Tag Archives | British cut flowers

A Year in Pictures

January

Cutting back perennials and making pots (by Harriet Coleridge).

 

February

Hellebore appreciation and plant dyeing silk to make into ribbon.

 

March

 

Seed sowing, picking the first Anemones and the first wedding of the year.

 

April

Ranunculus time and a collaboration with Jo Flowers for a Spring Florals workshop.

 

May

May in a bouquet and the latest addition, Jesse the Whippet.

 

June

Our second Wedding Flowers Intensive workshop with The Garden Gate Flower Company and the Roses are abundant.

 

July

Sweet Peas picked on the vine now, Snapdragons start to flower in the tunnels and Ammi begins to set seed.

 

August

Zinnias and Dahlia ‘Cafe au lait’,  enjoy the heat and the berries begin!

 

September

 

Dahlia time and so much to go with them.

 

October

Chrysanthemums for the first time and I am converted.

 

November

The first frosts and it is time to lift the dahlias.

 

December

Keeping warm saving and storing seeds for 2017.

 

With thanks to photographic contributors Eva Nemeth, Clare West and Imogen Xiana.

Love Rachel and Ashley – Wishing you all the best for a happy and peaceful New Year. 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Florals Class with Jo Flowers

I met Jo Rodwell last summer when she came to the farm with a lovely group of linen-clad ladies on a floral foray with Sarah Winward. After bonding over peachy-coloured roses and poultry I asked if she would like to collaborate on a workshop the following season. She said she would love to, so eight months later here she is again rolling up with a van full of blossom and stone urns.

Credit: Erich McVey

Jo is the mistress of painterly, wild and romantic urn arrangements and enjoys working on large scale designs. ‘Going big’ is often something people lack confidence in tackling so that seemed the perfect topic for the day. We had some old flowery friends come along to join us and some new ones only admired on Instagram before now.,,

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We were able to spread out into a beautiful new teaching space for the day, a very old tithe barn soon filled with buckets of blossoming branches and wonderfully long-stemmed Ranunculus from Julie Clark at Hillcrest Nurseries.

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Of course I did not want to pick everything myself, because my contribution to the day was to let the attendees loose in the tunnels, field, hedgerow and orchard with a bucket and a pair of snips. I also kicked the day off with a tour of the farm and some tips on growing Spring cut flowers. After a chocolate chip cookie break (recipe courtesy of the fabulous Violet Bakery) we adjourned to the barn to watch Jo Flowers do her magic floral thing, bathed in a shaft of golden light. I love watching other people design with flowers, especially if they are really good, it is surprisingly therapeutic.

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Jo worked at a thoughtful, considered pace which gave everyone the opportunity to ask questions  about her philosophy and practice.

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Then it was time for one of Ashley’s superb home cooked lunches – Spinach tart followed by Rhubarb Upside Down Pudding were enjoyed whilst sitting in the sunshine.

Fully fuelled, everyone was itching to get start picking, tulips were pulled from the tunnels and the pole lance came out in earnest to grab some choice branches of blossom.

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Here are some of the impressive arrangements made by everyone, it always amazes me how different the results can be when visitors use our flowers on any given day.

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Huge thanks to Clare West for capturing a wonderful day and for everyone being such a fun group. You can find Jo Flowers’ blog here.

 

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Rachel Siegfried

3

The Cultivated Palette Series – Anemones

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I have been picking Anemones in our tunnels today, they have started flowering a month earlier than expected this year, which to be honest is a bit of a pain as I am not in the full swing of weddings, farm gate sales or deliveries. So that means I get to have them in the house – great, generous vasefuls…what decadence.

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Looking back at my blogs I discover that I have written about them before in ‘Anemone Crush‘, I class them as one of my best sellers and a welcome bit of colour and cash flow after a long winter.

 

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They are good little moneymakers with each corm producing up to twenty stems over a prolonged period of at least two months.

I am always intrigued at what makes a flower popular and I think in the case of the Anemone it has a multitude of assets to persuade people to buy, including it’s jewel-bright colours to jolt us out of our winter hibernation, a surprisingly long vase life and an irresistible sense of nostalgia.

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I source my corms from France and as they are cut flower grade they are expensive, more than Ranunculus claws so this is important to bear in mind when/if you are selling the cut flowers. They are bred in Israel (hence the biblical names), I have tried all the varieties and prefer Galilee, particularly the pastel range, which has stonking stems and good resistance to Botrytis which is an issue when growing in tunnels over winter.

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If you are not blessed with a tunnel or greenhouse I would recommend the Jerusalem strain for outdoors with a generous mulch, or opt for a Spring planting instead.

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I try to get the corms tucked up in the polytunnel by late September/early October, as I find later plantings are never as productive. The growing area must be well prepared, we till in plenty of organic matter and give the bed a good soaking a few days before planting. Good, even moisture is essential particularly in the first couple of weeks, so we irrigate regularly during this period with 3-4 lines of t -tape across metre wide beds.

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I soak the corms for about 24 hours before planting which helps to get them shooting quickly, but also makes it easier to see which way is up! They are dibbed in at about 20cm apart.

You may find voles are an issue, they love feasting on Anemone corms and can devastate a crop if not deterred. We use a combination of cats, garlic, chilli, traps, mole repellents and physical barriers. I know it sounds a bit over the top but this arsenal does seem to work.

Depending on temperature they normally start to flower in late February and then all you should have to do is keep picking.

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Anemones are one of the flowers I tend to pick myself as I have found people struggle to see when they are at the right stage. Too tight (or as I call it unripe) and they never reach their full potential.

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When they first emerge their heads are bowed down, wait until till they are pointing upwards and slightly open with the eye peeking at you.

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I condition mine for 24 hours in bunches of ten with a band at the top and bottom of the stems, this helps to set them straight.

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Once the crop has finished we clear and compost the corms. Anemones are prone to virus spread by aphids and I find they are never as good the following year, plus I need the precious covered space for the next indoor crop.

Next month I will be looking at tulips, my favourite varieties for cutting and the tricks to getting a quality cut stem which would make the Dutch blush!

 

All pictures by Clare West Photography