Yesterday, I returned to the gorgeous grounds of Ketteringham Hall, to partake in another course with Norfolk School of Gardening, this time under the tutelage of Sarah Hammond of English Peonies.
4 Things I can always rely on when I go to Norfolk School of Gardening:
- Homemade Biscuits
- Excellent Teachers
- Inspiration
- Freebies
Growing Your Own Cut Flowers
As you might imagine, Sarah of English Peonies is a flower fanatic. She has her own walled garden on her family farm a mile out from the coast, where she grows a gorgeous variety of flowers for cutting and arranging. Her mother did the same before her, with her flowers being taken all the way to Covent Garden, and Sarah is very happy to continue the tradition.
So, first things first, some sit-down learning with a good old fashioned PowerPoint presentation (if such a thing can be called old-fashioned) and some of Ruth's homemade biscuits (1. Homemade Biscuits - Tick). Sarah is an expert and is a filled with top tips for all things petalled, and made certain to take the needs of the group into account (2. Excellent Teachers - Tick). As always, the classes are a smorgasbord. The group included an ecologist, a B&B owner, and, quite by coincidence, two prospective Rhino owners! - Sarah being one of them.
Taking into consideration the desires of the group, we talked a lot about containers - which is good for me, not having a garden of my own. The consequence however, was to leave me with a burning desire to go out and buy my bulbs and seeds immediately (they're now on their way to me in the post) (3. Inspiration - Tick). No matter what your own limitations, there is always an emphasis on being imaginative with what you have. As part of the class, we spent some time looking through seed catalogues and books for inspiration on what we could do in our own gardens (or minuscule balconies, in my case).
It's very easy to get overwhelmed with the options, but gardening is easier than people think. While there are some rules to follow, they are often bent - whether consciously or not - and nature proves itself resilient time and time again. What's the wor