gardening – Shropshire flowers

Everlastings

Over the last couple of years I have been experimenting with drying flowers and creating everlasting wreaths and bouquets. It’s a great way to save and use flowers before they go over to use and sell at a later date. I also love having them during the festive season when there are very few fresh flowers to pick to use in my Christmas wreaths.

Christmas wreath with dried ingredients including: billy buttons, statice, wrinkled cress, Nigella seed pods, panicum sparkling fountain, bunny tail grasses, and pine cones.

My method of drying is really simple. I pick my flowers on a dry evening, after a warm day but not too hot. I remove most of the leaves and bundle with elastic bands in small bunches of about 10 stems. Elastic bands work better for bunching than string as the stems shrink a lot as they dry but the elastic keeps them tightly bunched together. it’s important to keep the bunches small so that air can circulate to prevent them from going mouldy before they dry out. I hang them in the living room for 2-3 weeks to completely dry. Our living room is perfect for drying flowers as it’s an old stone cottage so it’s fairly dark and cool in the summer. But the main aim is to dry them somewhere out of direct sunlight and somewhere cool but nice and dry with good air flow.

Dried wreath with ingredients including: hedgerow gathered grasses, white statice, yellow and orange strawflowers, achillea the pearl, Nigella seed pods, heathers and a lovely big pale peony.

I have tried drying daffodils for the first time this spring with very satisfying results and I can’t wait to use them once I’ve gathered more ingredients to complement them, I’m thinking lots of feathery grasses and pale coloured statice. In early June I will begin gathering my grasses from the hedgerows, there are some really lovely ones to pick and it’s incredible the variety’s that you can find on just one walk, have a go and see for yourself! I am also growing some perennial grasses in the garden along with some annual ones too- bunny tails and red millet, two of my favourites.

Lovely spring looking everlasting wreath with lemon and cream straw flowers and lots of pretty grasses white statice, achillea and scabious seed heads.

My favourite flowers to grow from seed for drying are limmonium (statice), ammi visnaga, billy buttons, bunny tail grasses (which have gone into the ground this weekend) and of course Helichrysum (straw flowers) which are really easy to dry and come in a huge range of colours! It’s best to pick flowers for drying when they are at their best- fully open but not too long after, with straw flowers pick them just as they are beginning to open and they will continue to open as they dry out.

My favourite perennials for drying are peonies, sea holly, lavender, heather, achillea and echinops. Please do comment if you’ve tried drying anything unusual and been surprised by the results, I’d love to know.

The Sarah Bernhardt peony, with the rat tail statice, heather, the pink straw flowers and the grasses giving this one a bit of sparkle.

In the garden this week, the geums are just beginning to flower, the roses have tiny buds showing, the broome bush is just coming into flower, forget me nots are at their best and also perfect for picking for drying and the peonies have suddenly shot up- surprisingly the one that’s in the shade has grown with the greatest vigor!

The rose garden, last day of April 2023.

The weather has been very changeable and very rainy- but April showers bring May flowers, so I’m hopeful for a very flowery month ahead. My everlastings will be ready to order again around June time- I can’t wait to get making them again for 2023!

Have a great week! Rebecca

Flowers at last.

The soil has certainly warmed up this week, planting out seedlings in bear feet the earth was warm on my feet and despite a short hail storm today it felt like the time was right to begin moving the baby annuals out into the warmer ground. Two beds of Limonium went in; pale blue, apricot, and the pink poker variety, all to be used in my dried work later in the summer. Cosmos went in amongst the daffodils to take their place with the Ammi and Daucus. I don’t know what it is about this time of year but the soil feels almost magnetic, I try and begin a job indoors and without my realising it, I find myself back out in the garden- the house work can wait.

Fresh flowers are finally adoring the cottage again. I keep my little snips in my pocket to snip what ever takes my fancy as I go about my jobs, things that I’m trialing for their vase life for bouquet orders and old favourites too. Posy’s of tulips, honesty, forget me nots and the first of the beautifully scented wall flowers get dotted in handblown glasses all over the house.

