Flowers for cutting

November 19, 2015

Perennial Tulips

Those of you who regularly read this blog will know I like a bargain and can’t stand waste; everything in the garden has to earn its worth. I get great pleasure from dividing plants, sowing from seed and taking cuttings, to squander or fritter money in the garden does not sit well with me. Disposable gardening (ideal for some) is in direct opposition to my motivated desire to tend my plot, it is the evolving nature of a garden that ignites my passion and drive, I like to build a relationship with my plants, each one having a story, it gives purpose and meaning to why I garden. This perspective has stirred mixed emotions in me when it comes to tulips. They’re magnificent flowers, their colour lifts and complements a garden in Spring and they make fantastic cut flowers, but, to buy and plant tulip bulbs producing just one bloom each and then to dig them up and discard, goes completely against the grain. I just love the huge tulip displays many notable gardens put on, but my enjoyment is always tempered by the voice in my head shouting ‘how much did they cost, for just one season’. So in conclusion, I have bought and grown few tulips in my time. So it was with great enthusiasm that I read an article about perennial tulips in ‘The Garden’ last year (Nov 2014), it was by a great hero of mine, Fergus Garrett. I was inspired to grow perennial tulips, my top five selections based on Fergus Garrett’s recommendations are:

Tulip Spring Green, a viridflora or green tulip variety, ivory white feathered with green.
Tulip Ballerina, a lily flowered tulip variety, mandarin orange with a red pink glow, and scented.
Tulip Apeldoorn, a Darwin hybrid variety, cherry red
Tulip Purissima (White Emperor), a Fosteriana variety, white
Tulip Negrita, a triumph variety, glowing purple with beetroot purple veins

I also selected a couple of popular tulips from B&Q that I could not resist, Queen of the Night, a dark deep purple and Princess Irene, a stunning fiery tulip with orange and purplish blooms. Just typing out these descriptions fills me with excitement, imagining beautiful bouquets and arrangements for the house next year.

Tulip bulbs ready for planting

November is traditionally the time to go out and plant tulips, the theory being that the temperatures have dropped enough to reduce the chances of botrytis disease, commonly known as tulip fire blight, damp, warm conditions can accelerate the fire blight so it is usually best to wait until the weather is cold and there have been a few frosts. I fear my impatience to get them in could have scuppered me. We are still yet to have a frost here in Kent, although the BBC weather forecast does show one snowflake for Saturday so it looks as though this unusual mild spell is at an end.

As these tulips are primarily for cut flowers I dug trenches in my cutting border 15 cm deep and planted the bulbs in rows. My cutting border is raised which is good for drainage, it is important to not let perennial tulips sit in waterlogged soil as they will rot. If this is a potential problem you can successfully plant the bulbs on a bed of gravel which provides drainage. Planting at a depth of 15 cm means that I can overplant them with annual flowers to cut latter in the season.

The end of the cut flower bed where I’m planting the tulipsTulip bulbs planted in a trench

My fingers are crossed for a bumper crop.

November 10, 2015

Filling our home with colour in November

Still no frost yet in Kent, so I’m thrilled to be filling the house with dahlias in November, long may it last. The stems are getting thin and weak but with the right vase they’re still giving life and colour to our home.

November 1, 2015November 1, 2015

Dahlia arch

My dahlias were used by a friends talented Mum who created this beautiful arch around a church door for a wedding. It’s lovely to see the late season dahlia blooms put to such a stunning and lovely use. Thank goodness we’ve not had a frost yet here in Kent.

October 31, 2015November 1, 2015

Halloween

There are not many occasions when I get to happily crow about my parenting skills, but, today I have the rare opportunity. To my horror my two eldest sons started inviting their friends to a two night Halloween sleepover, with luck I got wind of these arrangements. Somewhere deep down, my maternal skills came to the fore. I successfully negotiated them down to a two hour Halloween party. This afternoon I have 30 kids daring to come to our scary ghoulish party. I still question whether it’s an entirely sensible idea, the husband tells me it will just be a big play date (you can obviously tell how many play dates he’s experienced with our boys!).

Proudly on display, at our front door are the pumpkins the boys and I grew for Halloween, I don’t think we’ll receive any carving awards but we had lots of fun making them.

The autumn leaves are amazing this year, the reds, yellows and oranges have been spectacular, so I thought we should have an autumnal wreath with a scary twist. I cut some willow whips which I wove into a circle, then just wired in some of the amazing leaves we have in the garden and added the odd spooky spider.

Happy Halloween

Boo…

October 24, 2015October 24, 2015

Planting spring bulbs with an added extra special adventure

I only started working on our garden at the start of this year, much of my time has been spent pondering and planning for future years. Spring bulbs have been at the forefront of my thoughts, now is the time to get out there and plant them. There is just one exception, the tulip, wait until November for best planting results.

