thankful for the community we have been able to build since opening 7 days a week in one of Manchester's most iconic markets. Thank you to Make Up or Break Up for the feather boa and glitter, thank you to Pen Fight MCR for the badges, and thank you to everyone who came to see our display. Without your support, we wouldn't get to continue our journey of bringing affordable houseplants to the wonderful city of Manchester and beyond!