A tiny bunch of the scented wall flowers and narcissus early cheerfulness I place by the bed so I can enjoy the scent as I go to sleep.

The roses and the peonies are putting on a lot of growth and it won’t be long until we see the first buds appear. We have had beautiful misty mornings this week which make the blackthorn blossoms look so magical. In the evenings as the sun goes down they glow pink! As I enjoy the glowing blossoms I pick the rhubarb to make a crumble, the blackbird sings his merry tune- there is so much beauty to take in just being in the garden, enjoying and participating in a simple life.

The lambs are jumping around in the evening sunshine, it’s about 7pm, the same time every evening and every spring they seem to form a crèche, the ewes exhausted from their day of parenting flake out and the lambs play together, jumping from piles of old pallets and logs…Robert pulls up for the last check up of the day, he has finished lambing, he declares it triumphantly- that’s it for another year, he is tired out- he must be coming up to 80 years old! But what would I do if I didn’t do this he says! Very wise I think!

The last variety of my daffodils to flower ‘night cap’ and worth the wait.

The humble wall flower, maybe not much to write home about in appearance but the scent is heavenly.

Beautiful foliage on the Desdemona and Boscobel roses.

A day out to Hergest croft.

The gardens at Hergest Croft are a little slice of heaven on earth. A mature garden packed with hundreds of rare and unusual trees, shrubs and perennials. It was a perfect time to see the structure of the garden, with the trees still only just beginning to burst into leaf and their fresh shoots showing all shades of yellow and green through to rusty tones. The underplanting of daffodils and snakes head Fritillaries, abundantly naturalising throughout the gardens and woodland area and the smell of blossom filling the air as it soaked up the warm spring sunshine was absolutely perfect and offered so much inspiration.

Snakes head Fritillaries in amongst the trees and shrubs.

They also had a great range of plants for sale, many were young cuttings of trees and shrubs and so offered at really good prices. I came away with a good haul of goodies including a very pretty lilac and white Clematis named Macropetala Wesselton, flowering now, a lovely one, though slow growing I think but which hopefully I will be able to cut for early spring floristry once it’s established. A small Daphne Mezereum, two Pittosporum- Silver Queen and Wendell Channon, although Pittosporum are small shrubs, I find that it’s foliage is really pretty and very useful in floristry, its glossy variegated leaves are nice and small and last very well out of water- great for flower crowns and button holes and useful in more delicate looking bouquets. I also got a Cornus Kousa which flowers in June with graceful simple white flowers and a bobbly looking button centre. I think it will look great with the pale roses for wedding work. I also got another Witch Hazel that I’m not sure where to plant just yet- maybe near the mound, for winter colour. I also got a good haul of ‘new to me’ herbaceous perennials to try out down at the field such as Campanula, Symphyotrichum, Dicentra (alba), Verbascum Carabean Crush, Thalictrum Flavum Glacum and a few others too!

For me the highlight of Hergest Croft on this visit had to be the spring boarder of the kitchen garden. With old fruit trees lining the boarder, beautifully pruned to frame the flowers below. Hardly a spot of soil was visible with all manner of tulips large and small. Pink, yellow and black primulas, pink and black hellebores, blue musscari, small headed yellow and pale daffodils, pink white and blue hyacinths and even dandelions looking just like they were supposed to be there! It looked like a living toy shop, all miniature flowers, in the brightest colours and simple shapes. It appeared that no colour was left off the planting list yet they all worked together absolutely perfectly creating the most playful garden planting Ive ever seen.

A view of the spring boarder in the kitchen garden at Hergest Croft.

Another view of the spring boarder in the kitchen garden at Hergest Croft.

