Petersham Nurseries Covent Garden shop and restaurant

For three centuries until the 1970s, Covent Garden was a flower (and fruit and vegetable) market, its Floral Court awash on a tide of scent and colour where thousands of blooms were bought and sold every day. Rejoice, then, that Floral Court has, again, been taken over by flowers and foilage with the opening of Petersham Nurseries Covent Garden, in the centre of the London market, a new presence with a distinctly Italian, classical feel.

All photographs provided by Gini Rhee x Culture Whisper

There's now a lifestyle shop, a delicatessen with its own cellar of Italian wine – and, of course, a florist – all based in a new 16,000 square foot venue. Two restaurants will follow in early 2018.

Buy Venetian glassware and artisan garden tools, enjoy workshops at the potting bench and sample antipasti and charcuterie fresh from the deli. You can read our full feature on the products here.

Far more than a regional garden centre, Petersham Nurseries in Richmond was once home to Skye Gyngell's Michelin-starred restaurant, and now boasts a head chef from HIX Soho, Damian Clisby, at the helm of its cafe. Now in its 11th year, it is owned by the Boglione family – managing director Lara Boglione is the eldest of three daughters.

All photographs provided by Gini Rhee x Culture Whisper

Culture Whisper collaborator Gini Rhee recently partook in Petersham's Covent Garden Urban School of Garden workshop at the Potting Bench, to take over our Instagram and provide us with the visuals in this article. Stay tuned for more Gini Rhee x Culture Whisper takeovers.

Gini said, "The shop is lovely and a wonderful setting for these workshops. Tom was a great instructor and had some great tips to share and provided us with beautiful flowers and foliage to create our own seasonal posy bouquets. Working with such pretty materials made it easier to make a good looking bouquet. Best of all I got to take it home!"

All photographs provided by Gini Rhee x Culture Whisper