Request a Brochure
We’ve just had an amazing Easter weekend with wall to wall sunshine and the house is full of vases of Honesty and Cheerfulness. I enjoyed putting an Easter tree together to hang our decorative easter eggs on and I would like to do something similar to this later on in the year.
Easter Tree
I was delighted to also put some bouquets together for a couple of my favourite customers, especially for Easter, and I made sure they contained plenty of colour and flowers. I was lucky enough to also add some Anenomes from the greenhouse.
Anemones and Tulips
TIPS FOR CUT FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS:
A house vase of honesty, hellebores and cheerfulness
- I always try to cut flowers the day before I need them so that they get a good, long, cool drink.
- When putting a vase together, I then cut and sear stems that need it in boiling water. So far, I have seared the Hellebores, Honesty and Euphorbia.
- Narcissi always get a drink in a separate jug to get rid of the toxic sap.
- If I see that a stem has wilted in the vase I will snip off the end, always at a slant, and sear again for 20 seconds in freshly boiled water.
TIPS FOR GROWING AND STORING SPRING BULBS:
If you are looking to grow flowers for spring these have been fabulous. Six Honesty plants sown and planted out now will go a long way next spring, as would a couple of containers packed with multi-headed Narcissus bulbs in the autumn.
Double-Sided Anemone
If you have a greenhouse I would definitely recommend growing some anenomes, in vegetable crates, if you can get them. You may be able to get hold of some at a local restaurant. Crates would also be great for growing tulips in. They can be buried in the ground over winter and then lifted out and stored somewhere when they have flowered. This frees up your flower bed for more flowering plants for the summer. I grew tulips in trenches this year but will certainly think about the crate option this autumn as it would make things a lot easier when clearing out the bed for dahlias.
Tulips in trenches
As a flower grower, I tend to regard tulips as an annual as they aren’t always the same next year and can't be depended on. I hate waste and always find this quite difficult, but for now I am looking forward to cutting some beautiful flowers. I wonder what you call an abundance of tulips.
WHAT TO SOW AND PLANT OUT THIS WEEK:
Ammi planted out and given a good water
- In the garden this week, I've been planting out my Ammi, Cornflowers, Honesty, Scabious and Daucus Carota and they look very happy to be in the ground.
- The Larkspur, Nigella, Stocks, Eryngium and Veronica will be next when this spell of cold nights has finished.
- In the greenhouse, I’ve been reseeding trays which haven’t germinated and looking at potting on my newer seedlings for late summer flowers.
- Top of my ‘to-do’ list is the need to pot up my dahlia tubers.
There is always something to do and at some point I am really looking forward to taking my flowers out to sell and share a bit of floral love. Until then, we will have a house full of flowers.