In the garden here on the hill everything is waking up, the perennials such as the lupins and peonies are putting on good strong growth. Self seeded forget me nots are scattered all over the garden and look just lovely. The blackthorn blossom is providing a most magical backdrop. Achillea (the pearl) is one perennial which I sowed last year, it has bulked out really well and is looking to be really useful for my bride in June with its small white flowers in clusters on tall stems. The daffodils have been lovely to have this past few weeks and my plan is to add lots more to the collection for next year- perhaps even create some beds under the fruit trees and plant them in an ‘inspired by Hergest Croft’ style. In the green house the seedlings are coming along well despite the slow start and I think I’m pretty much done for spring sowings this year.

The last of the daffodils making their way into gift bunches.

There is such a feeling of eager anticipation at this time of year, a feeling of not wanting to miss any of these newly emerging signs of life. I often find myself wandering around almost aimlessly just checking on things, seeing what’s new. I could easily loose many hours in my greenhouse, just watching, wondering, over thinking and worrying over seedlings, I’m grateful this time of year that I can get stuck into my glass jobs too and switch off from thoughts of flowers for a while on those workshop days. I remind myself that this is only the beginning and there is so much beauty to come.

On lighter evenings.

Marcus enjoying a nap in the water fountain.

The clocks sprang forward last Sunday meaning that Monday was the first after work evening we sat out on the patio and enjoyed a drink, when, as if in honour of this moment, the cuckoo announced his arrival. Monday 27th March- 24 days earlier than he arrived home last year!

Narcissi picked in bud to enjoy over the week ahead in our handblown twisted cane jug.

This weekend I picked the first of my narcissi still in bud, we garden at 1029 feet above sea level and so most things tend to be about 2 weeks behind that which we find off the hill. Its nice to get a heads up on what’s coming next. The Ribes sanguineum (Flowering Currant) is at its best this week, I find it’s scent lovely out in the garden when in full sun, it’s sweet and fruity, just a couple of stems in a bouquet is enough to fill a room with scent, but more than a couple of stems is sickly! The hellebores are now starting to go to seed, which is in fact the perfect time to pick them for best vase life. Grape hyacinths (Muscari) are now at their best too, we only have a little clump of them which I dug from my nans garden a couple of years ago and so I make a mental note to add more to the garden, we are on the look out for the pretty pink variety called pink sunrise. Forget-me-nots are coming into their stride, the first few little flowers have emerged and soon they will grow taller and be perfect for picking, their vase life is brilliant and they grow abundantly here in the garden, self seeding everywhere.

*tête*-à-*tête*’s catching the evening light.

In the field next door the first lambs arrived on Sunday morning; twins! Followed by another one in the afternoon, looking too small for their baggy skin but they’ll grow into it so fast! Spring is picking up momentum and there aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with its pace.

We created two more 6 meter no dig beds down at the field, it was great this week to find a good source of wood chip from the local tree surgeon and manure from a local horse keeper. I figured that even if these beds don’t get planted this spring it’s a good step in the right direction just to get the ground prepared for planting when I have the stock. It’s probably even beneficial to allow the cardboard layer time to decompose and the worms to get to work before planting- I might plant some chrysanthemums later in the season if I can decide on varieties!

I’ve also been reading a really great book ‘The cut flower sourcebook’ by Rachel Siegfried. Rachel is a flower farmer florist who uses perennials and woody plants as the backbone for her floristry. Part of the book includes a plant directory which Rachel has put together in such a useful way, a brief description of each plant with tips on spacing, specifically when growing for cutting, on when to harvest, on conditioning, and some potential uses, for example what is flowering at the same time as the specified plant which it would work well with in floristy. And a tip on propagation for each plant too. Really useful and enjoyable to read. In fact the whole of the book is written in such a way that the read is enjoyable and all the information is logically presented and easy to follow- all the pictures are annotated too which I really love. I would 100% recommend this book!

Anyway, that’s all for now. Happy spring! And I hope you have a lovely week.

Rebecca

Why ‘No Dig’?

**‘I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.**’

No dig is a simple way of gardening or farming which mimics what is found in the natural environment. Take a walk through a woods and notice layers upon layers of organic matter deposited year on year by the shedding of leaves onto the surface of the soil and see how the trees and the plants in the wood thrive. They are completely self sustained. The design in nature is perfect, so why no dig? Look to nature and it will teach you.

