Flower farming

New Year's Resolution - Paths with no weeds

Happy New Year to you.

After a full 8 days of lie ins, FAR too much food, and a lovely rest, i'm really ready to get on with 2016.

They say that you learn from your mistakes, so this year my resolution is not to put down a path without putting wet newspaper underneath it first.

I'm aiming for paths with no weeds.

Row of Asters with woodchip paths

Over the last few years, we've been refining our methods of bed building, This is our No Dig Philosophy Article and in 2015, the plastic that we put down over winter meant that we had clear ground to make the new beds in spring. - Although the mounds of manure and compost that we grew in were great for the plants, and thick enough to mean that minimal weeds came through, we made a big mistake on the paths, and just used woodchip on the soil.

By the end of the season when we removed the spent Half hardy annuals from these beds, the beds were practically weed free, the paths however were a different matter. Even in this photo, you can see grass and weeds starting to come through.

We've found that Newspaper, if soaked first, makes an excellent mulch. It's free, sustainable, doesn't cause as much compaction to the soil structure as the mypex or silage sheeting, and is easy to lay. The paths were we used it for in the perennial area have been easy to top up this year.

As the area we're growing in expands, we need to use every method we can to be productive, so i'm hoping this resolution will go a long way towards that in 2016.

 


Flower Farmer on tour, Northern Ireland trip Inspiration and the Jealousy Bug

I've just had the most amazing couple of days traveling to Northern Ireland.

I was there as a guest of DARDNI who support Cut Flower and Foliage Growers in Northern Ireland with free courses, information and a full time advisor. (first hit of Jealousy bug, advice, help and support from a government organisation!)

Mourne holls from paeony field

(View out over the Mourne Mountains from Moorfield Flower farm)

After a very early start on Tuesday morning, my taxi, flight, pickup from the airport at Belfast City, and the IT all worked perfectly, and by 9.15am, i was ready to teach the "Business of selling Flowers" to 15 Northern Irish Flower growers at the beautiful campus of Greenmount College in Antrim in Northern Ireland.

There was a wide range of participants:  from those just thinking of starting up, to several commercial growers supplying supermarkets. The morning was spent on Business terminology,  (thank you Mark for the Turnover is Vanity, Profit is Sanity phrase, i'll use that from now on) Markets for selling and what attributes you needed for each.

We talked about knowing your strong points, and what your weak points are (so that you can give customers realistic expectations) and we looked at Costs, Expenses and the P word - PROFIT.

After a lunch in the college canteen I got a wonderful walk in round the college walled gardens, while the growers held their NIFFA meeting (that's the NI equivalent of Flowers from the Farm) I'm afraid the weather wasn't conducive to taking photos, but I was amazed at how much was still flowering in the sheltered gardens, - Penstomens, Roses, Hydrangeas, Hesperanthera, plus amazing seed heads and Rose hips. (the picture is of Rosa Virginiana at Kilcoan Gardens)

Rose hips at kilcoan

Our Afternoon session was mostly about Low Cost, No Cost Marketing methods. Ways to make sure that all your target audience have heard of you not 1 but 8-15 times, which is what is thought to be the point at which people are mostly likely to think about buying from you.

We finished off the afternoon session with some information about keeping customers and getting them to spend more, before they got a chance to start their 2016 plans taking into account what they'd learnt.

Wednesday was a day of inspiration for me. As I was taken to 2 growers with very different flower farms.

1st was Lesley from Moorfield Flowers We were welcomed with fantastic farmhouse hospitality, and bacon butties. The Photo at the top of this post is the amazing view out of Lesley's back door. She grows Flowers for Florists, the Farm Gate, and then there is a whole field of paeonies that go off to superior supermarkets. We talked shrubs, paeonies, polytunnels (Jealousy bug again, there are 2 massive polytunnels at Moorfield Flowers, which still have lots of colour in them!) and selling to florists, and we had to be reminded to stop talking so that we could move on to our next grower.

