June flowers and troubling tulips

Time to tell you how the refrigerated tulips did.  Well, they came out of the fridge looking very scary indeed!!!  Limp little things that looked terrible but mould on only a very few (phew!).  I (more or less) followed the advice of  Linda Beutler in Garden to vase: growing and using your own cut flowers who suggests submerging in warm water, recutting stems etc and was amazed by the transformation.  Incredible.  Having said that, I would NOT do it again unless I really had too: way too stressful and those I kept did not age in the way a tulip normally does, never reaching that fully open stage.  Unsurprising, maybe, considering all they'd been subjected to. 

Spring: better late than never

Tulips have arrived and I'm cutting them.  Some are stored in the fridge for a wedding in a couple of weeks but this may not work as humidity may be too low.  I'll let you know. 

Autumn Flowers

Should be out planting bulbs but have to wait in for a delivery so a chance to update the blog.  These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago, before the first frost arrived to totally transform the scene.

Sunshine at last!

Finally, we have had a week of sunny weather and the flower garden is looking lovely. Butterflies on the cornflowers, bees on the drumstick alliums, hay-making on the farm.

The benefits of rain

Rain, rain and more rain. On the minus side, the wind and rain have conspired to flatten the cornflowers. On the plus side, I haven't had to water anything in the flower garden for weeks and this wet spell has doubtless aided the establishment of the roses, peonies and perennial plants.

We've had a visitor to the garden in the shape of a calf. The big gate having been left open, it managed to push down the rabbit netting inside. Thankfully very little damage.

Sweet peas doing well and smelling wonderful, likewise roses.

Rex planted his courgettes on top of my dahlias a while back!!! He didn't realise they were there. Left them in situ. We'll see how they vie for space.

Flowers at last...but not enough to sell

At long last I have some flowers. I had planted only a few tulips to see how they would do so not enough to sell, unfortunately. This autumn, I plan to plant 'Greenland' and the double-late tulip, 'Angelique' (together above left) along with a brighter pink, 'Barcelona', en masse. Also 'Ballerina'. As soon as the tulips finished, Allium 'Purple Sensation' (above right) started to flower. I cut blooms at various stages and am testing to see how well they come out and how long they will last in a vase. I combined them with some peonies from my garden at home (the peony plants in the field being not yet established).The peony foliage is the same bright green as the allium stems. Sweet Williams are almost ready to cut and the wheat is looking promising. Hope to have cornflowers and other annuals to go with it later in the year.

I need to note down the succession of flowering and pare down my planting to better reflect my limited space and time. Went a bit wild this year having a go at all sorts of flowers I've not grown before! Will note down my successes and see that I have a succession of flowers in sufficient quantity to sell in future years!

Rainy days

The recent days of rain have culminated today in a wild storm which is why there is a picture of my dry (and very messy!) greenhouse instead of flowers in a field.  Really I should be tidying it out but instead I have been sitting in front of the logburning stove reading Death comes to Pemberley by P.D.James.  What a beautifully written sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  All the familiar characters rendered superbly and a murder to boot!

If you fancy something a little more plant-oriented, why not try The Flower Farmer: an organic grower's guide to raising and selling cut flowers by Lynn Byczynski or Garden to vase: growing and using your own cut flowers by Linda Beutler.  Both these American publications contain useful information on harvesting and conditioning flowers and are imbued with knowledge and passion.  Less useful when it comes to conditioning but with handy growing advice including a month-by-month to-do list for those of us in the U.K. and fabulous photographs is Gardners' World Flowers by Toby Buckland.  And to see what can be achieved with cut flowers Flower arranging by MarkWelford & Stephen Wicks is the most gorgeous book full of beautiful, creative arrangements.  There is a design using a wire cup cake stand, tea light holders, hydrangeas, roses and peonies which is sublime.