What is meant by sustainable? Quite simply, to conserve an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.

Soil is a living organism, full of living microbes which are beneficial to plants and to us. Digging and rotervating the soil disturbs all the wonderful microbes and destroys the structure of the soil with has developed over many many years.

Because soil is a living organism it makes so much sense that it be covered. Take every other living organism in nature. Trees – covered with bark, mammals – covered in fur, fish- covered in scales, birds covered in feathers. We cover ourselves also to protect from the elements. In the same way the soil should be covered, to protect it and to maintain it from erosion by wind and rain and depletion of its nutrients from baking it in the sun.

Covering the soil in organic matter locks in nutrients and protects the soil, it also improves the soil year on year, it’s not a one stop fix but an investment. When we garden or farm on a small scale by practicing no dig methods what we are actually doing is restoring the land and making it healthy for future generations. It’s good to do the work early on, to provide the soil with what it needs to sustain you in the future. ‘Do not despise the day of small beginnings’ I remind myself.

No dig is an investment that cannot be compared to planting straight into the soil and using quick fix short term chemical fertilisers, yes the plants might do well the first year by using these fertilisers but every year they will require more and more of these fertilisers to grow the same amount.

I’ve learnt that there are many issues facing the large scale farming industry which include soil preparation, irrigation, weed control, ph problems, pest control, crop rotation, fertilisation and much more. I believe all of theses issues can be solved by following the principles of nature, that is by adding organic matter to the surface of the soil and letting nature to the rest.

The method I have chosen for the field is the method which is credited to Charles Dowding simply called ‘no dig’. By using this method you can turn a lawn or weedy patch of your garden into an area ready to plant in just one day! Lay cardboard down onto the ground, making sure there are no gaps and overlapping the cardboard as you go. This suppresses the weeds from the light and they will slowly die, and as they do they are putting all the goodness back into the soil. Then add your organic matter straight on top of the cardboard, I used Mr mucks organic manure compost and grow-sure peat free manure compost. These products were quite expensive, but I wanted to get on with the project quickly so that I have flowers to harvest this summer, i will be looking for more cost effective ways to gather my organic matter in the future. I also used bags of wood chip for the paths in the same way, straight on top of the cardboard, should my paths ever become beds they too are getting extra nourishment now to build up healthy soil for the future.

If you are interested in no dig gardening have a look at the wealth of generous information put out on YouTube by British market gardener Charles Dowding. And Paul Gautschi in Washington has a great video also on YouTube called Back to Eden, which champions a very similar approach to feeding the soil as Charles does but with wood chip instead of compost.

And finally as promised my report as to whether or not my sweet peas survived that snow – no they didn’t. Thankfully I can replace them with my January sown ones and still enjoy a slightly later crop and another lesson in patience learnt.

Anyway, thanks for checking back. As always I’d love to know your thoughts, do you follow the practice of no dig in your garden? How’s it working for you?

Have a great week! Much Love, Rebecca

February seed sowing and the garden this week.

It’s quite exciting being out in the garden at the moment, I enjoy looking for the little signs of life. It makes me so happy to see another of my plants popping up and I tick it off in my mind- it’s made it through the winter. I make the most of being able to easily walk almost the beds remembering what it becomes in mid summer when everything overflows from its place into the paths. Euphorbia is the highlight in the garden this week, it’s zingy green lighting up even the dullest day. We have it on the patio in the boarder where It dazzles in the evening sunlight, it also self seeds into little nooks and crannies with ease.

When this blog post is released it will be the last day of February- tomorrow marks the start of meteorological spring though the vernal equinox is on 20th March and this is the date of the start of astronomical spring- astronomical spring is marked by the moment in the year when the Sun is exactly above the equator and day and night are of equal length.

Seed sowing in the greenhouse is now well underway and I’m beginning to harden off the autumn sown sweet peas, corncockle and daucus ready to plant out in the next couple of weeks.

Autumn sown corncockle and Ammi hardening off.