We then had a wonderful drive up through the countryside of Northern Ireland to the top tip, just across the water from Scotland. Kilcoan Gardens is near Larne, and being coastal is windswept, but mild. There are rarely frosts. We were again met with fantastic hospitality - Coffee and Lemon drizzle cake this time.

It's ironic of course that Flower farmers only get to see other flower farms out of season. However having looked at Cherry's website photos i could imagine the borders of the garden in full bloom, and the Polytunnel was already bursting with potential of new plants for next season.

Polytunnel at Kilcoan

We talked Shelter belts, Foliage, herbs, the difficulties of making the garden look good while being practical for cutting and edibles for decoration.

I've decided i have to go back to take one of Cherry's workshops next year, and her barn unlike mine has natural light, and a view! (Jealousy bug again!)

Workshop barn at Kilcoan

 

At both growers we discussed the importance of knowing your varieties. They don't all work for cut flowers. We all have the perennial problem of not enough hours in the day or people to help, but although the soil and conditions were different in Northern Ireland, all the other issues are very similar.

I left with a plastic bag full of mint root cuttings, - they were my first job this morning, and are now potted up in the greenhouse.

Thank you to Mark for organising the whole trip, being my driver and tour guide, and being so supportive of all the NI growers. Thanks to Lesley and Cherry for the tours, i really appreciated your time and insight, and to all the other growers who took part in the workshop, i hope that your 2016 crops are healthy and successful, and you find buyers for everything so your reward is high for all your hard work.

My next English "Business of selling Flowers workshop" is taking place in Surrey on the 18th January more details here

 

 


My Top 5 Bestsellers to Surrey Florists in 2015

It's blowing a hooley outside while i sit here and write this.  I've taken out a good proportion of the Dahlias today. It's going to get cold at the weekend, and my season for selling Wholesale flowers to florists is well and truly over for 2015.

So which ones were the most popular? Which did i get orders for week after week? Which did i sell more of than anything else?

After going through all my delivery notes, and meticulously working out the data, here are the results.

In 5th place - Dahlias

Cafe au lait dahlia

Cafe au Lait Dahlia, certainly helped that total, although i need to find some Beginning of the week brides to sell them to next year, (Florists take note, there are just as many flowers, just less demand) as i had quite a few that needed picking on a Monday that got wasted.

In 4th Place - Antirrhinum

These amazing Potomac varieties of Antirrhinum have given me an endless succession of blooms since the beginning of July. - I grew some in pots to put on the FFTF Hampton Court display, and they weren't needed, so they've been in my polytunnel ever since. I picked another 3 blooms today, yes they are still going!

Antirrhinum white

The even more amazing thing is that these had 20m of beds, compared to the 60m of Dahlia beds - Result.

In 3rd Place

Cornflowers

Blue Cornflowers

This one suprised me a bit, I thought i'd mucked up on the cornflowers, I didn't have as many as the year before, although that meant that we kept up with the picking. A second flush at the beginning of September from self sown and transplanted seedlings helped, as my direct sown May crop didn't come up at all. Blue is the most popular, but White and Pink are still desired for weddings, and the Black was requested specifically on several occasions. Plenty of these already planted (and netted from the rabbits) already.

In 2nd Place - Scabious

When i finished my figures to find out my bestsellers, and i realised that Scabious was that high on the list,  i immediately went out to the greenhouse and pricked out another tray of seedlings, and found another bed on the field to plant them in.

Scabious white with bee

These flowers, loved by bees, florists and me, are available in a large range of colours. It's the pink that eludes me though in germination - must try harder next year.

No 1 - The Top Seller of 2015, - requested the most, and with the best scent of any of the top 5 - Mint

Apple mint-2

My nine types of mint, mean that there can be scent in bouquets from April to late September, so it's hardly surprising that mint is my bestselling line. Grown in just 6 raised beds, 2.4m x 1.2m that's a productive use of space.

For those of you that just have to know more

in 6th place was Sweet peas

in 7th Hesperis

8th Orlaya Grandiflora

9th Ammi Major

10th Ranunculus

Thank you to all the Surrey Florists who bought my flowers this year, and added to these totals. There will be more of all of them next year.

