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It is with great pleasure that we announce the forthcoming publication of our first book: Naturalistic Flowers: A Year of Plants, Places and People. Published by Thames & Hudson on 16 April in the UK and already available in the US, this book is a dedication to the natural art of flower arrangement, to the discovery of plants and living in the moment.

This was a memorable year of discovery, delight and spontaneity. We hit the road together, Jess with her camera, Ally with bucket and snips. We journeyed through the seasons to twelve different locations, making and shooting arrangements on site and exploring the idea of floral design with a sense of place. Every step of the way we sought to imbue the pages with a sense of adventure and the freedom that comes from looking at the world through the lens of the flower arranger. Everywhere we went we looked closely at the scenery and at what was growing, discovering hundreds of extraordinary and exquisite plants, both wild and cultivated.

We picked from some of the most famous English gardens, from an organic vegetable farm in Kenya, from olive orchards in Provence and the salt-marshes of north Norfolk. Ally made arrangements in some truly ‘pinch-me’ settings - using Quentin Bell’s ceramics at Charleston Farmhouse and Karen Blixen’s favourite vases at Rungstedlund in Denmark, surrounded by Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures at her workshop in St Ives and Jess Dennison’s glorious food at her Edinburgh studio.

Our dream for this book is that it will inspire readers to reconnect with the natural world as urgently and as frequently as possible. That it will find those in need of solace and the healing power of beauty, of working with their hands, of noticing the miraculous in the everyday. We hope that it will encourage some who have not done so yet to plant a seed, to reach for a vase or a camera, to take a step in the direction of tenderness and optimism.