I aim to extend the cut flower season with all the spring bulbs, I also want to add some spring colour to the garden. I have split the bulb planting into four areas, the cut flower border, under apple trees, in the meadow and in my tiny woodland.

The bulbs ready for plantingI treated myself to a pointed trowel for the occasion

The cut flower border

At the top of my cut flower border I’ve planted rows of bulbs. Anemone Coronaria Sylphide, a stunning deep pink that will brighten any spring day, it shouts at me to be put in a vase with Ranunculus Aviv Orange a fabulous zingy hot colour. The deep pink and orange combination just makes me smile. So of course they have been planted side by side in the cutting bed. I have also planted rows of Muscari ‘Siberian tiger’ (a white grape hyacinth) and Drumstick Alliums, small purple pom poms that are very useful in spring flower arrangements. I have lots of traditional blue Muscari in other areas of the garden and I’ve planted Allium ‘purple sensation’ (my all time favourite Allium) in to my ornamental flower beds.

Daffodils under the apple trees

A row of nine apple trees divide my kitchen garden in two, one side is my cutting border the other the raised vegetable beds and dahlia border. In spring this central spine of trees look bare and sparse, so my plan over the years is to under plant with daffodils. This year I’ve filled the first section closest to the path with white scented narcissi, not only will they look great lifting a dull patch but there should be a gorgeous scented punch as you walk by. My selection has been Narcissus Triandrus Tresamble, Narcissus Thalia (my favourite daffodil) and Narcissus Recurvus (the delicate pheasant eye daffodil).

Frustratingly I didn’t photograph the bare spine of apple trees this spring, but you can see a few to the side of the cut flower border here

The meadow

A couple of years ago a friend took me on a guided spring walk of RHS Wisley with Colin Crosbie, Wisley’s Curator. He has an infectious, enthusiasm and passion, not only did I leave wanting to plant my very own arboretum (not entirely practical), but we were wowed by his meadow filled with the blue spires of Camassia; I was bowled over and completely smitten. I could never recreate the wonderful scale of this at Wisley, but, I’m keen to attempt the effect in my smaller meadow area. I think every year I will add a few more just to lift the impact and spread the cost!

Camassia in long grassThe meadow in the foreground has been planted with Camassia bulbs

The wooded area

On one side of our pond is the meadow, situated in full sun, on the other, a small wooded area with dappled shade. In years to come I hope to develop this mini woodland adding hellebores, wood anemones and other shade loving beauties that sit well in a slightly wild patch. For now there is one essential, our native English blue bell. Every year I treasure my dog walks, seeking out the blue haze of a spectacular bluebell carpet. I have never succeeded in recreating the visual impact in a photograph, so to have my very own bluebell copse would be magical. With time the Scilla Nutans should naturalise and spread, I may need to give them a helping hand planting a few extra each year.

The wooded area where I dream of a Blue Bell haze

A daffodil adventure

My bulb planting in the last few days has taken on another dimension. I was approached to do the flowers for a wedding, I was initially touched to be asked, feeling privileged and complimented, but within a second, reality hit and I said no. Weddings are the creation of treasured memories for the bride, groom and their families. Flowers are an essential element, adding to the atmosphere and fabric of the event, there is no margin for error, to disappoint a bride with a sub-standard display is not something I ever want to experience. On top of all that, it’s an Easter wedding at the end of March, the only flowers I’ll have in bloom are daffodils.

A few weeks past, during this time my mind kept drifting towards daffodil party ideas and I started researching images on my laptop. My enthusiasm slowly increased until I found myself asking the ‘bride to be’ if she’d like to discuss her ideas for the reception flowers further. I did explain that the bouquet was a complete ‘no no’. So I’m brimming with excitement, we’ve agreed on some ideas. Bringing me back down to earth is one challenging hurdle, timing. The main chosen bloom is Narcissus ‘Bridal Crown’ a beautiful, cream scented flower with an apt name, approximate flowering time March/April. We’re in with a chance of flowers for the wedding day, but, to help hedge my bets I’m planting the bulbs in pots and will lug them inside and out, from the green house, to the conservatory and back out again depending on their developmental needs. With hope and lots of luck they’ll be perfect specimens for the end of March. I doubt this will be the last the ‘Produce from the garden’ blog hears of my hair brained adventure. Weddings really should be left to the professionals!

Narcisscus ‘Bridal Crown’

Picture taken by Mark Pellegrini at Longwood Gardens. Narcissus ‘Bridal Crown’ (Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5)

October 17, 2015October 17, 2015

Autumn sown seedlings and Larkspur failure!