Details of 2016 Florists open days are here


Review of my best Cut Flower Dahlias in 2015, and how i grew them

It's the end of the first week of November. No frost means that there are still Dahlias flowering on my field, although the stem strength is appalling, so they are no longer being cut.

They have however been fantastic this year, with few exceptions, so here is my review of the season, before I forget all the details, and just have the pretty pictures.

Dahlia beds in September 2015

In the past, i've always removed all the Dahlias from the ground over winter and stored them, frost free in boxes with sawdust, covered in fleece. But now we've got the the point where there are A LOT of dahlias. So, last year we tried leaving some in. We cut them back at the same time as we removed the others in late November, and mulched them thickly.

Did it work? - Well yes, all the plants came back, although the winter was fairly mild with only 5 or 6 hard frosts, and no longer than a couple of days at a time of frozen ground. This summer, they were some of the first to flower, and they continued flowering throughout the season very prolifically. We tried leaving in Dahlias Evelyn, Preference, Cafe Au Lait, and Jowey Linda.

Dahlias Evelyn JLinda CauL Pref

So you'd do it again? - Well yes and no. Those that we left in the ground definitely had smaller flowers than plants from new tubers, and a lot smaller flowers than those we grew from cuttings. So I wouldn't want to leave the same tubers in the ground for another year. However as a device to save some labour in the Autumn, I would risk it again with other plants that were in their first year. Plus some of my florists commented that the smaller flowers were a lot better size for putting in bouquets

So what about those grown from Tubers, how did they do? - Last year we had so many tubers growing on in pots in the polytunnel, that we didn't have the space or the time to go through them all and do a slug patrol. The consequence was that we had 40 or so plants that weren't worth planting out, because they'd been so badly eaten, that 's a lot of waste.

This year with slightly fewer tubers to pot up, and ensuring we did a slug patrol in mid May, we kept them in better condition. They were all planted out in the last week of May, but weren't flowering fully until the middle of August. Probably suffering from the lack of water this season in June and July. From Tubers, we grew more of the Evelyn, (but most turned out to be something else) Preference, Cafe au Lait and Jowey Linda, but also Karma Naomi, Karma Choc, Karma Lagoon, Karma Serena, Canary Fubuki, Nuit D'ete, Rocco, and Ambition.

This is almost the full range of what we grew

Dahlia heads on a tray

The real success this year though were the new to us varieties, and the ones that we grew from cuttings.

My Birthday present last year was a super dooper propagator,

Dahlia cuttings and prop

After making do for years with propagators with no thermostatic controls, this was a fantastic boost to my ability to produce lots of cuttings, early in the season. The only shame being that at Easter I was invited to speak at the RHS London show, by then i'd potted on my cuttings, and moved them to other propagators in the greenhouse, and i forgot to turn it off before i went up to London.  Please learn from my mistake that fried Dahlia cuttings are no good, and i lost 2 trays, so 30 cuttings.

However those that survived made amazing plants

Dahlia Caroline Wagermanns

This is Carolina Wagermanns. Sourced from Withypitts Dahlias, this is set to become a firm favourite, and although i only had one tuber to propagate from i managed to get 5 plants, and lots of flowers from it. It teams well with Jowey Linda.

Shooting star is also one from Withypitts. I wasn't keen because it is billed as "yellow" but here teamed with Canary Fubuki and Karma Serena, it looks beautiful

Dahlia Shooting star

My new varieties from Tubers were (anticlockwise from top left) Dark Spirit, Wine Eyed Jill, Karma Serena and Crazy Love. All good enough to grow again, particularly Crazy love, which Emma Davies took quite a shine to (large amounts of photos of that one)

New dahlias from tubers

The propagation from cuttings will also come in handy for this variety, which came to us labelled as Evelyn, but isn't. Anyone know what it is?

Dahlia unknown pink

So will i grow the same ones again next year?

My pale colours of Cafe au Lait, Evelyn, Preference, Karma Serena, Tu Tu and Waterlily white were all great this year. - With my unknown pink, and Crazy Love that is a brilliant selection. I had a few Sugar diamond last year, which seems to have gone missing and needs to be replaced, and i might need a salmon pom pom to complete the colour set.