My fancy daffodils which I planted last autumn will be flowing within the next couple of weeks they will be lovely just in time for Mother’s Day and the Tete-a-tetes in the lawn are already beginning to open.

Tête-à-tête and iris reticulata growing in the grass.

My biennials are now putting on some spring growth and so I should have a nice supply of wall flowers and sweet Williams to mix in with the tulips which are at the moment flagging behind, perhaps due to the past month being very dry. April is the start month for my flower subscriptions so these biennials will be filling bouquets in April and May whilst the annuals get going.

Wall flowers and sweet Williams putting on some spring growth.

Daffodils and poppies both coming along nicely.

Here’s a list of seeds I’ve sown so far this February and what I plan to sow through March and April. I buy most of my seeds online from Chilterns seeds and a few from Plants of Distinction.

I’ll start with what’s new for me in 2023:

Borlotto beans- a lovely pink speckled bean pod which I though would look great in arrangements
Tagettes, Burning Embers – love the scent of these.
Celosia, Bombay Bronze – a strange furry looking ruffled creature, also good for drying, can’t wait to see this one.
Verbascum, Southern Charm – this one is a perennial and a useful spike shape for my arrangements.
Cosmos, Black Magic- a lovely deep burgundy Cosmos and a perennial too!
Amaranthus – can’t believe this will be my first year of growing this one. Inspired by all the autumn Dahlia bouquets on Instagram last year, looking forward to using it with the Dahlias.
China Asters- after picking them for Stokesay flowers last year I couldn’t not order some for myself, I’m trying King Peach.
Heliptrum humboldtianum – an umbellifer, like yarrow but in bright yellow and again another great one for drying.

What I’ve sown this month and new varieties I’m adding:

Snapdragons – Costa apricot, Potomac ivory white, Potomac orange and Orange wonder.
Cerinthe Purpersans – a filler I grew for the first time last year and now wouldn’t be without.
Panicum and Red millet – very useful annual grasses.
Strawflowers- I’m doing a whole bed of these this year as I want to have more to dry and use them fresh aswell. I’m trying the pomegranate and bright red new this year as I think they’ll be really useful for my Christmas wreaths.
Cosmos- sticking with Purity (the plain white one) as I don’t think you can beat it. Have also sown a few Xsenia, a lovely pale yellow one, but I’m not going all out with the pink ones this year as I think I’ll find the white ones more useful.
Phlox- new varieties for me this year are Ethie Salmon and Promise Peach, very excited about these.
Nigella- of course! Always a fave for me, I plant them in the Dahlia bed and they are done by the time the dahlias get going.
Statice- all the colours!
Rudbeckia- Just the Sahara variety.
Bunny tails- for drying and for fresh.
Ammi- am only growing Visnaga this year as this was my preference from last year. I’m growing Daucus aswell so I’m giving Ammi Majus a miss this year but hoping I won’t regret that decision…
Billy buttons- again for drying and fresh.
Nasturtiums- trying TipTop Rose, very excited about that one.
Calendula, Snow Princess and Canteloupe.

And finally what I’m sowing over the coming months:

Sun Flowers – I can’t be without a just a few of them in the garden as they were the first flower that got me into flower growing. Pro cut white nite, Valentine, Italian green heart, Ms mars and Soluna lemon are the ones I’m trying this year.
Phlox, Strawflower, Statice – I’ll continue sowing these in small batches through till April so I have fresh new plants through the summer.
Lavatera – a lovely delicate trumpet shape flower, a very productive plant.
Scabious
Nicotiana
Euphorbia

Sweet pea varieties I’m growing this year as I think they deserve a list of their own and I’d also love to know any favourites you may have in the comments:

Erewhon
Restormel
Royal crimson
Earl grey
America
Route 66
Henry Thomas
Albutt blue

While I am so looking forward to the spring and the warmer weather I’m clinging on for the moment to these last days of winter and the permission they give to rest, recharge and dream.

Thanks for reading my blog I hope you found some useful information within it. Much Love Rebecca.