Miriam Calloway started cutting flowers in her mother's garden in Shropshire when she was nine years old. Not for arrangements, just because she liked the way a stem of sweet William looked in a jam jar on the kitchen windowsill. She studied horticulture at Writtle College in Essex, spent three years working at a wholesale market in London where she learned to move fast and buy smart, and then spent two more years as a junior designer at a large event floristry company in Mayfair. The Mayfair job paid well. It also involved a lot of foam, a lot of imported roses, and a lot of arrangements that were photographed and then thrown away the same evening.
The studio that became Jade Field Harbor opened in the autumn of 2017 in a converted outbuilding behind a row of terraced houses. The first winter was quiet. Miriam sold mostly to neighbours and to a small restaurant two streets away that wanted a weekly table arrangement. She drove to the wholesale market herself every Thursday at four in the morning, bought what looked good rather than what was on a list, and built everything on a long wooden table she had bought from a closing-down pub. By the spring of 2018 she had a small waiting list for the weekly bouquets. She has not advertised since.
Built around cafe-au-lait, labyrinth, and bishop's children dahlias from Hartwell Cutting Garden, where Miriam has bought since the studio's second season. Stems are cut the morning of collection or delivery and wrapped in unbleached kraft paper with a small card noting the variety names. No filler, no greenery added for bulk.
Fenwick Ridge grows four rows of sweet peas specifically for Jade Field Harbor each summer, in a mix of Spencer varieties chosen for fragrance over colour uniformity. The posies are small, about the size of a generous fist, and they smell extraordinary. Available in limited numbers from late June through August.
A longer-lasting combination for people who want something on the table for a full week. Lisianthus from a grower in the Lea Valley, scabiosa in pale lavender and deep plum from Hartwell. Arranged in a small ceramic vessel made by a potter in Herefordshire, which can be returned to the studio for a £5 credit.
A low, wide arrangement designed to sit in the middle of a long table without blocking conversation. Built from whatever is fullest and most open that week, typically dahlias, cosmos, and late-season sweet peas. Comes in a terracotta pot that can go straight into the garden after the party.
Two arrangements every month, delivered on Friday mornings or collected Thursday afternoons. Subscribers receive a short note with each delivery explaining what is in the box and where it came from. The first delivery includes a small printed card with care instructions specific to the stems inside.
The studio is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome on Thursday and Friday afternoons. For events and subscriptions, reaching out by email is the most reliable way to start a conversation.
Our address: Kisone 1244-1, Yashio, Saitama 340-0813, Japan
Hours: Thu 10-17, Fri 10-17, Sat 9-14
Phone: +81 48-996-7908
Write to us: hello@jadefieldharbor.com
We do not stock flowers that are out of season. If it is not growing somewhere within a reasonable distance right now, it is not in our shop. This means the selection changes week to week, sometimes day to day.
Nothing sits in a bucket for four days waiting to be sold. Every arrangement is cut and built the morning it leaves the studio, which is why the vase life is longer than what you find at a supermarket.
We arrange in water, in hand, or in vessels that can be composted or returned. Floral foam is a microplastic and we stopped using it in the spring of 2019. The mechanics are harder without it. The flowers last just as long.
Every stem on our order sheet has a farm name beside it. Hartwell Cutting Garden supplies most of our summer dahlias. Fenwick Ridge grows our sweet peas. We visit both farms at least once a season.
The most common question we get after a delivery is some version of: why did my last bunch die so fast? The answer is almost always one of three things. The water, the temperature, or the moment the stems were cut. None of it is complicated, but it does require a small amount of attention on the first day.
Read more →When people hear that we only use seasonal flowers, the first question is usually: does that mean I cannot get roses? The answer is that roses do have a season, it is just not twelve months long. The second question is usually: what is actually in season right now? That is the more interesting question, and the answer changes every few weeks.
Read more →Garden parties are the best kind of event to do flowers for, and also the most unforgiving. The sun is out, the table is long, and the flowers are going to be looked at from every angle for several hours. Here is what we have learned from doing this through a number of summers.
Read more →Miriam Calloway grew up in Shropshire and studied horticulture at Writtle College in Essex. She spent three years buying at a London wholesale flower market before moving into event floristry at a Mayfair studio, where she worked on large-scale installations for corporate clients. In 2017 she left to open Jade Field Harbor in a converted outbuilding, with a long pub table and a cold room she built herself over one weekend. She grows a small cutting patch of her own each summer, mostly sweet peas and zinnias, and spends most Saturday mornings in it before the shop opens.
You can tell us what you like and we will do our best, but we do not guarantee specific varieties. What we can guarantee is that whatever goes into your arrangement is at its best that week. If you have a strong preference, a subscription or advance order gives us more time to plan around it.
We deliver locally on Friday mornings. The delivery area is roughly a five-mile radius from the studio. Outside that, collection is the better option. We do not use courier services for fresh flowers because the handling is too rough and the timing is unpredictable.
For events with more than four arrangements, we ask for at least six weeks' notice. For smaller gatherings, three weeks is usually enough. Summer books up faster than any other season, so if you have a July or August date in mind, sooner is better.