The Deep dark colours of Nuit D'ete, Karma Choc, Karma Naomi and Dark Spirit are all fabulous, but a few of the large headed Rip City would be a good addition.

and for the Jewel colours, i'll stick with the bright pink of Karma Lagoon, Jowey Linda, New Baby and Ambition, but i need A purple, and Rocco is too small and too much hard work, - Any suggestions for me?

In the next couple of weeks they'll all be lifted from the ground and stored in the barn, or maybe i'll leave some in the ground........


Social media for Flowery people - Does it work?

i've been Blogging since 2008, Tweeting since 2009, Facebooking for the last 4 years, and i'm a newcomer to Instagram with just 2 and a half years worth of photos posted there.

Why do i do it?

Well apart from the fact that I love keeping in contact with all kinds of flowery people all over the world, and that I get my news from Social Media rather than the biased and outdated British Press.

It works for my business.

Dahlia dark spirit-1

I guess that i'm lucky, in that i'm a lady of a certain age. Although i grew up with Computers, and my parents were "with it" enough for us to have a Sinclair spectrum, and later a first Mac, I never had to go through a teen age with Selfies all over the net. My drunken stumblings back to my university digs were before digital cameras, let alone phone cameras. So my use of Social media has all been to promote my love of all things gardening, and for the last few years, my growing of cut flowers.

I was lucky enough to have mentors in the early days of S.M. They told me to be myself, and to make sure that i was interesting, and that people would pay attention.

They were right. If i'm interested, then i become interesting. Because i use Social media to find new suppliers, new varieties, new contacts, News, then what I have to say becomes valuable for others.

2 years ago I started offering Social media workshops, at the time, the Question that i was asking was

"Can Social Media make you a  better "Gardener / Flower Grower/ Florist / Garden Designer"

My thoughts were that

Gardening can be an occupation that you do alone, Gardens, Greenhouses, Polytunnels aren't lonely but they're not normally a place for a crowd. Florists may be tucked in a workshop, Designers stuck to their drawing board, but with the world of Social media, you can reach out and find inspiration, discuss, debate and join in with your opinions. You can share experiments and see others successes, and also mistakes and mishaps to prevent you doing it yourself.

There are also a host of interesting suppliers out there, - and for flowery people, there's nothing like getting recommendations about the best variety, the longest lasting flower, the strongest growing plant, the best quality service in getting orders to you.

I still think that all those things apply, - and Social Media can make you better informed and inspired about your chosen subject.

But the Internet has moved on a lot in the last 2 years.

Everything is now more visual.

Instagram photos

There are new Social Media Platforms, and in a competitive market will they all stay free to use, or how will your content be seen among the paid for entries?.

My Question is Does it Work?, and I believe the answer is YES, - but only if you keep up with the changes and realises what those searching want.

I'm not a Marketer, but I know that my "customers" who read all my social media feeds want information, beautiful pictures of flowers and advice about how they can replicate what i do.

In return, they interact with me, they buy from me, and they recommend me to others. Because they do this, the search engines see that i'm someone who's listened to, and they boost me up their rankings. This means that more people can find me to interact with me, and buy from me.

I don't just use Social Media to market my business, but does it work for me? - YES Can it work for you? YES

Want help knowing how to get yourself on Social Media? Or want help getting results for the work you put in?- My next workshop is on the 30th November in Surrey.

 


Last minute wedding flowers, Seasonal, Scented and Sustainable.

As our wedding season draws to a close, i thought i'd let you have a peek at one of Septembers Flower orders, that went off  to Dean and Maria's Marriage Celebrations, in a pub in London.

Jam jars september wedding

We seem to have specialised in Last minute wedding flowers this year, and unlike a lot of florists who have to order in from wholesalers, and worry about if the Channel Tunnel is going to be working this week, we can just walk out onto the field and cut more flowers. Luckily, even though we've had at least 4 weeks this year where the number of DIY wedding buckets has doubled between Monday and Friday, we've managed to fulfil nearly every order, and all the ones where particular flowers, or colours weren't a make or break feature.