A week ago I sowed some hardy annuals for the cut flower border next year. Germination has been quick. The cornflower ‘Black ball’ were up first closely followed by godetia and sweet peas; which I chipped a small section of skin from the seed with a sharp knife, the result a 100% germination. The nigellas, cerinthe, wild carrot, ammi, florists dill, bupleurum rotundifolium were close behind. My only failure larkspar, this is a re-occurring problem, I have tried to sow larkspur seed in a variety of ways including; freezing the seed prior to sowing, in and out of propagators and at different times of year. On average I manage one plant a season, an appalling result which would generally result in me accepting defeat and not bothering again. But not larkspar, I am dazzled by the dark blue aura it emits, reminiscent of Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech that I long to visit. So yet again I try my luck with larkspar seeds. Any tips for success would be very much appreciated.

Autumn sown seedlings

October 10, 2015

How to get an earlier cut flower crop next year

Autumn is the time to sow hardy annual flowers. They can of course be sown in Spring, but, sowing now enables you to bring the flowering season forward, you can enjoy cut flowers weeks if not a month early. Sow directly into the soil where they will flower, or as I’ve done sow in pots and over winter in a cold frame. I like to sow a green manure over winter in the cut flower bed. My October cut flower sowings have included, Nigella, Ammi, Cerinthe, Godetia, Cornflower Sweet Peas, Bupleurum rotundifolium, Anethum ‘Graveolens Mariska’ also know as Florists Dill, Larkspur and Calendula.

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015

My top 11 dahlias this year

September has been the month to sit back and enjoy the dahlias; they have been exceptional this month. Dahlias are the hardest working flower in the kitchen garden, the more you cut, the more flowers they send up. They never show signs of tiring, and I’m guaranteed armfuls of blooms from July until the first frosts.

Here are my top 11 (I promise I did try to keep it to 10!) dahlias this year:

1. Dahlia Ambition – the pink just zings

2. Dahlia Cafe au Lait- stunning as a single stem cut flower, a sophisticated belle of the ball

3. Dahlia Paul Emory – A hum dinger of a dinner plate dahlia

4. Dahlia Franz Kafka – a pretty pom pom, very useful in a hand tie bouquet

5. Dahlia Furka – a fabulous pure white dahlia

6. Dahlia Hillcrest Royal – it brings a cut flower arrangement alive

7. Rip city – a gorgeous dark dahlia with prolific flowering

8. Dahlia Thomas A Eddison – One of my all time favourites, sadly not flowered as well this year

9. Dahlia Sam Hopkins – my favourite dark dahlia, a very versatile cut flower with lovely long stems

10. Dahlia Glorie van Heemstede – Inherited when we moved here, lovely long stems prolific flowering and looks great with several stems in a vase or mixed with one of the dark red dahlias

11. Dahlia Tamburo – A beautiful dark dahlia, another cut flower essential

I hope this has inspired you to start thinking about the dahlia tubers you’ll be ordering next year. A great place to start looking is The national dahlia collection website, it has a good system to help you search. It’s certainly worked for me, I’ve run out of room for dahlias in the kitchen garden so am going to build some raised beds in the front garden to squeeze a few more darlings in next year!

September 22, 2015

Sunflowers an essential cut flower

Sunflowers are fabulous cut and come again flowers. Every time you cut a sunflower, its main stem will produce off shoots with more flowers. This year I’ve grown two of my favourites, ‘Red Sun’ and ‘Earth Walker’. Both have been producing flowers from July and will continue until the first frosts. I sow the sunflowers under glass in April in larger 13cm pots, this gives them space to grow and their stems to develop and thicken, making them a less appealing slug victim . I’ve lost too many young succulent sunflowers to slugs in the past. It’s heart breaking to see their stems chopped in half after a slugs night time assault. I plant them out after the frosts, and keep them well fed and watered. They’re an essential in my cut flower border, my little rays of sunshine of a very wet and dank Kent day.

September 18, 2015

Fuchsia

You’ll be shocked to hear that 15 years ago or so I considered dahlias to be gaudy, garish and distasteful flowers, until this year I thought the same of the fuchsia. I’m not sure if it’s been a knock on the head, or middle age looming closer (maybe even here!), but, I am falling for fuchsias. They are delicate, elegant ballerinas dressed in the most exquisite costumes. I now just need to work out how they should be presented and planted in the garden.

Below are a few stems from a fuchsia situated in an overgrown area of the garden which is waiting patiently for my attention. I think they look stunning in a vase, I am now imagining them dripping from a huge autumnal arrangement.

Fuchsia in a vase Fuchsia, perfect as a cut flower

A sophisticated ballerina