For this wedding, DIY was originally an option, but in the end we did the Jam jar table posies as well. Dean had loved a blog where i included a picture of blue cornflowers, and he wanted them for his buttonholes. Marie had seen my pictures and liked most of the flowers, and just wanted something to go with the peach and pink colours of the bridesmaids . With a lovely easy Theme like that, we had lots and lots to pick from on the field.

Buttonholes with a touch of blue

Usually when i'm preparing wedding flowers I never remember to take photographs until the flowers are in the car boot, But luckily, it was a day when Emma Davies was with me taking field photos, so we have a record of the Jam Jars, Buttonholes and Bouquets that went off in the Groom's brother's car.

So here's what we love doing at Plantpassion, using fresh, seasonal, scented and sustainable flowers to make unique displays.

Jam jars x 3 wedding

Jam jars another 3

Collect flower here

The Bridesmaid posy

Bridemaid posy

The Bride's bouquet

Brides posy

Everything wrapped (no plastic of course, - all biodegradable/ recyclable) ready to go off in the boot of the car.

Jam jars wrapped in tissue

Of course because I don't often get to see the bride and groom, I sometimes don't know how the flowers have been received. So it's lovely to get this on Monday morning

"Dear Claire

we wanted to say a massive thank you for the flowers for our wedding. They looked amazing. Special thanks for putting everything in jars for us - everything was perfect

very best wishes

Maria & Dean"

 

Now although we love our last minute Brides and Grooms, you don't have to wait to book your flowers for weddings and parties next season. So if you already know when you'd like some fresh seasonal flowers, - please do let us know


Do you really want Gypsophila? Lovely British Grown alternatives for all through the wedding season

I do wish that i'd got a pound for everyone that's asked me

"Do you grow Gypsophila?"

It's not a surprise as White is the traditional wedding colour, and Pinterest is full of pictures of Gypsophila bouquets, jam jars, head dresses and room decorations. After Roses and Peonies, it's probably the most known Bridal flower, and it's also not as expensive as either Roses or Peonies, so it's hardly a shock that it's asked for as much as it is. I have to admit to manipulating it a bit, - after all this was a photo Emma Davies took of me with Gypsophila Covent Garden, in my 2nd year of growing.

Claire with bunch of Gyp cropped

Gypsophila Paniculata, which is perennial Gyp, and the most used type for Bridal work, looks lovely in a garden setting. It is however, quickly ruined by rain or dry weather (when i've been told with authority by Wisley gardeners it goes crispy and brown very quickly and looks dreadful) It also doesn't have the nicest of scents, in fact a big bunch of it has a bit of a pong, so not really the scented bouquet you may have had in mind.

Gyp paniculata at Wisley cropped

Here it is at it's peak in mid July in the RHS Wisley perennial borders. So if you want natural season grown British Gypsophila for your Wedding, then The middle of July is a good time to aim for.

But what if you want something White fluffy, scented and you don't want to rely on no rain, or scorching weather in July to get your table centre jam jars?

Well here are my suggestions for April through to September to cover that peak wedding season, for White, pleasantly scented British Grown alternatives that you can grow in your garden, or source from your local grower.

April

Clockwise from top left (Narsissus Earlicheer, Honesty stems, Honesty, Hesperis, Anemones & Leucojum.)

April Gypsophila alternatives

The season starts off beautifully in April with The bulbs of Anemones, Leucojum and Narsissus (like Early Cheerfulness and Thalia).Then the white blooms of Honesty arrive. Most people know the papery seed pods of Lunaria Annua, but the white variety of honesty is one of the first of the biennial flowers, and is really pretty for bouquets and displays.

10 days later, this is followed by the similar looking flowers of Hesperis. The Sweet Rocket (Hesperis Matronalis) also has the positive of being sweetly scented Hesperis Matronalis in May

May

Moving into May, and here in Surrey, the Hesperis is going strong, and scenting most of my orders. The Aqueligias start mid month, and their pretty bell flowers may not last a full week in a bouquet, but are perfect for event table centres and bridal bouquets. The overwintered Annual Gypsophila, -Variety Covent Garden kicks in to bloom in the polytunnel in the 3rd ish week of May, and outside a couple of weeks later, but like it's perennial counterpart, it is short lived, with probably 2 weeks only to enjoy it. Following on its tail is Orlaya Grandiflora, the Lace flower, which overwintered beautifully on my field last year, and gave hundreds of lacy stems for May and June wedding florists. Don't forget the heady perfume of Sweet peas as well, by May these are available from glasshouses and polytunnels all over the country.

clockwise from top left (Hesperis, Aqueligias, Sweet Peas, Orlaya Grandiflora, Sweet peas and Gypsophila covent garden.)

May Gypsophila alternatives

June

By June the hardy annuals are starting to flower, so we have Ammi major, Cornflowers and Orlaya in the mix, as well as the umbellifers of Cow parsley, Chervil and coriander in the herb bed.

My clove scented Sweet William Alba can be either star of the show or supporting cast, and it may be out of fashion, but the white dianthus (pinks) are also a wonderful scent by the middle of the month.

(Sweet William, Ammi Major, Cornflower)

June Gypsophila alternatives

 

July

July is high season for weddings, and the Ammi Major, is overlapping with the now flowering Ammi Visnaga. The carrot family Daucus Carota starts flowering, and we've also got Feverfew, and my personal favourite is Achillea ptarmica the pearl, which is a perennial that give strong long stems at the beginning of the month, and a 2nd shorter flush at the end of July.

clockwise (Daucus Carota, Achillea ptarmica the pearl, Dianthus, Single Feverfew and Ammi Major)

July Gypsophila alternatives

August

August is our busiest wedding month, and Ammi Visnaga is a wonderful addition to bouquets and arrangements with its large heads and strong stems. The single and the double feverfew are in full flush at the beginning of the month, and the spring sown scabious are providing lots of fluffy white flowers throughout the month. We also had our newly planted Gypsophila paniculata ( white and pink) flowering in August, so maybe planting some new plants each year can increase the spread of availability.

August Gypsophila alternatives

September

By September, I always wish that i'd planted another bed of Ammi Visnaga, as it's looking fabulous and i'm running out of it. - Luckily the cosmos and the dahlias are providing lovely white heads and the cream and lime green Nicotiana are providing filler flowers, and there's a 2nd flush of feverfew and Scabious coming through.

September gypsophila alternatives

So without having Gypsophila for more than 4 weeks in the season, I can provide an alternative which is white and wedding like. Have I forgotten any? please add it to the comments if I have.

Here's a lovely bouquet made up by a work experience student. Not a stem of Gypsophila in sight.

September white bouquet


Easy Autumn propagation for fantastic flowers next season

The next couple of weeks will be a busy time for me.

On our Surrey Chalk, where the winters are comparatively mild, and the ground is very well drained, Autumn sowings of Hardy annuals are really important. But what about if propagation isn't something you are familiar with?

How can you get early fantastic flowers next season?

Overwintered cornflowers

I grow most of my plants from seeds, but seed sowing, and pricking on, and planting out needs some knowledge, and you need to get the timings right. One way of taking out one of those processes and so enabling you to have bigger and better plants without as much work , is to buy plug plants.

If you're anything like me, you'll have had several catalogues drop through your door this week trying to tempt you, but is it worth getting plugs of your Winter bedding, or perennials or hardy annuals for next year?

There are some amazing bargains to be had ordering plug plants online, in comparison to buying plants ready grown at the Garden Centre. But that's only if you can grow on all the plants to full size. If you get a 30% or 50 % attrition rate, then they become an expensive way of buying. Here are some hints and tips when ordering your mail order plugs.

1) Don't order them if you're going to be away on holiday, or give the mail order company your holiday dates so they don't arrive while you're away

2) As soon as you order them, make sure that you have appropriate trays or pots plus compost. If you ordered a pack of 144 plants, you will need 144 pots or trays with 144 spaces. (This may seem obvious, but you never have quite as many as you think)

3) The week they are likely to arrive, leave a note out for your postman so that they don't take them away if you aren't in. My lovely postlady knows to leave mine in the greenhouse if they don't fit through the post box. (some companies have developed clever trays that fit through the slot)

4) AS SOON as they arrive, open up the tray and check if they need water. The photo below shows how some of the plugs i've had arrived very dry and needed dunking in a bowl of water to re-wet them. Look at the difference in colour or the compost of the 2 plugs. Sometimes one end of the pack is fine, and the other dry. (These plugs are Sweet Williams. Order now for flowers next June)

Dry plug against wet one

5) pot them up ASAP. If you can get your plugs in bigger trays or pots the day they arrive then they'll have a fantastic chance of them all surviving. - If not the chances of them staying healthy diminish rapidly each day. (these are perennial Monarda plants, Hayloft plants gave me a fantastic deal on these, which I hope will be giving lots of flowers next July in soft pinks and whites)

Planting plugs into tray

6) I usually sieve my compost when i'm sowing seeds and potting on. This may seem like a lot of faff, but the compost has to make good contact with the root system of the plugs if it is to grow on quickly and give you the strongest and most floriferous plants. The 3 most important ways for it to do this are

  •  not to have any larger lumps in the compost so the contact surface is even
  • use finger tips to ensure the compost is pushed into contact with the plug root
  • water well

7) Keep your pots and trays well watered, and the plugs will grow on quickly and strongly. As soon as you can see roots at the bottom they can be planted out. This is often in as short a time as 2-4 weeks.

I've used

J parkers, Hayloft plants, Thompson and Morgan and Jersey plants for plugs in the past. - All have different systems, all have given me good results if I've managed to get them planted up straight away. The only difficulties come if the post system goes awry, or if I'm not organised enough to have compost ready.

If you want to do more propagation give some plug plants a try this Autumn, or if you're feeling even more adventurous, come and do a workshop with me to learn how to propagate cut flowers from seeds, cuttings and bulbs.

 


Seasonal Flower Alliance - August. Flowers for me

As a Flower farmer here in Surrey, I pick 100's or 1000's of stems of flowers every week, and sell them to local florists, DIY brides and locals. But I don't often have the energy left to bring flowers home and arrange them here.

Last weekend, I had a bucket of blooms left over, and i'd promised myself the weekend off, so I made time and displayed my blooms in a vase for my fireplace.

Seasonal flower alliance august 18th

My leftovers included 

Annuals - Sunflower Ruby Eclipse. Ammi Visnaga, Cosmos Click Cranberries,

Perennials - Liatris Spicata, Solidago, Veronicastrum, Scented Phlox and Euphatorium. Thanks to Alice (Lock Cottage Flowers) for the plant of this last one, in her damp waterside garden this is a thug, on my chalky field, it's taken 2 years to get 3 60cm stems to pick, but they are beauties.


Fabulous August Blooms for DIY Wedding Flowers

August has been Wedding Flowers Central. Last Weekend the barn was used for preparation for a huge mostly British Flowers wedding with flowers in wine boxes, and before that could be prepared there were 3 other sets of wedding flowers to be picked sorted and collected by Brides (or Grooms)

We've got another 6 parties or weddings to provide buckets for in the coming couple of weeks, but today was just a small 2 boxes affair, so it gave me a chance to take some photos.

Meadow flowers with wispy bits

The theme was "A meadow feel, with soft colours and wispy bits and lots of herbs"

The brides bouquet is going to have soft pink and peach with white roses, so we picked the best from the field to fit with that.

Fillers for august meadow flowers

The fillers were Lemon mint in flower, Sedum, Daucus carota, Ammi Visnaga, Dill, Feverfew, Verbena Bonariensis and Grasses.

The Flowers were Cosmos, Scabious, Antirrhinum, Lavender, Nicotiana and Cornflowers.

Flowers for meadow flowers august

If you'd like one (or more) of our DIY boxes of flowers - 6 bunches of flowers and 6 filler for £60 for your wedding or party, please contact us, or come along to our next open day to talk to us about what your theme might be